 Paterson was selected to be the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 New York gubernatorial election.Spitzer and Paterson were elected in November 2006 with 69 percent of the vote, and Paterson took office as lieutenant governor on January 1, 2007.After Spitzer resigned in the wake of a prostitution scandal, Paterson was sworn in as governor of New York on March 17, 2008.