Elections in New York (state)
Republican voters, in the minority, are concentrated in more rural Upstate New York, particularly in the Adirondack Mountains, the Alleghany Mountains, Central New York, and in parts of the Hudson Valley, particularly in Putnam County, as well as Suffolk County on Eastern Long Island and Staten Island.
The balance of the parties was formerly less decided, with a large Democratic majority in populous New York City, Rochester and Buffalo, but Republican dominance in the upstate and the eastern part of Long Island.
In recent years, with the political transformation of former Republican strongholds of Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the Syracuse area, New York has grown more reliably Democratic.
[27] For many years the legislature was unable to pass legislation for which there was supposed to be a consensus, such as reforming the so-called Rockefeller drug laws.
Malcolm Smith of Queens became the new Senate Majority Leader, and he also doubles as acting lieutenant governor by virtue of David Paterson ascending to the governorship.
John L. Sampson of Brooklyn became the Democratic conference leader, while Malcolm Smith retained his position as president pro tempore, and acting lieutenant governor.
However, the Republicans have lost many senate seats in recent years because of the aforementioned political realignments of the New York City suburbs, Long Island and Syracuse.
If a convention is approved, a special legislative house is established the year following, with delegates chosen both at large and from each Senate district.
The top zip code, 10021 on the Upper East Side, generated the most money for the 2000 presidential campaigns of both George Bush and Al Gore.
Heavily populated suburban areas such as Westchester County and Long Island have swung from reliably Republican to unreliably Democratic in federal elections over the past 25 years, although local races there are still often tightly contested.
Democrats Al Smith, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and W. Averell Harriman served as governor, as did Republicans Thomas Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller, who was elected four times.
Two years later, Randy Kuhl was unseated by Eric Massa in the 29th District, and Dan Maffei won the seat of retiring Jim Walsh in the Syracuse area.
After no changes in 2016, Democrats defeated three Republican incumbents in 2018, as Max Rose won the Staten Island district, while Anthony Brindisi and Antonio Delgado were respectively elected to seats in Central New York and in the Hudson Valley.
Democrats did suffer significant losses in New York in the 2022 elections, despite a red wave not occurring in much of the rest of the United States.
Democrats were reduced to a 15–11 majority in the delegation, were completely shut out of Long Island, and held just four seats outside of New York City proper.
[28] This recent Democratic dominance may be explained by the exodus of non-Hispanic white voters to other parts of the country, in addition to the large influx of predominately Hispanic minorities to the state.
[29] With few exceptions, upstate New York and Long Island have historically been dominated by a moderate brand of Republicanism.
Since the early 1990s, many voters in traditional Republican strongholds such as Long Island, Syracuse, and the Hudson Valley have voted for Democratic candidates at the national level.
Currently, New York is represented in the U.S. Senate by Chuck Schumer of Brooklyn and Kirsten Gillibrand of Columbia County, both Democrats.
Schumer's victory over Republican Alfonse D'Amato in 1998 gave the Democrats both of the state's Senate seats for the first time since 1947.
[30] Benjamin publicly accused New York GOP Chairman Sandy Treadwell and Governor George Pataki of trying to muscle him out of the Senate race and undermine the democratic process.
[33] Schumer won the largest victory ever recorded for a candidate running statewide in New York against Mills, carrying all but one of the state's counties.
Many New York Republicans were irked again in 2006 when a similar situation unfolded as the state party decided to nominate Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro over conservative lawyer Ed Cox, even though Cox had raised over $1.3 million to Pirro's $400,000.
Chuck Schumer easily defeated Jay Townsend to win a third term in the U.S. Senate with 66 percent of the vote.
[34] Then Gillibrand immediately changed her position on the issue of gun control after she was appointed to satisfy the concerns from downstate residents.
[35] Throughout most of the 20th century, New York was a powerful swing state, forcing presidential candidates to invest a large amount of money and time campaigning there.
New York State gave small margins of victory to Democrats John F. Kennedy in 1960, Hubert Humphrey in 1968, Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Michael Dukakis in 1988, as well as Republicans Herbert Hoover in 1928, Thomas Dewey in 1948 and Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Today, although New York is still the fourth largest prize in the Electoral College with 28 votes, it is usually considered an uncontested "blue state"—meaning that it is presumed safe for the Democrats.
In 2012, Obama carried New York by an even greater margin, taking 63.4% of the vote to Republican Mitt Romney's 35.2%, again making it the third most Democratic state in the nation.
Republicans have to do reasonably well in Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester while holding down their deficits in New York City to have a realistic chance of carrying the state.
