How the Races for Governor Could Determine Who Controls the Senate
The Senate races in New York, California, and Washington are the key to control of the Senate. Because of where they fall, Republicans could have up to two years (or until 2020, depending on the election) to retake control of the Senate. If, for whatever reason, Governor Cuomo loses, it’s possible that Senator Schumer would continue to control the Senate until a Democrat emerges on one of the three general election ballots ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections (it’s likely that Schumer will seek to retain the majority with either the Democratic primary or general election votes). If Schumer does come out the winner, then Schumer will have to convince voters that, when faced with two-year terms, he’s better qualified. Schumer is an aggressive partisan who has been accused of being “corporatist” by multiple New York City Council members. Senator Chuck Schumer, who now runs the New York City Council, has been known to go well over his two-year term in office. In the New York City Council (which is the most powerful elected position in the City), all votes are recorded electronically by electronic voting machines, which allow no post-mark on vote papers, and for the most part, there are no paper ballots (this was changed in 2011 to allow for paper ballots, which the Council still does not have the capability of printing for post-election recounts). The machines print out votes as “stubs”, and the Council members who receive the highest number of votes are elected, and the other members are all “counted” on that basis. This means that some Council members, no matter how strong their vote, will never make the cut because the machine counts them “out” due to their poor performance. If it were not for the machine counting, New Yorkers would only have two more open seats in the City Council, and they would have been filled by people with the most powerful positions.
The Senate races in New York and California are extremely important as the next Senate seat could be up for grabs. In the presidential race (in the Senate), Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both trail badly in the polls (and will have significant political disadvantages as President over the next two years), yet if they are to win in November, they will have to win almost all of the undecided voters in both states, which means that they will have to show how tough, trustworthy,
