Open State Senate seat?
Update - Liz Benjamin has the goods…
Just in from the Albany Project
Several sources have told me that Republican Sen. Mary Lou Rath (NY-61) will not seek reelection this year and retire.
The 61st Senate District encompasses all of Genesee County and the northern part of Erie County.
This is significant since Rath’s seat has been hard to contend with in the past in a district with only 8,000 more Republicans than Democrats.
Is this going to be the start of a wave of retirements?
I believe the talk about State Senator Rath retiring is just the same idle chat that happens every election cycle. From the 1/14/08 issue of The Capitol - “Rath’s spokesman, John Emery, said that such talk of successors should be left to another day, seeing as the senator plans to seek reelection this year.”
Still idle chatter?
Liz at Daily Politics says Rath is out.
I hope this is true, and I hope Dale Volker (R-SD62) is next. His district is an absurdly wide east-west region and a very narrow north-south one that encompasses parts of Erie, Wyoming (I think all of Wyoming), Livingston, and Ontario Counties. However, despite biennial signals he wants to retire, Joe Bruno twists his arm to keep Volker in the Senate. Given Bruno’s dire situation right now, I can’t believe he’d stand still for retirements by either Rath or Volker. I’d love to be wrong. If I am, I think it shows Papa Joe’s control of his own troops is slipping as his margin gets ever thinner.
FYI - Volker represents the 59th SD. I know this because Maziarz is my senator and I live in the 62nd SD, which encompasses Niagara, Orleans and I believe a part of Monroe County.
My bad.
[...] RochesterTurning is reporting that there may be a retirement coming on the Republican side of the New York State Senate this year.ÂÂ If so, that’s one of only two more seats needed for the Democrats to take control of the Senate.ÂÂ As one commenter there points out, Joe Bruno is unlikely to be sitting idly by while this happens, so it remains to be seen what comes next. [...]