New York was won by local Republican Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who was running against incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman.

Henry Wallace's relatively strong third party support as a Progressive candidate was concentrated in the New York City area; in the three Democratic boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx), Wallace took percentages in the double digits.

Wallace's vote splitting among left-leaning voters in New York City contributed to Dewey narrowly defeating Truman in the state, after New York had voted Democratic for Franklin D. Roosevelt—himself a former governor and favorite son—in the preceding four elections.

Dewey won the election in New York by a narrow margin of less than one percentage point, despite it being his home state, and more importantly despite not facing a local opponent like he had four years earlier when he was defeated by the then-incumbent President (and former New York Governor) Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Alongside Strom Thurmond’s win in South Carolina, this was the first time since Robert M. La Follette carried Wisconsin in 1924 that any losing candidate had done so.