The 2018 New York State Senate elections were held on November 6, 2018, to elect representatives from all 63

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

districts in the U.S. state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Primary elections were held on September 13, 2018. In April 2018, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' described the State Senate as the "last bastion of power" of the Republican Party in the State of New York. On Election Day, Democrats gained control of the chamber from the Republicans by picking up eight seats. The following day, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that the Democrats had "decisively evict dRepublicans from running the State Senate, which they adcontrolled 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 Simcha Felder (born December 30, 1958) is an American politician from Borough Park, Brooklyn. He represents the 17th district of the New York State Senate. Felder has been elected to multiple offices as a Democrat, but is known for having caucus ...

, a Democrat who had previously caucused with the Republicans, sought to re-join 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 Andrea Alice Stewart-Cousins (née Stewart; born September 2, 1950) is an American politician and educator from Yonkers, New York. A member of the Democratic Party, Stewart-Cousins has represented District 35 in the New York State Senate since ...

as the first female Majority Leader and Temporary President in the chamber's history.

Party composition

The vote totals for each party were:

Summary of results

Sources:

Retiring incumbents

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

Thomas Croci Thomas D. Croci is an American politician and naval officer from the state of New York. A Republican, Croci represented the 3rd District of the New York State Senate from 2015 through 2018. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for ...

(R), District 3 * William J. Larkin Jr. (R), District 39 *

John Bonacic John J. Bonacic (born June 14, 1942 in New York City) is a retired politician from New York. A Republican, Bonacic represented New York State Senate District 42 (which includes all or parts of Delaware, Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster Counties) ...

(R), District 42 * Kathy Marchione (R), District 43 *

John A. DeFrancisco John A. DeFrancisco (born October 16, 1946) is an attorney and Republican politician who formerly represented District 50 in the New York State Senate from 1993 to 2018. Senate District 50 comprises Skaneateles, Pompey, Van Buren, most of Onon ...

(R), District 50

Incumbents defeated

In primary

Seven incumbent Senators (all Democrats) ran for re-election, but were defeated in the September 13 primaries. They were: *

Tony Avella Anthony Avella Jr. (born October 27, 1951) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 11th district in northeast Queens from 2011 to 2019. The district included the mostly affluent n ...

(D-District 11) * Jose Peralta (D-District 13) *

Martin Malave Dilan Martin Malavé Dilan (born September 12, 1950) is a former member of the New York State Senate representing the 17th and 18th Senate Districts. The 18th Senate District encompasses the northern Brooklyn communities of Bushwick, Williamsburg, ...

(D-District 18) *

Jesse Hamilton Jesse Hamilton is an American lawyer and politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 20th District, including parts of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Brownsville and ...

(D-District 20) *

Marisol Alcantara Marisol Alcantara is an American politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented the New York State Senate's 31st District from 2017 to 2018. Alcantara is a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference ( ...

(D-District 31) *

Jeffrey D. Klein Jeffrey David Klein (born July 10, 1960) is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. He represented the New York State Senate's New York's 34th State Senate district, 34th District, serving p ...

(D-District 34) *

David Valesky David J. Valesky (b. circa 1966) is an American politician who is a former member of the New York State Senate. A Democrat, Valesky represented the 53rd Senate District and the 49th Senate District in upstate New York. Career Valesky was fi ...

(D-District 53) With the exception of Sen. Dilan, all seven had been members of the

Independent Democratic Conference The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) was a group of members of the New York State Senate from the Democratic Party who were elected as Democrats but formed a coalition to give the Republicans the majority in the chamber, and attempted to c ...

In general election

The following Republican incumbents were defeated on Election Day: * Carl L. Marcellino (R-District 5) *

Kemp Hannon J. Kemp Hannon (born January 10, 1946) is an American politician. A Republican, Hannon was a member of the New York State Senate from the 6th district in Nassau County between 1989 and 2018. Biography Hannon graduated from Chaminade High Scho ...

(R-District 6) *

Elaine Phillips Elaine Phillips is an American politician who currently serves as Nassau County Comptroller, with a term beginning in January 2022. She was elected to the position in a landslide victory, defeating Democrat Ryan Cronin 61%-39% to succeed retiring ...

(R-District 7) *

Martin Golden Martin J. Golden (born September 22, 1950) is an American politician from Brooklyn, New York, one of the five boroughs of New York City. A Republican, Golden represented the 43rd district in the New York City Council from 1998 to 2002 and repr ...

(R-District 22) * Terrence Murphy (R-District 40) The six Democratic members of the IDC who were defeated in the September primaries (Sens. Avella, Peralta, Hamilton, Alcantara, Klein, and Valesky) were also on the ballot in November on either the Independence Party line, the Women's Equality Party line, or both (Sen. Peralta also received votes on the Reform Party line). None of the six was re-elected.

Detailed results

*The

New York State Board of Elections The New York State Board of Elections is a bipartisan agency of the New York state government within the New York State Executive Department responsible for enforcement and administration of election-related laws. It also regulates campaign fina ...

only publishes results for contested primary elections. Sources:

District 1

District 2

District 3

The 3rd district is located on Long Island and includes Medford, Ronkonkoma, and

Sayville Sayville is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Located on the South Shore of Long Island in the Township of Islip, the population of the CDP was 16,853 at the time of the 2010 census. History The ea ...

. Republican

has represented this district since 2015. Croci did not run for reelection.

