on august 6, 1985, state senator leon bogues died, and paterson sought and obtained the democratic party nomination for the seat. in mid-september, a meeting of 648 democratic committee members on the first ballot gave paterson 58% of the vote, giving him the party nomination. that october, paterson won the virtually uncontested special state senate election. at the time, the 29th senate district covered the manhattan neighborhoods of harlem, manhattan valley and the upper west side, the same district that paterson's father had represented. he was re-elected ten times, and remained in the state senate until 2006, sitting in the 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd, 194th, 195th and 196th new york state legislatures.