The G.O.P. Gained Ground in New York in 2022. Can Democrats Recover?
The New York Times
Democrats still hold supermajorities in both chambers of the State Legislature, but Republicans are hoping to keep the momentum from the 2022 midterms.
There are few places in America that are bluer than the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y., where Democrats have held supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, as well as the governor’s mansion, since 2018.
But a Republican resurgence in the 2022 has created unexpected headwinds for local Democrats this year.
In the years since Democrats seized power, they have enacted a sweeping progressive agenda, from changes to criminal justice and housing laws to the passage of an amendment that would enshrine abortion in the State Constitution if it is also approved by voters on Tuesday.
But backlash against some of those initiatives — from bail laws to congestion pricing — have created an opening for Republicans eager to reclaim control.
“The underlying current here in New York itself is beneficial to us as the opposition party,” said the state Republican chairman, Ed Cox, noting concerns about inflation, crime and immigration as among Republicans’ greatest campaign assets.
He contended that the state worked better when Democrats and Republicans shared power as they had for most of the last century. “People are eager to support that,” he said.
