Carl Pasquale Paladino (born August 24, 1946) is an American businessman and political activist. Paladino is the chairman of Ellicott Development Co., a real estate development company he founded in 1973.

Paladino ran for Governor of New York in the 2010 election. He upset Rick Lazio in the Republican primary, but was defeated by Democrat Andrew Cuomo (63%–33%) in the general election. Paladino's candidacy was supported by the Tea Party movement and by residents of his native Western New York.

Paladino was elected to the South Buffalo seat on the Buffalo School Board in 2013, and was re-elected in 2016. In December 2016, the board condemned racist remarks that Paladino had made about President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and demanded that he resign. On August 17, 2017, following a public hearing, the New York State Education Department removed Paladino from his board seat for publicly disclosing confidential information obtained in executive session. Paladino was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for New York’s 23rd District in 2022 but narrowly lost in the Republican primary to Nick Langworthy.

Paladino's parents emigrated from Italy to the United States. His father participated in the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. He was raised in the Lovejoy District of Buffalo and attended Bishop Timon – St. Jude High School in South Buffalo. Paladino graduated from St. Bonaventure University for his B.A. and from the Syracuse University College of Law. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1971. He spent three months on active duty in the United States Army and over ten years in the reserve, discharged in 1981 at the rank of captain. Paladino founded Ellicott Development Co. in 1973; the company buys properties, builds stores, and leases them to national retail outlets and government agencies. He later was part of the consortium that acquired the Fort Erie Race Track in Canada in August 2014.

Paladino is close friends with pizzeria owner Joseph Todaro Jr. and has denied the existence of an Italian organized crime syndicate in Buffalo. In response to allegations of an Italian mafia in Buffalo, Paladino stated in 2023: "There's no mob in Buffalo, and I know everybody. It's all a fantasy."

Paladino registered with the Democratic Party in 1974 and remained with it until 2005. Later that year, after the retirement of Buffalo mayor Anthony Masiello, Paladino enrolled in the Republican Party. Paladino and several limited partnerships controlled by him have donated to numerous political candidates and organizations, both Democratic and Republican. During his time as a Democrat, he generally considered himself a conservative Reagan Democrat in the mold of former Buffalo Mayor James D. Griffin and former New York Governor Hugh Carey.

Paladino helped lead a campaign to remove the toll barriers on Interstate 190 in the mid-2000s. After finding a state law that required the state to remove the tolls once the bonds for that portion of the thruway had been paid off (which took place in 1996), Paladino threatened to sue. The Thruway Authority removed the tolls.

In 2009, Paladino got involved in the campaign on behalf of South Buffalo councilman Michael Kearns in Buffalo's Democratic primary mayoral election, campaigning against incumbent Byron Brown. He also endorsed Kearns in the New York State Assembly race in 2012 to replace Buffalo city comptroller Mark J. F. Schroeder.^{[citation needed]}