Republicans didn’t take control of either state legislative body as a result of Tuesday’s election, but the GOP did make some inroads in the Democratic Party’s majority.

State Senate Democrats needed to add two seats during Tuesday’s election to secure a “supermajority” in a chamber that was controlled by Republicans until 2018. A supermajority would have given Democrats two-thirds of the Senate’s seats, giving it the power to override vetoes from the governor’s office and giving senators more leverage.

Entering Tuesday’s election, Democrats held 106 seats in the state Assembly and 41 in the state Senate.

According to a summary of unofficial results in state Assembly and Senate races compiled Wednesday morning by the Associated Press, Republicans picked up five seats in the state Senate and nine seats in the state Assembly, leaving Democrats with a 96 members of the 150-seat Assembly and 36 members in the 60-seat Senate. Those results are far from final with thousands of absentee ballots still to be counted in counties throughout the state.

“We also picked up seats in the state Senate and Assembly, blocking Democrats from a Senate super-majority and stopping them from a permanent foothold of power after redistricting,” Nick Langworthy, state Republican Party chairman, said in an email on Wednesday morning. “That feat alone will ensure the Republican Party’s competitiveness for generations to come.”

Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown and minority whip in the Assembly, said the results of Tuesday’s election are a sign that some voters who voted Democrats into office in 2018 weren’t happy with the results of those races. That is particularly striking in the state Senate, where six incumbents who were finishing their first term in office lost their re-election bids.

“Certainly it will be easier to try to get some compromises,” Goodell said. “I think what the Democrats realize is they went too fast, too far this last year when they took over majority control for the first time in both the Assembly and the Senate and pushed through lot of fairly radical changes like eliminating or authorizing free tuition for illegal immigrants. There’s a lot of pushback, particularly among the moderate residents in the suburban areas who saw a huge increase in crime and were really kind of aghast at some of the more radical changes pushed through in the last couple of years. … “Hopefully that message will encourage the Democrats to move a little bit slower and with more moderation so they don’t lose more of their marginal seats.”

STATE ASSEMBLY

Democratic incumbents to lose their seats Tuesday are Assemblyman Steve Englebright, an East Setauket Democrat who was first elected in 1992; Judith Griffin, a Rockville Center Democrat who was first elected in 2018; Edward Braunstein, a Bayside Democrat first elected in 2010; Mathylde Frontus, a Brooklyn Democrat elected in 2018; Michael Cusick, a Staten Island Democrat who was first elected in 2002, Ellen Jaffee, a Pearl River Democrat first elected in 2007; and Monica Wallace, a Lancaster Democrat who was first elected in 2016. Races likely to be decided by absentee ballots involve incumbent Democrats Al Stirpe, D-Syracuse, and Steve Stern, D-Melville. Stern finds himself in a near dead heat with Republican Jamie Silvestri while Stirpe finds himself trailing Mark Venesky, 29,565 votes to 28,527 votes, with absentee ballots still to be counted.

“Then we had a number of empty seats that we kept. I don’t think we lost a single seat. We didn’t lose a single incumbent,” Goodell said. “The seat in the Syracuse area with Al Stirpe, who is a longtime Democratic incumbent. Al is currently behind a little bit, my guess is he’ll pull it out with the absentee ballots. That’s a little bit of a surprise. A couple of seats in Buffalo that we picked up, the McMahon seat in Williamsville and a very interesting seat that goes back and forth. … We won that seat. It’s a very interesting seat that switches back and forth in Buffalo with very independent voters.”

STATE SENATE

Senate Democrats told the Times Union they believe they have the 36 seats included in the Associated Press results and possible additional seats once absentee ballots are counted.

“The counting on election night is no longer the end of the process, but the beginning,” said Queens state Sen. Mike Gianaris, who leads the conference’s campaign efforts, in an interview Wednesday morning on the Capitol Pressroom, according to the Albany Times Union. “It will be north of 36, and hopefully more than we have currently.”

Republicans appear to have flipped five seats, trimming the Democrats’ Senate majority. Incumbents to lose included Monica Martinez, a Brentwood Democrat first elected in 2018; James Gaughran, a Long Island Democrat first elected in 2018; Kevin Thomas, a Nassau County resident first elected in 2018; Andrew Gounardes, a Brooklyn resident first elected in 2018; Pete Harckham, a South Salem Democrat elected in 2018; and Jen Metzger, a Middletown Democrat elected in 2018. Another race between incumbent Democrat Rachel May, D-Syracuse, and challenger Sam Rodgers has May leading, 46,794 votes to 46,658 votes, with roughly 20,000 absentee ballots to be counted.

State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, credited Sen. Rob Ortt as the new leader of the Senate Republicans as a move that energized the caucus and its supporters. State Senate Democrats needed to add two seats during Tuesday’s election to secure a “supermajority” in a chamber that was controlled by Republicans until 2018. A supermajority would have given Democrats two-thirds of the Senate’s seats, giving it the power to override vetoes from the governor’s office and giving senators more leverage.

“We had a short runway in the election, after the leadership change, but we were able to mobilize our base and also get our message out,” Borrello said. “Especially to those New Yorkers who are concerned with the direction of our state. Even prior to the pandemic, we had the disastrous bail ‘reform’ legislation that has created spikes in crime, in almost every category and in almost every city. We had a multi-billion dollar budget deficit and a state government that continues to choose special interests over what is in the best interest of the people. All of these issues and dysfunctions were magnified and exacerbated by the pandemic.”

Tuesday’s results — if they hold with absentee ballots still to be counted — give Borrello hope that a new tone can be struck in Albany as the state deals with ongoing budget issues that have been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been holding out for a new federal stimulus bill offering New York enough new federal aid to close its current budget gap of at least $8 billion and next year’s projected budget gap of nearly $17 billion.

“We are in a crisis,” Borrello said. “So it’s my hope that our gains in the Republican conference can set a new tone in Albany. Hopefully our colleagues will see these shifts as a sign that New Yorkers feel we are on the wrong path. We need to set aside the divisive and toxic political rhetoric. We need to reform the system in Albany so it better serves the most people and takes into account the diversity of our state. We need to face the devastating economic impact of this pandemic with a goal of making New Yorkers thrive, not just survive. The legislature has been derelict in its duty to be a separate, co-equal branch of government. It handed unprecedented, unconstitutional and unchecked power to the executive branch as part of the changes to the governor’s emergency authority. Hopefully, the changes in the Senate will lead to a more open government and a legislative branch that holds the governor more accountable.”