District 4

District 5

District 6

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

District 7

District 8

District 9

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

Reform primary

General election

District 10

District 11

Democratic primary

, incumbent *

John Liu John Chun Yah Liu (born January 8, 1967) is an American politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a member of the New York State Senate for the 11th district in northeast Queens. He previously served as the 43rd New Y ...

, former

New York City Comptroller The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the s ...

Republican primary

General election

District 12

Reform primary

General election

District 13

Democratic primary

* Jose Peralta, incumbent *

Jessica Ramos Jessica Ramos (born June 27, 1985) is an American politician from the state of New York. Ramos is a member of the Democratic Party. Since 2019, she has served in the New York State Senate representing District 13, which currently includes the Que ...

, community activist

General election

District 14

District 15

Republican primary

Reform primary

General election

District 16

District 17

Democratic primary

* Simcha Felder, incumbent * Blake Morris, attorney

General election

District 18

Democratic primary

, incumbent *

Julia Salazar Julia Salazar (born December 30, 1990) is an American politician and activist. She is the New York State Senator for the 18th district, which covers much of northern Brooklyn, centered on Bushwick. She won the seat as a first-time candidate aft ...

, political activist

General election

District 19

District 20

Democratic primary

, incumbent *

Zellnor Myrie Zellnor Myrie (born 1986) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he has served in the New York State Senate since 2019, representing the 20th state senate district, which includes parts of Brooklyn. Early life and educati ...

, lawyer and former legislative director in

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

General election

District 21

District 22

Democratic challenger

Andrew Gounardes Andrew Gounardes (born July 8, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician. He is a Democrat and a member of the New York State Senate, representing the 26th district, which encompasses the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Sunset Park, ...

defeated

Ross Barkan Ross Elliot Barkan (born October 22, 1989) is an American journalist, novelist, columnist, and essayist. Early life and education Barkan grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He attended Stony Brook University and earned a master's degree from New Yo ...

in the Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Golden in the general election.

Democratic primary

, journalist *

, 2012 Democratic nominee for NY-SD22

General election

District 23

Democratic primary

* Jasmine Robinson, legal secretary *

Diane Savino Diane J. Savino (born September 28, 1963) is an American Democratic politician who represented the 23rd Senate District in the New York State Senate, in northern Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, including Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, ...

, incumbent * Brandon Stradford

Reform primary

General election

District 24

District 25

District 26

Reform primary

General election

District 27

District 28

Independence primary

General election

District 29

District 30

District 31

Democratic primary

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

General election

District 32

Democrat

Luis Sepúlveda Luis Sepúlveda Calfucura (October 4, 1949 – April 16, 2020) was a Chilean writer and journalist. A communist militant and fervent opponent of Augusto Pinochet's regime, he was imprisoned and tortured by the military dictatorship during the ...

has represented this district since winning a special election in April 2018.

District 33

District 34

Democratic primary

Alessandra Biaggi Alessandra Rose Biaggi (born May 20, 1986) is an American politician serving as a member of the New York State Senate since 2019, representing the 34th district, which includes portions of Bronx and Westchester Counties. She is the chair of th ...

, Deputy National Operations Director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign *

, incumbent

General election

District 35

Democratic primary

, incumbent * Virginia Perez

General election

District 36

District 37

Democrat

Shelley Mayer Shelley Mayer (born March 6, 1952) is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the New York State Senate representing the 37th Senate District, which includes portions of Westchester County. Formerly a member of the New York St ...

has represented this district since winning a special election in April 2018.

District 38

Democrat

David Carlucci David S. Carlucci ( ; born April 3, 1981) is an American politician in Rockland County, New York. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the state senator for the 38th district, which includes most of Rockland County and parts of Westchest ...

, a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), 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

, incumbent * Julie Goldberg, school librarian

General election

District 39

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

Reform primary

General election

District 40

Democratic primary

General election

District 41

District 42

Republican

, who has represented this district since 1999, did not seek re-election, and was succeeded by Democrat

Jen Metzger Jennifer "Jen" Metzger (born February 3, 1965) is an American politician serving as the County Executive of Ulster County, New York since 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States). She previously represented the 42nd district ...

Democratic primary

* Pramilla Malick, 2016 Democratic nominee for NYSD-42 *

, Rosendale town councilwoman

Reform primary

General election

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 Daphne Veras Jordan (born November 28, 1959) is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the New York State Senate, representing the 43rd district since her election in 2018. The district includes northern portions of the Hud ...

District 44

District 45

District 46

District 47

District 48

District 49

Reform primary

General election

District 50

Republican

John DeFrancisco John A. DeFrancisco (born October 16, 1946) is an attorney and Republican politician who formerly represented District 50 in the New York State Senate from 1993 to 2018. Senate District 50 comprises Skaneateles, Pompey, Van Buren, most of Onon ...

has 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 51

District 52

District 53

Democratic primary

* Rachel May, board member of OCRRA and former college professor *

, incumbent

General election

District 54

District 55

District 56

District 57

District 58

Democratic primary

* Amanda Kirchgessner, community activist * Michael Lausell, Schuyler County legislator

General election

District 59

District 60

District 61

District 62

District 63

Democratic primary

* Timothy M. Kennedy (incumbent) * Shaqurah Zachery, teacher

General election

Aftermath

One question that remained after the 2018 elections was which caucus Democratic Senator

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.

Notes

References

{{2018 United States elections

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

New York State Senate elections Independent Democratic Conference