Carl McCall

Herman Carl McCall (born October 17, 1935) is an American politician of the Democratic Party.

He attended Dartmouth College on private and ROTC scholarships, graduating in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in government.

McCall was also educated at the University of Edinburgh and received a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) Degree from Andover Newton Theological School.

During the 1960s, McCall worked as a high school teacher and a bank manager.

He taught for six months at Jamaica Plain High School on Sumner Hill in Boston, and then joined the Army.

He opened a church in the Dorchester neighborhood.

By the late 1960s, McCall had moved to New York City.

He was appointed by New York Mayor John Lindsay to head the Commission Against Poverty.

During the 1970s, McCall, as a member of the Harlem Clubhouse, backed by the Harlem political power of Percy Sutton, was elected to three terms as a State Senator representing Harlem and the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1975 to 1980, sitting in the 181st, 182nd and 183rd New York State Legislatures.

He left the Senate to accept an appointment from President Jimmy Carter as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador.

In 1982, McCall was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of New York.

Governor Mario Cuomo then appointed McCall to serve as the state's Commissioner of Human Rights (1983–84).

While serving in the private sector as a vice president for governmental relations with Citicorp (1985–93), McCall accepted an appointment to the New York City Board of Education, where he served as President of the Board from 1991 to 1993.

In 1993, McCall was selected by the New York State Legislature to fill the unexpired term of Republican Edward Regan as state comptroller.

As comptroller, McCall was responsible for serving as the state's chief fiscal officer, conducting audits of state and local entities, serving as the state's bookkeeper, investing the state's funds, overseeing the state's debt issuances, and serving as the sole trustee of the state pension fund.

McCall was elected to a full term as comptroller in 1994 (defeating Conservative Herbert London) and was re-elected in 1998 (defeating Republican Bruce Blakeman).

In 1998, he announced that he would not seek election to the U.S. Senate in 2000, helping to pave the way for the successful candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

Al Sharpton was quoted as saying that "if David Dinkins has a cold in the black community, Carl McCall has pneumonia", and it has been said that McCall was a "stiff, bourgeois figure" who generally did not excite the black electorate.

A former New York State Comptroller and New York State Senator, McCall was the Democratic candidate for Governor of New York in 2002.

McCall was the first African-American to be elected New York State Comptroller.

He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and he currently serves on the board of directors of several corporations.

In 2002, McCall officially announced his campaign against Republican incumbent George Pataki.

After his primary opponent, former US Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, withdrew from the race, McCall entered the general election as the uncontested Democratic candidate, but lost to Pataki.

McCall remains New York state's highest-ranking black elected official and first black major party gubernatorial candidate.

McCall was the favorite of the Democratic establishment, but he faced a tough challenge from Cuomo which almost split the party.

Cuomo proved to be a better fundraiser, and McCall's own campaign war chest was heavily depleted in the primary battle.

Although McCall himself did not make any negative attacks, his close supporter, US Congressman Charles B. Rangel, stated that the McCall camp would not necessarily endorse Cuomo in the general election should the latter win.

This backfired as some Italian-Americans interpreted that as racism, and many of Cuomo's supporters refused to unite behind McCall after McCall won the nomination.

McCall was endorsed by Senator Chuck Schumer.

While Senator Hillary Clinton did not officially take sides during the primary, she loaned a staffer and a fundraiser to McCall's campaign and she marched by McCall's side at the West Indian American Day parade in New York City, as the Clinton wanted to retain strong African-American support in case she made a president run in the future.

Cuomo withdrew from the primary race after McCall moved to a double-digit lead in polls.

Money would prove to be a handicap in the general election, as DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe stated that he would not channel large sums of money to McCall's campaign unless the gap could be closed with Pataki, which McCall never managed to do.

In an unusual show of support, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh urged his listeners to donate to McCall's campaign.

From October 17, 2011, until his retirement on June 30, 2019, McCall served as chairman of the State University of New York Board of Trustees.

McCall was born in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts.

He is the oldest of six children of Herman McCall and Caroleasa Ray.

Herman McCall moved to Boston from Georgia and worked as a railroad porter; he abandoned the family when Carl was 11 years of age.

Thereafter, the family was supported primarily by welfare and by relatives due to Carl's mother's infirmity.

McCall graduated from Roxbury Memorial High School in Boston, where he was president of his class.