The Empire State is on course to move even more to the political left just two years after Democrats won control of both houses of the state Legislature for the first time in a decade. The 40-member Democratic conference only needs to flip two Republican-held seats in the 63-member state Senate to achieve a two-thirds supermajority to accompany their existing one in the Assembly. No party has done that for at least a century. If it happens in 2020, New York could join California, Rhode Island and Hawaii as one of the states where Democrats have a governor in office and two-thirds of the seats in both houses of the state Legislature.

A state Senate supermajority for Democrats would certainly change the political landscape of Albany. Republicans would be more irrelevant in state politics than ever if they lose key races this year in Western New York, Long Island and the Hudson Valley. There would also be implications for the balance of power between the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, since a supermajority can override a governor’s veto. Democrats would also control legislative redistricting because the current system allows a two-thirds majority of the state Legislature to have final approval of any redistricting plans created by a 10-person bipartisan commission.