New York Elections by Tom Reynolds
Because of very slow reporting in a few key states, it’s too early to comment on national elections. Expectations were artificially high and there is disappointment, but the results may yet be positive.
Here in New York State…another statewide disaster for the 2nd Amendment but some legislative district successes.
First, Lee Zeldin needs to be thanked for his terrific run for governor. He left nothing on the field and threw a scare into the Democrat machine. We must all remember his challenge to Hochul for her to complete the sentence: New York leads the nation in outmigration because…? (Which she never answered.)
Mike Henry and Joe Pinion must also be thanked for lower visibility runs for Attorney General and U S Senator. They suffered from a lack of funding needed to get their name and message out.
Zeldin, Henry and Pinion all spoke at SCOPE meetings on several occasions.
The two most powerful 2nd Amendment haters in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitita James, won their elections. Expect that both will take it as a confirmation of their unconstitutional policies and they’ll continue them or even double down on them.
Hochul’s laws are being challenged in court by various groups and individuals and, for the most part, the courts’ decisions have gone well for 2A. Judges have been very direct in ruling that Hochul’s laws have been openly unconstitutional and much of her Concealed Carry Improvement Act has been put on hold by the judges. That, of course, won’t stop her, since there is no punishment for passing unconstitutional laws, except at the ballot box.
Which brings us to Letitia James, who will be defending all of Hochul’s laws. No matter how certifiably unconstitutional the laws are and how frank the judges are in their rulings, James will continue to appeal the decisions - on the taxpayer’s dime.
James also has her own political agenda, which is to use her office against political opponents such as the NRA and Donald Trump. Those will undoubtably continue.
New York has 26 Congressional seats (down from 27…New York State leads the nation in outmigration because…) They have all been redistricted. As of Thursday, Republicans won 10, Democrats won 15 and 1 (the 22nd in central NY) is undecided. In the 22nd, the Republican has a 4,000 vote lead with an estimated 15,000 votes uncounted. Four of the other Republican victories are flips; this is a pickup for Republicans with national significance.
The most embarrassing House loss for the Democrats is 5 term Congressman Sean Murphy’s loss in the 17th district, since he was chair of the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee.
Redistricting is worth mentioning. Since the Democrats control all the political levers in NY, they were confident they could redistrict Republicans out of existence in New York, no matter how unconstitutional. They simply went too far believing that NY’s judiciary, which is almost all Democrat appointees at the Appeals level, would rubber stamp it. Surprise. The Democrats’ redistricting was too much and a judge ended up redoing it, which resulted in a fairer district map. Since control of the House of Representatives may come down to one or two races, the Democrats hubris could cost them control of the House of Representatives.
The NY Assembly has 150 seats and is dominated by NY City. As of Thursday, there were 40 confirmed Republican victories and 13 races still undecided. Democrats predict they will have between 100 and 103 seats when finished; this would be a small pickup for Republicans. The Democrats will maintain their supermajority.
In the NY Senate, Democrats had 43 of 63 seats. They claim to have won 40 seats with 2 undecided. They need 42 for a supermajority.
Both legislatures need a supermajority to override a governor’s veto. With everything controlled by Democrats that is probably not a huge deal but it does give the Democrat legislature leverage when negotiating with the Democratic governor.
