Democrats maintain majority in State Legislature, GOP flips one seat

ALBANY — Democrats appear to have maintained their majorities in the New York State Senate and Assembly, according to unofficial election results early Wednesday morning. Assembly Democrats look to have upheld their supermajority by a slim margin, but Senate Democrats fell two seats short, according to the unofficial results with all election districts reporting.

Democrats had a lead of 40 out of the 63 State Senate seats, according to unofficial results. Several races were very close. Republicans appear to have flipped at least one seat, the highly contested 17th Senate District in Brooklyn where Steve Chan had a wide lead over incumbent Democrat Iwen Chu.

Assembly Democrats had a lead, with 103 of the 150 seats, including in the 96th District in Rockland County, and the 85th District representing the Bronx, both of which were vacant.

Several Assembly races remained close, including the vacant 11th District seat in Suffolk County, where Democratic candidate Kwani B. O’Pharrow had a lead of less than 1 percentage point over Republican Joseph R. Cardinale.

While the presidential and congressional contests have largely overshadowed races down the ticket, presidential elections historically have boosted voter turnout, particularly for Democrats, said Larry Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.

The state has nearly 6 million active, registered Democrats, 2.8 million Republicans and about 3 million unaffiliated voters as of November, according to state Board of Elections data. 

In 2022, Democrats in the State Legislature won a supermajority — which requires at least 42 seats in the Senate and 100 in the Assembly — by a slim margin. They held two-thirds of the seats in each chamber, with 42 of the 63 Senate seats and 102 of the 150 Assembly seats.

Senate and Assembly members are elected to two-year terms.

With a supermajority in both chambers, the legislature as a whole has more leverage over Gov. Kathy Hochul because it can vote to override her vetoes.

The legislature hasn’t used its veto power against Hochul, a Democrat, but the threat of using it can have an impact, said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

The supermajority is a sort of bellwether, “a numerical indicator of the strength of the party,” Horner said.

Election factors

Political experts and pollsters had said several factors this election cycle could help or hinder candidates.

A majority of voters cast their votes along party lines, and the highly contested presidential and congressional races could increase voter turnout, a boon particularly for Democrats, experts said.

The challenge was that voters attracted to the polls by the presidential election may not have voted for candidates down the ballot, leaving the rest blank, Levy said.

Federal races also can make it difficult for local candidates by taking up both airwaves and campaign dollars, he said.

Most of the state contests weren’t competitive this year due in part to redistricting lines drawn by the parties in power that often protect their coalition.

“If everyone is focused on the Congress it may mean a status quo legislative season,” Horner said.

Incumbents historically have an advantage in legislative elections because they can do mailings each year, have campaign funds and are typically in the local press more often, experts said.

But the number of unaffiliated voters — those who aren’t aligned with a particular party — is rising, which can make a difference, especially when they side with Republicans in the suburbs, Horner said.