ALBANY - Among the biggest wins Tuesday for Democrats in New York were their convincing victories in state Senate races, giving the party a clear majority for the first time in nearly a decade.
And even the last time Democrats won the majority in 2008, it was a tenuous hold that fell apart in 2009 when a coup led Republicans to briefly tangle for control.
But it won't be that case in January, when Democrats could have 39 seats in the 63-seat chamber, providing the party and Gov. Andrew Cuomo with a mandate from voters to enact a progressive agenda that long languished under Senate GOP control.
Issues like giving victims of sexual assaults as children the ability to sue their abusers, called the Child Victims Act, are a key priority for Democrats.
So too is codifying Roe v. Wade into state law to strengthen abortion rights, particularly if, as Democrats warn, the U.S. Supreme Court were to move to overturn the 1973 federal decision.
Democrats also want to add new gun-control laws and enact campaign-finance reforms.
What's next?
That's probably just a start.
“The voters of New York state have spoken, and they have elected a clear Democratic majority to the State Senate," Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said in a statement.
Stewart-Cousins will head the conference that will be dominated by new members from the New York City suburbs after Democrats likely picked up four seats on Long Island and three in the Hudson Valley.
Her ascension is historic. She will be the first woman and the first African-American woman to head a legislative chamber in Albany.
"I am confident our majority will grow even larger after all results are counted, and we will finally give New Yorkers the progressive leadership they have been demanding," she said.
Tests ahead
The new majority will come with challenges for Stewart-Cousins, Cuomo and Democratic leaders in the Assembly and Senate.
Cuomo won a third term Tuesday over Republican Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive.
But it will be the first time Cuomo will have a fully Democrat-controlled Legislature after he worked closely with Senate Republicans during his first eight years in office.
Cuomo worked this year to help Democrats win the Senate majority. Now they will have to deliver on their promises for the next two years.
On Wednesday, Cuomo noted his priorities include the abortion-rights bill and a “red flag” gun-control law that would make it easier to take weapons from people the state deems as dangerous.
He said he would also want to pursue early voting reforms and banning or limiting outside income for state lawmakers.
“None of these things could get done with the Republican Senate,” Cuomo said Wednesday on WVOX-AM (1460) in Westchester.
“We can now get them done with a Democratic Senate. They are significant. They are issues that have frankly bothered me and a lot of other New Yorkers for years.”
Big victories
Republicans once held all nine Senate seats on Long Island, giving the party a formidable voting bloc. They lost two seats in recent cycles.
Now, they stand to have just three seats there after Democrats appeared to pick up four seats on election night, likely ousting GOP incumbents Carl Marcellino, Elaine Phillips and Kemp Hannon and winning an open seat.
In the Hudson Valley, Democrats won two open seats: Assemblyman James Skoufis and Jen Metzger were elected in districts being vacated by retiring Republican Sens. William Larkin and John Bonacic, respectively.
Then in the 40th District, which stretches across northern Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties, Democrat Peter Harckham was comfortably ahead of GOP Sen. Terrence Murphy, who was seeking a third term.
Cuomo said it would be up Cousins to navigate the “complexity” of politics across New York, a liberal-leaning state with major swaths of conservative-leaning regions.
“Members of the Legislature all too often only know their district, and we have districts in this state that are as conservative as any in the nation and as liberal as any in the nation,” Cuomo said.
“But Senator Stewart-Cousins gets the complexity and the dimensions of the entire state.”