The 2014 elections proved to be a mixed bag for Democrats and Republicans. While Democrats were able to maintain their monopoly on statewide elected offices, they were not able to make sufficient gains in the State Senate to ensure they would be the governing party come January as hoped. Republicans surprisingly gained outright control of the State Senate by increasing their membership to 32, giving them the minimum number of seats needed to hold the Senate majority. Also, given the narrow margin of its majority and Independent Democratic Caucus (IDC) leader Jeffrey Klein’s recent public intimation that the May agreement to cooperate with fellow Democrats may not be binding, there is the possibility of a continued Republican-IDC coalition. Until such final decisions are made, however, the leadership, committee chairmanships, and other issues related to the functions of the Senate may not be known for some time.
The State Assembly, on the other hand, remains heavily Democratic. The Assembly Democrats are expected to have approximately 105 members, compared to 45 Republican assemblymembers once the final tallies and disputed races are decided. Nevertheless, with the start of the 2015 legislative session, given the number of retirements of long-standing assemblymembers, there are also likely to be some changes in leadership posts, committee chairmanships and perhaps even staff.
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