9:00PM EST: Andrew M. Cuomo, whose career in government appeared all but over just eight years ago, was elected the 56th governor of New York on Tuesday, a stunning comeback for the scion of one of the state’s legendary political families.

Mr. Cuomo, the state’s Democratic attorney general, won a decisive victory over his Republican opponent, Carl P. Paladino, a Buffalo businessman whose strident and often belligerent rhetoric failed to gain traction among voters, exit polls showed.

The state’s sitting senators, Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer, easily won re-election. Results had not yet been reported in the contests for attorney general and state comptroller.

YWN PHOTO ALBUM: Click HERE for photos taken by Hillel Engel at the celebration party at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan.

 (YWN Election Headquarters – NYC)