The Independent View: NY Gov. Cuomo to Call for 2018 Special Elections

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Plans to call Special Elections in 2018 to fill Two soon-to-be-vacant State Senate Seats.

The Timing remains up in the air, though the Party Officials said earlier in the week they expect the Special Elections will take place after the State Budget is Passed. The Budget Deadline is April 1st, 2018.

Appearing in Steuben County Wednesday, Cuomo told reporters that “we wouldn’t actually have to call a special election, we could just wait until November or we could call a special election. Those decisions I’ll make when we get back to Albany and the Assembly’s there and the Senate’s there,” he said.

Cuomo Spokesman Rich Azzopardi followed up to Clarify that, yes, as previously thought, Cuomo will call Special Elections for Senate Seats that will Open in 2018, he was simply explaining how the Process Works. “To be clear, we will be calling special elections for these soon-to-be open Senate and Assembly seats, the timing of which will be determined in January when the seats become vacant,” Azzopardi said.

The Special Elections in question would be held for Seats to be vacated by Democratic Sens. George Latimer (37th District) and Ruben Diaz (32nd District), who are assuming Local Office in January 2018.

Electing Democrats to those Seats is the first step in a Democratic Unity Plan outlined by the Party Officials on Monday Evening.

The Plan calls for the Mainline Democratic Conference and Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) to Realign and form a Majority Coalition, they also would need Democratic Sen. Simcha Felder to Break from his place in the Republican Conference.

A Special Election cannot take Place until at least 70 days after it is Called.

If Latimer and Diaz leave their Seats Jan. 1st, 2018, and Cuomo immediately called Special Elections, that would make Mid-March the Earliest possible time for the Elections.

Given that the Budget Negotiations are just ramping up then, if the Governor wants to Avoid potential Messiness Spilling into the budget Discussions during a tough Fiscal Year, calling Special Elections after the Budget is Passed is one way to do it.