GOP Looks to Take Back Control in State Senate

By Brian Park

Party control in the New York State Senate hangs in the balance two days after the polls closed as Republicans and Democrats await the final results of three races that are too close to call.

Tight races in Nassau County, Westchester County and in Buffalo will determine whether Democrats will retain the majority they won in the 2008 election, or whether Republicans can take back the power they held for the four decades prior to that

As of late Thursday, Democrats had won 29 seats; Republicans had won 30, and own razor thin leads in two of the three undecided races.

In the 7th District, representing Nassau County, with all precincts reporting, Democratic incumbent Craig Johnson trails Republican candidate Jack Martins by a mere 415 votes in Nassau County.

Buffalo’s 60th District pits incumbent Antoine Thompson (D) against Mark Grisanti (R). Although Democrats have held Buffalo for over 75 years, the race this year is far more competitive than expected. The lead switched during the day from Thompson to Grisanti, who held an edge of 468 votes late in the day.

In the 37th District, representing Westchester, it is looking like it will come down to a photo finish with incumbent Suzi Oppenheimer (D) leading Bob Cohen (R) by only 180 votes and with 19 percent of precincts yet to report.

With absentee votes yet to be counted, official results will not be available until next week. Still, GOP leaders are optimistic at least two of the three races will fall their way, allowing them retake the Senate in a critical year—with the release of the 2010 U.S. Census data, the next legislature will be charged with redrawing district lines.

Should the election result in an even split of 31 seats for each party, past instances of similar deadlocks suggest that productivity would suffer. In 2009, two Senate Democrats, Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada Jr., joined a bipartisan coalition with the 30 Republican senators. However, after Monserrate flipped back to the Democrats, a 31-31 split created a deadlock.

In October, Monserrate was convicted of misdemeanor third-degree assault following a December 2008 incident with his girlfriend Karla Giraldo at his residence in Jackson Heights. Monserrate was subsequently expelled from his office by a bipartisan vote in the Senate. Espada’s career has also been marked by controversy. In April 2010, current governor-elect and incumbent state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo brought a lawsuit against Espada alleging that he siphoned $14 million from Soundview Health Clinic in the Bronx.

Both Espada and Monserrate were defeated in the Democratic primary. The two former senators have come to represent the turmoil and corruption that critics believe is rampant in the State Legislature. During his campaign for the governorship, Cuomo was persistent in his belief that he was the man to “clean up Albany.”

Cuomo’s convincing victory over Republican candidate Carl Paladino was the most notable of the many Democratic victories on Tuesday. Eric Schneiderman beat Dan Donovan for the soon-to-be vacated Attorney General’s post, and Charles E. Schumer retained his seat in the U.S. Senate by beating Republican Jay Townsend by over 1.3 million votes.

In Brooklyn, Democrats again won nine state senatorial seats. One seat, for the 23rd District, was uncontested. Martin Golden, the incumbent Senator from the 22nd District, was the only Republican to win in Brooklyn. He defeated Democratic candidate Michael DiSanto by 12,106 votes.

Democratic incumbent Velmanette Montgomery, the longest tenured Senator in Brooklyn, won her 13th bid for reelection in District 18, which comprises Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park and Park Slope. She defeated GOP candidate Laquan Word by 42,895 votes.

In the 25th District, which includes parts of Manhattan and Greenpoint to Carroll Gardens, Democrat Daniel Squadron won his first bid for reelection. He defeated Joseph Nardiello, Republican, by 37,438 votes.