Of course, Republicans’ apparent success may say more about Tuesday’s election results nationally than about New York. Democrats seem unlikely to meet their high expectations in races around the country. The U.S. Senate, which Democrats hoped to flip, seems likely to remain in Republican control, and the Democrats will likely lose seats in the House, while still maintaining a majority. That means Republicans’ relative success in New York probably has more to do with their base’s boosted turnout in a highly polarized election than with any rightward shift in the local electorate. “I wouldn’t draw so many New York-specific conclusions when you had the kind of motivation at the top of the ticket that Donald Trump presents for Republicans,” said Neal Kwatra, a Democratic political strategist. “That probably has more to do with what we saw in New York than anything that the New York GOP tried to do.”
And while the Republican Party may not be dead in the Empire State, it’s not exactly thriving. As Kwatra pointed out, New York is one of 15 states where Democrats control the governorship and the state Legislature – and that number could shrink after other states’ election results come in.
With four more years of divided government on the national level appearing inevitable, Democrats may feel more emboldened to take progressive action on the state level. “You have total one-party control for the Democrats,” he said. “A policy laboratory could be possible, given that kind of control.”
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