From the ouster of a 10-term congressman by a 28-year-old to the #MeToo movement taking down the New York attorney general, there was no shortage of major New York political news in 2018.

Here's a look back at the 10 biggest things that happened:

MARCH 1: MIAMI SUPERINTENDENT REJECTS OFFER TO BE NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR — ON LIVE TELEVISION

After a nationwide search, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho was set to become the city's new schools chancellor to replace the retiring Carmen Fariña. Then the television spectacle happened. Carvalho faced a wave of praise during an emergency school board meeting that stretched for about four hours, live on NY1.

One moment, it appeared he would stay; the next, he appeared bound for New York City. The drama unfolded on social media and live TV, as many people followed along in New York and Miami, wondering what would be Carvalho's decision.

After hours of testimony from Miami residents, members of the school board, students, teachers, union officials, custodians, and superintendents, Carvalho backed out of one of the top education jobs in the nation.

"I underestimated the emotional tug, the level of commitment, the power that crying members of the community have had on me," the Miami superintendent said, just before announcing he would not take the job in New York.

Carvalho later said that speaking to children, who implored him to stay, had the greatest impact on him.

A few days after the rejection, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Richard Carranza the city's new schools chancellor.

MARCH 13: FORMER TOP CUOMO AIDE FOUND GUILTY IN CORRUPTION TRIAL

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had once compared Joe Percoco to a brother, but in March the former top aide to the governor was convicted in a bribery and corruption trial. Percoco was convicted on three counts of bribery and public corruption, although the jury acquitted him on three other counts that included extortion.

(FILE- In this March 13, 2018, file photo, Joseph Percoco, right, former top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, reacts while talking to reporters outside U.S. District court in New York. Percoco, whose bribery conviction was an election year embarrassment for the Cuomo administration, was sentenced to six years in prison in September for fraud and accepting bribes. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File).

As a confidant to Cuomo, Percoco had enormous influence in state government. Prosecutors said he sold that influence to two private companies for more than $300,000-worth of bribes. That included a $90,000-a-year job for his wife Lisa that involved minimal work.

Cuomo was accused of no wrongdoing, but he loomed large over the trial, with several current and former Cuomo officials called to testify. The trial exposed some questionable practices in his administration, including the intimidation of staffers who tried to leave state government, and the widespread use of private email for state business. Emails also showed big donors were coached on how to get around campaign finance limits. The prosecution also showed how Percoco continued to use his state office and flex his muscle even after he had supposedly resigned in 2014 to work on the governor's campaign full-time.

In the months that followed in the governor's reelection campaign, critics and political opponents argued that the Percoco conviction, and other convictions of top Cuomo aides in 2018, was a sign of corruption in his office.

APRIL 9: NYCHA CHAIR AND CEO SHOLA OLATOYE RESIGNS

After months of pressure over deplorable conditions in the city's public housing units, Shola Olatoye, the chairwoman and CEO of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), resigned in April.

Olatoye had been pressured to resign since November, when a Department of Investigation (DOI) report revealed that Olatoye had certified that NYCHA had conducted lead paint inspections over a four-year period, beginning in 2013, when the agency had not.

"Signing the forms was a mistake, given what we know," she said at a December 2017 hearing in front of the City Council.

It took Olatoye more than a year to go public with the inspection failures once she became aware of the lapses.

She also faced backlash, including from members of the City Council, after thousands of NYCHA residents were without heat and hot water last winter. Numerous Council members called for Olatoye to step down, and grilled her handling of public housing.

Olatoye had defended her handling of NYCHA, arguing she was hamstrung by the disinvestment in public housing at a national level over the decades. She said in late November of 2017 that she would not resign. De Blasio had defended Olatoye, saying she was part of the solution for the city's public housing.

MAY 7: NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL RESIGNS AFTER MULTIPLE WOMEN ACCUSE HIM OF ABUSE

Just hours after a New Yorker article reported that multiple women accused him of physical and emotional abuse, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced his resignation from one of the top legal positions in the United States in May.

It was all the fallout of four women who had romantic relationships with Schneiderman — whose office took on a high-profile role in the fight against sexual misconduct — accusing him of abusing them. Among the allegations from the various accounts: That Schneiderman repeatedly hit them during the course of their relationships; that the attorney general slapped one woman when she rebuffed him; and that Schneiderman threatened to kill some of the women if they broke up with him.

(FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2016, file photo, Eric Schneiderman speaks during a news conference in New York. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File).

In November, a special prosecutor closed the investigation into the allegations of abuse, saying she couldn't bring criminal charges against the allegations, in part, because current state law doesn't explicitly outlaw such behavior. Schneiderman initially didn't deny the allegations, but implied in an initial statement that his conduct was either welcomed or was not as the women described. After the special prosecutor closed the investigation, he said he recognized that the decision "does not mean I have done nothing wrong" and apologized.

