I’m outta here!
Top state Senate GOPer: Goodbye, politics
ALBANY — The top-ranking Republican in the state Senate has set a date for his retirement, leaving the dwindling conference looking for a leader during an election year.
Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk), who announced in March he wouldn’t be seeking reelection, said Tuesday he will officially step down June 28.
Long Island-based Northwell Health announced Flanagan will join the company as vice president of regional government affairs in Suffolk and eastern Nassau counties at the end of the month.
Flanagan said he leaves Albany with his “head full of life lessons and my heart full of fond memories.”
The early departure, which will come just days after the state’s June 23 primary, has a few of Flanagan’s soon-to-be former colleagues already vyg ing for the spot. p
Sens. Patrick Gallivan (RWyoming County) and Robert Ortt (R-Erie) both said Tuesday they are eyeing the position.
“Now more than ever, the Senate Republican conference needs a battle-tested, conservative fighter,” Ortt said. “There are some who are comfortable with the status quo and letting the governor and radical New York City regressives speak for all New Yorkers. I’m not one of them.”
In a surprise move, Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) said he is not interested in seeking the leadership role.
Nearly a dozen Republicans have retired or moved on to seek other offices this year after Democrats won control of both chambers in the Capitol.
The GOP’s numbers dwindled to just 22 of the 63 Senate seats leading into last year’s session, the first with Democrats in control of both the Senate and the Assembly in decades.
Over the past year, nearly a dozen Republicans have announced that they will not seek reelection or have retired, further depleting the GOP’s ranks in the Capitol.
Flanagan, 58, entered politics in 1987, replacing his late father in the Assembly. He was elected to the Senate in 2002 and served as the majority leader for the three years preceding the Democratic takeover of the chamber in 2018.
Despite announcing his departure in March, Flanagan said at the time the GOP was preparing to take Democrats head-on and attempting to capitalize on public concerns about liberal policies enacted over the past two sessions.
“We have recruited top-tier candidates in races all across the state, and ensured our conference has the right messaging to succeed,” he said at the time.
However, whoever takes over for the departing leader will have a tough road ahead as the conference’s coffers are low and Democrats are poised to pick up seats in the Senate come November.