The electoral aspect of Bruno leaving the State Senate
In a sign that Republicans are increasingly aware of the likelihood of losing their majority in the state senate, the long-time Republican Majority Leader Joe Bruno will not be running for re-election come the fall.
Bruno, who has served in the Senate since 1976 and has been leader since early 1995, when he took power from Ralph Marino in a coup with then-newly-minted Gov. George Pataki’s support, has been coy of late about whether he would run this fall.
The two leading contenders to take over as leader, should Bruno decide to depart before the end of the year, are Sen. Dean Skelos, of Long Island, and Sen. Thomas Libous, of Binghamton.
The next question is: How many of the veteran GOP senators follow Bruno out the door? A number of them, including Owen Johnson, Caesar Trunzo and Jim Farley, are running for re-election largely because he asked them to stick around and fight to hold on to the majority.
Trunzo is already in serious danger of losing his seat, and the retirement of popular longtime incumbents, like he, would be a big boost to our efforts to win a majority.
Bruno, of the 43rd Senate District around Rensselaer and Saratoga counties, has been in the Senate since 1976 and ran unopposed in 2006. Already planning to run for the seat is Democrat Brian Premo, an attorney from Brunswick.
Even without Bruno running, the 43rd will probably be an uphill battle: Republicans have a 20,000 registered voter advantage over Democrats. On the other hand, the 43rd is almost entirely in the 20th Congressional District where Kirsten Gillibrand unseated Republican John Sweeney in 2006 with 53%. And earlier this year, Darrel Aubertine won the 48th Senate District, which has an even larger Republican enrollment advantage of 30,000, also with 53%.
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Good report grasshopper! I’m really starting to love the number 53!
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