After a bit of a political fight over if the state legislature would hold a special election or have Solicitor General Barbara Underwood fill in as attorney general for the rest of the year, lawmakers decided on the latter and made her the first woman attorney general in New York history. Underwood followed up on Schneiderman's pressure on Donald Trump by suing the Trump Foundation, eventually reaching an agreement for the foundation to dissolve in the wake of allegations that Trump misused its assets to resolve business disputes and boost his run for the White House.

The Schneiderman political scandal opened up what was not expected to be a competitive attorney general race. A wave of candidates jumped into the fray before New York City Public Advocate Letitia James won the election in November.

JUNE 3: CITY ROLLS OUT PLAN TO SCRAP THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL EXAM

Amid mounting criticism over deep levels of segregation within the city's public school system, Mayor Bill de Blasio in June rolled out plans to change admissions at the city's eight specialized high schools. The fight centers on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Students in eighth or ninth grade who want to apply to one of the schools must take the exam. Tens of thousands of students apply to the schools every year for 5,000 seats, but less than 10 percent of black and Hispanic kids in the city are admitted despite representing 70 percent of the overall city school system.

Ending the test would have required changing state law, so de Blasio instead changed the city's Discovery Program, which offers tutoring and admissions to the elite schools for students who just missed the exam cutoff. His plan reserves 20 percent of seats at the schools for Discovery students, and restricts the program to children in high-poverty middle schools, which black and Hispanic students attend in higher numbers in New York City.

The mayor denounced the schools' use of a single exam to determine admissions, called the exam flawed, and pointed to socioeconomic barriers — such as families not being able to afford tutors or test preparation courses — that put students from poorer families at a disadvantage in their efforts to be admitted to the specialized schools.

Alumni interest groups and Asian-American parents immediately lambasted de Blasio's changes, arguing that they would lead to fewer Asian students being admitted to the specialized schools. 62 percent of the students at the eight elite public high schools are Asian.

In December, parents announced a federal civil rights lawsuit, accusing the mayor and the schools chancellor of discrimination.

JUNE 20: CHILDREN SEPARATED FROM THEIR FAMILIES ARE BROUGHT TO NY

In June, a nationwide crisis bloomed over migrant children being separated from their parents at the southern border due to the White House's "zero-tolerance" policy — and some of those kids were brought to New York.

NY1 shot exclusive video in the early hours of June 20 that showed children being brought to a Manhattan foster agency. Sources tipped off NY1's Josh Robin to go to the East Harlem Cayuga Centers facility, where kids separated from their parents along the southern U.S. border would be brought.

The video, shot at 12:45 a.m., showed five girls, accompanied by two Spanish-speaking women, being led into the lobby of the building where the Cayuga Centers is housed. A woman they were with emphatically denied they had been separated from their parents. But in an interview with NY1, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said those children were recently separated from their parents along the southern border.

(Children sources said were brought to the Cayuga Centers facility in East Harlem in June after they were separated from the southern border due to the White House's "zero-tolerance" policy. Zoe Slemmons/NY1).

The summer crisis stemmed from the "zero-tolerance" policy that criminally prosecuted all adults caught crossing the border illegally, which led to federal immigration officials separating minors from their families and shifting them to foster care facilities, at times, thousands of miles away from their parents. Months later, thousands of migrant children were reportedly still separated from their families, held at shelters throughout the United States.

JUNE 26: ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ STUNS JOE CROWLEY

In one of the biggest political upsets in 2018, the Queens Democratic Party boss — someone who was considered to be on the shortlist to become the next U.S. House Speaker — was stunned by a 28-year-old political newcomer. Challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in their Democratic congressional primary in New York City in June.

"I cannot believe these numbers right now!" Ocasio-Cortez said to our Ruschell Boone as she saw the results live on NY1 at her campaign watch party.

Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described Democratic Socialist, took the primary in the 14th Congressional District, which comprises parts of the Bronx and Queens, including Jackson Heights and Flushing. Most experts never predicted that the 10-term incumbent would lose. But Ocasio-Cortez received a lot of support from the left and gained traction on social media, was endorsed by Democratic candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon, and won over voters in places like Sunnyside and the northern end of Astoria, where young newcomers to the district are clustered.

In November, Ocasio-Cortez easily won the general election in the heavily Democratic district, and will be sworn in as the youngest congresswoman in U.S. history in January.

SEPTEMBER 13: NY STATE PRIMARIES: FORMER IDC MEMBERS WIPED OUT; GOV. CUOMO DEFEATS CYNTHIA NIXON

New York City voters on state Primary Day punished a group of incumbent Democratic legislators they perceived as too friendly to Republicans. Most members of the now-defunct Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC, were rebuked by challengers to their left, as five of the six ex-IDC members in the city were defeated.

For years, the group of breakaway Democrats helped Republicans control the state Senate in a power-sharing agreement. Under pressure from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and liberal activists, they agreed in April to rejoin mainline Democrats.

