New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. The Democratic Party has held control of the New York State Senate since 2019. The Senate majority leader is Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Partisan composition
As of December 31, 2025, the Democratic Party holds 39 seats in the Senate and the Republican Party holds 22 seats.Recent history
The New York State Senate was dominated by the Republican Party for much of the 20th century. Between World War II and the turn of the 21st century, the Democratic Party only controlled the upper house for one year.2000s
In the 2006 elections, Republicans maintained control of the State Senate, but lost the seat of Republican Nicholas Spano in Westchester County.Entering 2007, Republican control of the Senate seemed precarious. The Senate Republican caucus was diminished to 33 members. In a February 2007 special election, the open Senate vacated by Michael Balboni in Nassau County was lost to Democrat Craig M. Johnson.
As of 2008, the State Senate had been controlled by the Republican Party since 1965.
In February 2008, Democrat Darrel Aubertine won a special election in the majority-Republican 48th District in Watertown. This loss diminished the Republican Senate majority to a single seat.
On July 18, 2008, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno resigned his Senate seat.
2009–2010: Democrats control Senate; "parliamentary coup" occurs
Democrats won 32 of 62 seats in New York's upper chamber in the 2008 general election on November 4, capturing the Senate majority for the first time in more than four decades.However, a power struggle emerged before the new term began. Four Democratic senators — Rubén Díaz Sr., Carl Kruger, Pedro Espada Jr., and Hiram Monserrate — immediately refused to caucus with their party. The self-named "Gang of Four" refused to back Malcolm Smith as the chamber's majority leader and sought concessions. Monserrate soon rejoined the caucus after reaching an agreement with Smith that reportedly included the chairmanship of the Consumer Affairs Committee. The remaining "Gang of Three" reached an initial compromise in early December that collapsed within a week, but was ultimately resolved with Smith becoming majority leader.
At the beginning of the 2009–2010 legislative session, there were 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans in the Senate. On June 8, 2009, then-Senators Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada Jr.—both Democrats—voted with the 30 Republican members to install Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos as the new majority leader of the Senate, replacing Democratic Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith. The Associated Press described the vote as a "parliamentary coup". The move came after Republican whip Tom Libous introduced a surprise resolution to vacate the chair and replace Smith as temporary president and majority leader. In an effort to stop the vote, Democratic whip Jeff Klein unilaterally moved to recess, and Smith had the lights and Internet cut off; however, they were unable to prevent the vote from being held. In accordance with a prearranged deal, Espada was elected temporary president and acting lieutenant governor while Skelos was elected majority leader.
Following the "coup", Senate Democrats voted for John Sampson to replace Smith as Democratic Leader. On June 14, Monserrate declared that he would once again caucus with the Democrats. This development meant that the Senate was evenly split, 31–31, between the Republican Conference and the Democratic Conference. Due to a vacancy in the office of the Lieutenant Governor, there was no way to break the deadlock.
Between June 8 and the end of the "coup" on July 9, the Senate did not conduct any official business. According to The New York Times, Espada's power play "threw the Senate into turmoil and hobbled the state government, making the body a national laughingstock as the feuding factions shouted and gaveled over each other in simultaneous legislative sessions." The "coup" also led to litigation.
On July 9, 2009, the "coup" ended. Espada rejoined the Senate Democratic Conference after reaching a deal in which he would be named Senate Majority Leader, Sampson would remain Senate Democratic Leader, and Smith would be Temporary President of the Senate during a "transition period" after which Sampson would ascend to the Temporary Presidency. On February 9, 2010, the Senate voted to expel Monserrate from the Senate following a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction. Espada was defeated in a September 2010 primary election in which the Democratic Party backed his challenger, Gustavo Rivera.
