The 2018 New York State Senate elections were held on November 6, 2018, to elect representatives from all 63 State Senate districts in the U.S. state of New York. Primary elections were held on September 13, 2018.
In April 2018, The Wall Street Journal described the state senate as the "last bastion of power" of the Republican Party in the State of New York. The coalition of Republicans and members of the Independent Democratic Conference collapsed in 2018, with 7 of the 8 IDC members returning to the Democratic Caucus. Democrat Simcha Felder, however, continued to caucus with the Republicans, giving them control of the chamber with only 31 seats. On Election Day, Democrats gained control of the chamber from the Republicans by picking up eight seats.
The following day, The New York Times wrote that the Democrats had "decisively evict[ed] Republicans from running the State Senate, which they [had] controlled 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, a Democrat who had previously caucused with the Republicans, sought to rejoin 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 as the first female Majority Leader and Temporary President in the chamber's history.
The vote totals for each party were:
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Five incumbent Republican senators did not seek re-election in 2018. They were:
Seven incumbent senators (all Democrats) ran for re-election, but were defeated in the September 13 primaries. They were:
With the exception of Sen. Dilan, all seven had been members of the Independent Democratic Conference.
The following Republican incumbents were defeated on election day:
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.
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The 3rd district is located on Long Island and includes Medford, Ronkonkoma, and Sayville. Republican Thomas Croci had represented this district since 2015. Croci did not run for reelection.
In an unexpected upset, Democratic challenger Kevin Thomas defeated Republican incumbent Kemp Hannon.
Democrat Todd Kaminsky was first elected in a 2016 special election.
Democratic challenger Andrew Gounardes defeated Ross Barkan in the Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Golden in the general election.
Democrat Luis Sepúlveda had represented this district since winning a special election in April 2018.
Democrat Shelley Mayer had represented this district since winning a special election in April 2018.
Democrat David Carlucci, 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.
Republican Sen. William J. Larkin Jr. did not seek re-election.
Republican John Bonacic, who had represented this district since 1999, did not seek re-election, and was succeeded by Democrat Jen Metzger.
Republican Kathy Marchione, who had represented this district since 2013, did not seek re-election, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Daphne Jordan.
Republican John DeFrancisco had 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.
One question that remained after the 2018 elections was which caucus Democratic senator Simcha Felder 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.