But that didn't stem voters' anger. Alessandra Biaggi, who defeated former IDC leader state Sen. Jeff Klein of the Bronx, was part of a group of insurgent first-time candidates that overcame significant disadvantages, including fundraising. Klein, for example, spent more than $2 million on his race. The only ex-IDC member to survive: Sen. Diane Savino, who represents parts of Staten Island and southern Brooklyn.

The insurgent victories were consolation prizes for candidates at the top of the left-wing's ticket in the state's primary. After a competitive campaign season that tested the governor's liberal values, Cuomo defeated actress and activist Cynthia Nixon by a large margin in their Democratic primary. Turnout was much higher than expected, with Nixon actually winning more votes than Cuomo secured in his primary four years ago. But the governor still defeated Nixon by close to 500,000 ballots.

Cuomo, who always led in the polls and outspent his rival more than 8 to 1, seldom mentioned Nixon by name during an often-nasty campaign, instead touting his experience, achievements in two terms as governor, and his work to push back against President Donald Trump.

Letitia James and Kathy Hochul, the candidates Cuomo endorsed for New York attorney general and lieutenant governor, respectively, also won their statewide races after contested primaries.

NOVEMBER 6: POLL SITE CHAOS; DEMOCRATS WIN THROUGHOUT NEW YORK; LETITIA JAMES MAKES HISTORY

Fueled in part by interest in the midterms, hundreds of thousands of people went to the polls in New York City for the general election — and they faced an absolute mess.

Voters reported long lines — at times hours long — and problems at ballot boxes. Broken scanners at polling places throughout the city also led to long lines.

NY1 spoke with New York City Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan. He blamed a myriad of factors, including high turnout as well as wet two-page ballots jamming scanning machines.

The disaster, and subsequent fury from voters, led to many elected officials demanding voting reform in the state legislature. They argued early voting would have eased the congestion. Voting reform is expected to be a top priority in the Albany new legislative session in January.

While Democrats faced disappointments in their U.S. Senate races, they had a big night across New York state. Dan Donovan, the last Republican congressman in New York City, was ousted by newcomer Max Rose. The moderate Democrat and Army veteran defeated Donovan in a district that covers Staten Island and a small part of Brooklyn. New York's 11th Congressional District was Trump Country in 2016 and the president remains popular in much of suburban Staten Island, but Rose deviated from other Democrats by not making President Donald Trump's leadership a central issue of his campaign.

Donovan and Rose both accused the other of not being committed to the district and taking outside dark money. But Rose ended up surfing a "Blue Wave" and generated turnout on both sides of the district, especially southern Brooklyn, to beat the incumbent by more than 10,000 votes. The Rose victory was one of the most surprising gains for Democrats on Election Night as they won control the U.S. House of Representatives from Republicans.

Democrats also won big in the state Senate on Election Day, flipping enough seats to take control of the Upper Chamber — and then some. Democrats, who were hopeful to win a few Senate seats and take a slim majority, ended up surpassing even their best expectations. In January, the party will have 40 of the 63 seats in the Senate, expected to be enough to pass many items on liberal wish lists. The victories, combined with Gov. Andrew Cuomo easily winning his third term for governor, means New York will become a one-party state in January.

In addition, Democrat Letitia James made history in the attorney general's race, becoming the first black woman to hold statewide office in New York history. The current New York City Public Advocate defeated Keith Wofford after arguing she would be a legal check on President Donald Trump. The attorney general's office has lawsuits pending against Trump administration policies on health care, guns, immigration, and the environment.

NOVEMBER 16: DE BLASIO FIRES NYC'S TOP WATCHDOG

In mid-November, Bill de Blasio became the first New York City mayor to fire a Department of Investigation commissioner when he gave Mark Peters the boot. Peters was in charge of an agency that investigates waste and malfeasance in the city, but the mayor said he fired Peters because he had abused the powers of that office.

Peters pushed back in a letter and said he was pressured to not release critical reports by de Blasio's administration and then fired under false pretexts. He suggested that the mayor was punishing him for past work, including reports on child welfare services and lead paint in public housing.

(A file image of former Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters. Peters, who was the city's top watchdog, said Mayor Bill de Blasio fired him because his investigations uncovered significant wrongs in de Blasio's administration).

A de Blasio spokesman denied Peters's suggestion. The mayor painted a picture where his administration consistently cooperated with DOI, respected its independence, and even provided the agency extra resources, though he did not deny speaking to Peters.

"There have been conversations about reports, about accuracy, about specific recommendations, all sorts of things, but never a conversation where there was an effort to inhibit the actions of DOI on a specific report," de Blasio said.

The mayor cited a report that found Peters abused his power in trying to take over the office of the top schools investigator, though the mayor said there were also other complaints.

Peters wrote that his firing could jeopardize ongoing investigations that could implicate the mayor or senior appointees.

Later in November, Margaret Garnett was confirmed to replace Peters as the DOI commissioner.

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