2011–2012: Republicans return to power; IDC forms
Republicans retook the Senate majority in the 2010 elections, winning 32 seats to the Democrats' 30 on Election Day. One Republican Senate incumbent was defeated, while Democratic candidate David Carlucci was elected to an open seat in Senate District 38 that had been vacated due to the death of Republican Senator Thomas Morahan on July 12, 2010. Four Democratic incumbents lost their seats to Republicans in the 2010 elections: Sen. Brian Foley was defeated by Lee Zeldin, Sen. Antoine Thompson was defeated by Mark Grisanti, Sen. Darrel Aubertine was defeated by Patty Ritchie, and Craig M. Johnson was defeated by Jack Martins.Just before the new legislative session convened in January 2011, four Senate Democrats—led by former Democratic whip Jeff Klein—broke away from the Senate Democratic Conference to form an Independent Democratic Conference. Klein said that he and his three colleagues—Diane Savino, David Carlucci and David Valesky—could no longer support the leadership of Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson.
In March 2011, "Gang of Four" member Senator Carl Kruger surrendered to bribery charges. He later pleaded guilty to those charges in December 2011. On March 20, 2012, Republican David Storobin defeated Democrat Lew Fidler in a special election to fill Kruger's vacated seat; results of the special election took weeks to finalize.
On June 24, 2011, same-sex marriage legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 33–29. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law at 11:55 P.M.
On March 15, 2012, Gov. Cuomo signed redistricting legislation that added a 63rd State Senate district. Months prior to the passage of the redistricting legislation, the New York Daily News reported that according to Republican sources, adding a 63rd seat "to the current 62-member body would...make political coups like the one that shut down the chamber two years ago more difficult". The Daily News added: "Insiders note that adding a 63rd seat in the state Senate would avoid any legislative chaos by ensuring one party would be in the majority – as opposed to now, with an even number of seats". Following a lawsuit, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the enacted redistricting plan on May 3, 2012.
2013–2014: Coalition government
In the November 6, 2012 elections, Democrats won a total of 33 seats for a three-seat majority. Democrats gained seats in Senate Districts 17, 41, and 55, and won the election in the newly created Senate District 46.The election in Senate District 46—a new district that was created through the redistricting process in 2012—was noteworthy because the candidate who was sworn in as the victor was later found, following a recount, to have lost the election. Republican George Amedore was sworn in to the State Senate following the election. However, a recount revealed that Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk had defeated Amedore by 18 votes; therefore, Amedore vacated the seat, becoming the shortest-tenured senator in modern New York history. Amedore would eventually win a rematch with Tkaczyk in 2014.
Of the four Republican state senators who voted for the Marriage Equality Act in 2011, only Grisanti was re-elected in 2012. The Conservative Party of New York withdrew support for any candidate who had voted for the bill. Sen. Alesi opted to retire instead of facing a potential primary challenge; Sen. McDonald lost a Republican primary to Saratoga County Clerk Kathy Marchione; and Sen. Saland won his Republican primary, but lost the general election to Democrat Terry Gipson after Saland's Republican primary challenger, Neil Di Carlo, remained on the ballot on the Conservative line and acted as a spoiler.
On December 4, 2012, it was announced that Senate Republicans had reached a power-sharing deal with the four-member Independent Democratic Conference. Under their power-sharing arrangement, the IDC and the Senate Republicans would "jointly decide what bills reach the Senate floor each day of the session", would "dole out committee assignments", would "have the power to make appointments to state and local boards", and would "share negotiations over the state budget". Sens. Klein and Skelos also agreed that the title of Senate President would shift back and forth between the two of them every two weeks. Together, the Senate Republicans and the IDC held enough seats to form a governing majority; that majority was augmented when freshman Sen. Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, a Democrat, joined the Senate Republican Conference. Also, former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith joined the IDC in December 2012.
On December 17, 2012, Senate Democrats elected Andrea Stewart-Cousins as Senate Democratic Leader. Stewart-Cousins became the first woman in history to lead a conference in the New York State Legislature.
Malcolm Smith was expelled from the IDC in April 2013 due to a scandal in which he attempted to bribe the Republican Party chairs in New York City for a Wilson Pakula to run in the upcoming New York City mayoral election.
Former Senate Minority Leader John L. Sampson was expelled from the Senate Democratic Conference on May 6, 2013, following his arrest on embezzlement charges. Sampson later forfeited his Senate seat after being convicted of making false statements to federal agents in relation to the initial embezzlement case.
In February 2014, Tony Avella joined the IDC.