Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced a date to fill two pivotal state Senate seats, including Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s vacant 37th Senate District seat.
The Cuomo administration has set April 24 as the date for the special election, in which state Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, a Democrat, is vying for the Senate’s 37th District seat against either Dan Schorr, a former prosecutor in Westchester and New York City and previous Yonkers inspector general, or Sarmad Khojasteh, a commercial litigation attorney from the town of Bedford, both Republicans.
As of press time, Westchester County Republicans have not announced who it will select to run against Mayer. The Senate’s 37th District, which has been controlled by Democrats for decades, covers Rye, White Plains, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Yonkers, North Castle, Bedford and Eastchester.
The other position in contention is the Senate’s 32nd District seat, another historically Democratic district that covers an area in the Bronx.
Success in the special election will be crucial for both the Democratic and Republican parties, as the GOP currently hold a one-person majority, 31-30, in the Senate.
“I look forward to electing Democrats to both open seats and finally giving New York voters the functioning Senate Democratic majority they have repeatedly voted into office, yet been denied,” said Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins in a release.
Democratic victories would give the party a numerical lead and its first majority in the Senate in eight years; however, the party would need to reunite with Democratic state Sen. Simcha Felder, of Brooklyn, who caucuses with the Republicans.
