2018 New York State Senate election

The 2018 New York State Senate elections were held on November 6, 2018, to elect representatives from all 63 State Senate districts in the U.S. state of New York. Primary elections were held on September 13, 2018.
In April 2018, The Wall Street Journal described the state senate as the "last bastion of power" of the Republican Party in the State of New York. The coalition of Republicans and members of the Democratic Conference collapsed in 2018, with 7 of the 8 IDC members returning to the Democratic Caucus. Democrat Simcha Felder, however, continued to caucus with the Republicans, giving them control of the chamber with only 31 seats. On Election Day, Democrats gained control of the chamber from the Republicans by picking up eight seats.
The following day, New York Times wrote that the Democrats had "decisively evict Republicans from running the State Senate, which they controlled for all but three years since World War II". Enrolled Democrats won 40 of the chamber's 63 seats, including all but one seat in New York City and six of the nine seats on Long Island, the latter of which had been under total Republican control since the early 1970s. Brooklyn Senator Simcha Felder, a Democrat who had previously caucused with the Republicans, sought to rejoin the Senate Democratic Conference, but was turned down in December 2018; he was later accepted into the Conference on July 1, 2019.
The Democrats' election victories made possible the January 2019 election of Andrea Stewart-Cousins as the first female Majority Leader and Temporary President in the chamber's history.

Party composition

The vote totals for each party were:

Party	Votes	Percentage	Swing
Democratic	3,242,586	55.98%	4.48%
Republican	1,926,123	33.25%	3.27%
Conservative	253,452	4.38%	0.69%
Independence	155,542	2.69%	0.38%
Working Families	143,776	2.48%	0.40%
Women's Equality	33,835	0.58%	0.11%
Reform	25,362	0.44%	0.12%
Green	10,539	0.18%	0.36%
Stop de Blasio	415	0.01%	New
Upstate Jobs	347	0.01%	New
Tax Revolt	278	0.00%	0.02%

Results

Sources:

Retiring incumbents

Five incumbent Republican senators did not seek re-election in 2018. They were:

Thomas Croci, [|District 3]
William J. Larkin Jr., [|District 39]
John Bonacic, [|District 42]
Kathy Marchione, [|District 43]
John A. DeFrancisco, [|District 50]

Incumbents defeated

In primary

Seven incumbent senators ran for re-election, but were defeated in the September 13 primaries. They were:

With the exception of Sen. Dilan, all seven had been members of the Independent Democratic Conference.

In general election

The following Republican incumbents were defeated on election day:

The six Democratic members of the IDC who were defeated in the September primaries were also on the ballot in November, on either the Independence Party line, the Women's Equality Party line, or both. None of the six was re-elected.

Detailed results

The New York State Board of Elections only publishes results for contested primary elections.

Sources:

District 3

The 3rd district is located on Long Island and includes Medford, Ronkonkoma, and Sayville. Republican Thomas Croci had represented this district since 2015. Croci did not run for reelection.

District 6

In an unexpected upset, Democratic challenger Kevin Thomas defeated Republican incumbent Kemp Hannon.

District 9

Democrat Todd Kaminsky was first elected in a 2016 special election.

District 11

Democratic primary

Tony Avella, incumbent
John Liu, former New York City Comptroller

District 13

Democratic primary

Jose Peralta, incumbent
Jessica Ramos, community activist

District 17

Democratic primary

Simcha Felder, incumbent
Blake Morris, attorney

District 18

Democratic primary

Martin Malave Dilan, incumbent
Julia Salazar, political activist

District 20

Democratic primary

Jesse Hamilton, incumbent
Zellnor Myrie, lawyer and former legislative director in New York City Council

District 22

Democratic challenger Andrew Gounardes defeated Ross Barkan in the Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Golden in the general election.

Democratic primary

Ross Barkan, journalist
Andrew Gounardes, 2012 Democratic nominee for NY-SD22

District 23

Democratic primary

Jasmine Robinson, legal secretary
Diane Savino, incumbent
Brandon Stradford

District 31

Democratic primary

Marisol Alcantara, incumbent
Robert Jackson, former New York City councilman
Thomas Leon
Tirso Santiago Pina

District 32

Democrat Luis Sepúlveda had represented this district since winning a special election in April 2018.

District 34

Democratic primary

Alessandra Biaggi, Deputy National Operations Director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign
Jeffrey D. Klein, incumbent

District 35

Democratic primary

Virginia Perez
Andrea Stewart-Cousins, incumbent

District 37

Democrat Shelley Mayer had represented this district since winning a special election in April 2018.

District 38

Democrat David Carlucci, a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference, was first elected in 2010. Like other former IDC members, Carlucci received a Democratic primary challenge in 2018. After defeating Julie Goldberg in the primary, Carlucci turned back Republican Scott Vanderhoef in the general election.

Democratic primary

David Carlucci, incumbent
Julie Goldberg, school librarian

District 39

Republican Sen. William J. Larkin Jr. did not seek re-election.

District 42

Republican John Bonacic, who had represented this district since 1999, did not seek re-election, and was succeeded by Democrat Jen Metzger.

Democratic primary

Pramilla Malick, 2016 Democratic nominee for NYSD-42
Jen Metzger, Rosendale town councilwoman

District 43

Republican Kathy Marchione, who had represented this district since 2013, did not seek re-election, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Daphne Jordan.

District 50

Republican John DeFrancisco had represented this district since 1993 and did not seek re-election. As of November 7, 2018, Republican Bob Antonacci led Democrat John Mannion by 2,829 votes and declared victory in the race, although absentee ballots remained to be counted. On November 21, 2018, elections officials confirmed Antonacci's victory.

District 53

Democratic primary

Rachel May, board member of OCRRA and former college professor
David Valesky, incumbent

District 58

Democratic primary

Amanda Kirchgessner, community activist
Michael Lausell, Schuyler County legislator

District 63

Democratic primary

Timothy M. Kennedy
Shaqurah Zachery, teacher

Aftermath

One question that remained after the 2018 elections was which caucus Democratic senator Simcha Felder would join. Felder, since his first Senate election in 2012, had been a member of the Republican majority. After the dissolution of the Independent Democratic Conference, Felder remained with the Republicans as the decisive vote for Senate control. Felder maintained throughout his tenure that he would rejoin the Democrats if doing so would benefit his district, but after retaking control of the Senate in the 2018 elections, the Senate Democratic Conference did not allow him to join. Felder was allowed into the Senate Democratic Conference in July 2019; this action gave the Conference a total of 40 members.