Andrew Cuomo

Five takeaways from New York’s elections

Democrats sweep, New Yorkers ascending to power in Congress, and women making history.

Democratic New York Attorney General-elect Letitia James celebrates her victory during an election night party in the Brooklyn

Democratic New York Attorney General-elect Letitia James celebrates her victory during an election night party in the Brooklyn Andres Kudacki/AP/Shutterstock

The blue wave came to shore, flipping Republican seats to Democrats across the state. The Democrats are poised to win a solid majority in the state Senate for the first time since 2010, multiple Democratic challengers beat incumbents in the U.S. House and all of New York’s statewide positions remained in Democratic hands, led by a resounding re-election victory for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In Albany and Washington, D.C., New York Democrats will be ascending to new positions of power. Here are five major takeaways from Tuesday’s results.

Democratic sweep in Albany

Democrats last controlled the state Senate during the 2009 and 2010 sessions, but it was a period marred by in-fighting, with Albany being thrust into utter confusion for a month during a leadership coup. This time around, Democrats are planning for a cohesive majority under the steady leadership of state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester County, who has led the conference since 2012. Her conference will have many new faces, thanks in part to six former members of the Independent Democratic Conference losing in the primaries, and all seem eager to pledge allegiance to Stewart-Cousins.

Some races were yet to be called as of midnight, but Democrats would pick up the one seat they needed for a majority if Andrew Gounardes beats Republican incumbent Marty Golden in southern Brooklyn. (At the time of this writing, Gounardes was in the lead but Golden pledged to fight on.) Democrats nabbed additional seats on Long Island where Democrats Anna Kaplan and Jim Gaughran bested state Sens. Elaine Phillips and Carl Marcellino. They also picked up open seats upstate: Democrats James Skoufis and Jen Metzger replaced retiring Republican state Sens. William Larkin and John Bonacic, respectively.

Cuomo returning to a different Capitol

Gov. Andrew Cuomo easily won a third term as expected, alongside Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Democrat Letitia James became the first woman to be elected Attorney General, as well as the first woman of color elected to a statewide position in New York. And U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand easily won re-election, keeping her in the national conversation as a potential presidential candidate in 2020.

But the real story is how Cuomo will govern with a Democratic government. He had a Republican state Senate majority for his first eight years in power, which served Cuomo’s moderate tendencies just fine. Now that the Assembly and state Senate are both blue, the sky's the limit for progressive causes such as codifying the right to an abortion in state law, legalizing cannabis and outlawing cash bail. Cuomo may have to serve as a moderating force to the newly energized state Senate majority if he wants to keep his centrist credentials.

Women of color making history

Women of color broke several historic barriers: Attorney General-elect Letitia James became the first woman of color to win statewide office in New York and state Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins will become the first woman of color – or first woman at all – to be majority leader of a chamber of the state Legislature. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, at 29 years old, also became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, topping her soon-to-be colleague in Congress, North Country Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who was first elected when she was 30.

New Yorkers rise in the House

New York Democrats pulled their weight in flipping the House of Representatives to Democratic control, thanks to victories from Max Rose over Rep. Dan Donovan, Antonio Delgado over Rep. John Faso and Anthony Brindisi over Rep. Claudia Tenney.

But the Republicans who lost were all relative newcomers to Congress. The state’s longest-tenured members of Congress in both parties won re-election and several on the Democratic side are likely to be appointed chairs of some of the body’s most influential committees. Rep. Jerry Nadler is in line to be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where he would lead some investigations into President Donald Trump and his appointees, and possible – though unlikely – impeachment proceedings.

Other New Yorkers are in position to get chairmanships, including Rep. Nita Lowey who could lead the powerful Appropriations Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, who could chair the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Rep. Nydia Velazquez, could take over the Committee on Small Business. Rep. Carolyn Maloney will likely be named chairwoman of the Joint Economic Committee. Though it’s a boon for New York Democrats in the House, the state’s moment in the spotlight could have been much greater – Rep. Joe Crowley was the fourth-ranking House Democrat, and widely considered a strong candidate for House Speaker if his party won the majority, before he lost his re-election bid to Ocasio-Cortez.

Yes, yes, yes in NYC

All politics is local, and even as New York City residents eagerly awaited the national results, the three ballot measures pushed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Charter Revision Commission passed by large margins. That means the city will have lower contribution limits for New York City elections, a new civic engagement commission and community board members will be limited to four two-year terms.

The wins are a small victory for de Blasio and the good government groups who backed him, and a slight disappointment for 2021 mayoral hopefuls like New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who opposed some of the measures. Most criticism of the civic engagement commission centered on the fact that it would be doubling up on the responsibilities of the New York City Board of Elections, such as helping voters who aren’t fluent in English. But after city voters faced numerous problems on Election Day like broken ballot scanners and long lines, New Yorkers seemed to be eager for change.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.