This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Democrats took back control of the House of Representatives – not with a narrow win but with a shellacking. And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is no longer leading from behind – he’s preparing to lead from Brooklyn. Jeffries is seen as all-but-assured to become the House’s first Black speaker. But he’s playing it cool for now, declaring his candidacy for the role with a letter humbly requesting members’ support.

What didn’t kill Gov. Kathy Hochul made her stronger. Kelly Clarkson’s anthem “Stronger” played when the governor took the stage on election night as she basked in her nearly 20-point victory over Republican Bruce Blakeman. Not only is that landslide significantly better than her first election, it’s also an overperformance of every recent public poll. Gone are the days of being blamed for dragging down the party and costing other Democrats their seats. This is Hochul triumphant.

When New York’s U.S. senators decide to deliver a beatdown, watch out because they’re lethal. Chuck Schumer raised over $1 billion for Senate Democrats and had recruiting wins like Texas U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico. Kirsten Gillibrand presided over a campaign arm that flipped at least seven seats, including Kansas, which hadn’t elected a Democratic senator in 94 years. We’ll never again question Gillibrand predicting Mississippi as a Senate battleground, as she told us last year.

Apparently, Staten Island is now more conservative than Texas and Mississippi, as Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis cruised to victory for another term in Congress, defeating Democratic challenger Mike DeCillis by even larger margins than some safe Republican House seats on Long Island. The blue tsunami that washed out Republicans across New York and the rest of the country on Election Day seemingly missed the ruby red shores of Staten Island.

 It’s not just a supermajority, it’s a super-DUPER majority. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins is set to welcome in her largest conference ever with about 47 members. Quite a first outing too for the newly minted state Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Chair Shelley Mayer. And Stewart-Cousins also gets national bragging rights as the head of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which had major statehouse victories across the country.

When Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman took the stage to concede to Gov. Kathy Hochul, basically no one noticed him until he started speaking. That’s an insult added to the injury of the week he had: He lost to Hochul, and lost his own county; his transgender athlete ban was struck down in an appeals court; he never quite got the hang of how to file campaign finance disclosures; and he’s blaming Elise Stefanik and others on social media.

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler was wiped out by the “blue wave” on Election Day, with his Democratic opponent Cait Conley winning by almost 12,000 votes. Lawler’s association with Trump amid widespread disdain for the president contributed to his defeat. He put up a valiant effort, but it wasn’t enough in the brutal political landscape for the GOP on Election Day: “Jesus Christ could have run and would have lost,” he said. Amen.

The biggest story before polls closed on Election Day was a problem with voting machines in Westchester County. It was an embarrassment for the county, and no doubt led to a stressful day for Election Commissioners Tajian Nelson and Douglas Colety. But they worked to make sure all the votes were counted – despite what conspiracy theorists claimed – using the backup method of putting ballots into secure orange bags. In the end, the ballots were only delayed, not forgotten.

The “blue wave” also overtook longtime Republican state Sen. James Tedisco, who lost his reelection campaign to Democratic challenger Sarah Rogerson after more than 40 years in office. Tedisco has represented his Capital Region community as both an Assembly member and senator since 1983, but Rogerson ousted him in her first campaign for office. He did concede gracefully, wishing his successor all the best and thanking his constituents for their years of support and trust.

The last time Republicans had an election this bad, it was Richard Nixon’s fault. Now everyone’s blaming his son-in-law, state Republican Party Chair Ed Cox, for New York’s GOP carnage. Rep.-elect Anthony Constantino called Cox “dumb as rocks” and wants him ousted. Assembly Member-elect Marc Molinaro, a former GOP gubernatorial nominee, said “the party needs an enema” and called the election “an ass-whipping.” Maybe Nixon’s other son-in-law, David Eisenhower, made the smart choice going into academia.