The incumbent Governor Charles S. Whitman ran on the Republican and the Prohibition tickets for re-election, but was defeated by Smith in a tight race, with a plurality of about 15,000 votes out of more than two million.

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 1, 1919; and adjourned on April 19.

The Legislature met for a special session at the State Capitol in Albany in the evening of June 16.

[2] This session was called to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which established women's suffrage.

Peter J. McGarry, Kenneth F. Sutherland, Daniel F. Farrell, Jeremiah F. Twomey and Burt Z. Kasson changed from the Assembly to the Senate.