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Seeing as it has a population larger than many states and an area larger than a few depending what you include, has there ever been a serious push to make New York City (and possibly Long Island) it's own state?

Particularly, I am interesting in the arguments for and against a metro area becoming its own state.

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  • Bobson's comment on this other question about new states seems highly relevant.
    – F1Krazy
    Jul 1, 2020 at 20:21
  • @F1Krazy i saw that and was hoping someone could give more insight into the topic
    – Hatman
    Jul 1, 2020 at 20:31
  • en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
    – Jontia
    Jul 1, 2020 at 20:49
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    Wikipedia has a page on various attempts:. I wouldn't say any have been serious since the Civil War, though the general sentiment that has driven those efforts (ie. resentment at the power Albany has over the City, despite the City contributing more than it gets from the State) are pretty consistent and still relevant
    – divibisan
    Jul 1, 2020 at 20:50
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    @divibisan: More like the total disconnect between New York City and the rest of the state, which (unless things have changed in recent years) would be quite happy to saw it off, shove it out to sea, and let it sink :-)
    – jamesqf
    Jul 2, 2020 at 4:54

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The most appropriate Wiki links have been provided in the comments to the question above which should already provide context. I was going to let it go, therefore, until I saw this topic treated in FiveThirtyEight in this article.

They mapped out a potential State of New York City along the lines of Norman Mailer's 1969 New York mayoral platform:

enter image description here

Part of Norman Mailer’s 1969 New York mayoral platform was a petition for the city to secede and become the 51st state.

That's my reasoning for choosing this as the most serious push. The platform on which Mailer ran is further described here. Wikipedia further gives us these posters (this and this) from the campaign:

enter image description here

enter image description here

Mailer finished fourth in the 1969 Democratic primary, and not above fourth place in any of the five boroughs.

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  • Wow. In 1969, NYCers wanted to be free from the control of upstate folks who were trampling their needs. In 2020-2021, it's upstate New York that wants to be free of NYCers trampling their needs!
    – Mason Wheeler
    Jul 2, 2021 at 2:30

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