GOP Senate big keeps gig
Flanagan still boss after losing majority
ALBANY — Despite losing eight seats and the majority, Sen. John Flanagan will remain the state Senate Republican leader as the party moves into the minority come January.
The Long Island Republican on Friday defeated Sen. Catharine Young (R-Cattaraugus County) 14-9 in a bitter fight for the leadership position.
The Republicans will go from holding a razor-thin one seat majority, thanks to Brooklyn Democratic Sen. Simcha Felder, who caucused with the GOP, to having just 23 members in the 63-seat chamber. Felder hasn’t said which side he will sit with in the new year, though he did not attend the minority leader vote.
Flanagan said the Republicans will speak out against progressive initiatives they believe might pass now that the Democrats control both houses of the Legislature, including an effort to authorize driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants and creation of a single-payer health care program he said would bankrupt the state.
“I’m scared to death about what’s coming,” he said.
But with just 23 members, there will be little the Republicans can do to stop measures they oppose from advancing in the chamber.
The GOP is also set to lose the bigger staff allotments and larger offices that are part of the perks of being in the majority. The Democrats have not controlled the chamber since 2009-10.
Young congratulated Flanagan and spoke of the need to unify, but notably refused several times to say whether she believes Flanagan is up to the task of standing up for the conference as the minority leader.
“I believe I gave it my best shot,” Young said following the closed-door vote. “I felt very deeply that we needed to have a change just because of the devastating results of this past election.”
Flanagan blamed the losses on external factors, including President Trump’s unpopularity in large parts of the state, high turnout that benefited the Democrats, and the fact that some traditional GOP financial backers like the charter school and real estate industries stayed on the sidelines.
He said the Senate Republicans raised far more this year than the previous cycle and complemented the party’s slate of candidates.
Sen. James Tedisco (RSchenectady County) said he voted for Young because 19 of the 23 Republicans elected to the Senate are from upstate.
“I think the constituents expected us to respect their decision and tell them, ‘Yes, we can find someone in upstate New York who is competent enough to be the leader of the New York state Senate,’ ” Tedisco said.
Flanagan vowed to continue to travel the state and speak out on behalf of the entire conference. His power base of Long Island, which only a few years ago had nine Republican state senators, will now be down to three.