This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is not only one of the biggest election night winners in a year full of disappointments for Democrats, but he was also decidedly the earliest winner. Thanks to the rest of the country holding off a major red wave, he might get to stay majority leader too.

His job is saved! Lee Zeldin made the Manhattan district attorney a bogeyman in the election to rile up voters in the suburbs. Setting aside the fact that pushing out a DA is easier said than done… the voters that matter rejected the Republican’s attacks. Bragg won 84% of the vote just last year. And on Tuesday, 82% of Manhattanites voted AGAINST Zeldin. That’s Bragging rights.

In a historic congressional race where two out gay candidates fought to become the representative of a swing district in Long Island, it was a Republican who emerged victorious. George Santos didn’t just flip a key district from blue to red, he’ll also soon be the first Republican to serve in Congress who is out gay.

What goes around, comes around. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney lost his seat in Congress to freshman Assembly Member Mike Lawler this week and it’s hard to turn a blind eye to the irony. Maloney decided to run in the 17th district instead of the one he currently serves after redistricting because he thought it would be safer. That controversial move pushed out freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones who went on to lose the crowded 10th Congressional primary. Now Maloney is left without a seat in Congress and barely anyone to feel sorry for him – some may call it karma.

If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail again. This seems to be state and Nassau Democratic Parties Chair Jay Jacob's motto after New York may lose Democrats in the House. A red wave didn't materialize across the nation, but the GOP did very well in deep blue New York. Republicans over performed based on the state's standards, and even more compared to other states. Under Jacobs' leadership, Democrats lost four competitive open seats and even Maloney. Of course, Jacobs takes no blame for the nationally bad night. We're all trying to find the guy who did this, Jacobs included.

Did Democrats’ political mastermind stick his hand too far down the cookie jar? State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris is catching some heat – including from Jay Jacobs himself – since New York’s newly redistricted congressional map may help Republicans control the House. Gianaris was the man behind the gerrymandered Democrat-drawn maps that got thrown out by the court. The process was the problem, and that’s bigger than just Gianaris – but it’s his mess now, and Democrats are eager to point the finger. After all, they just watched Republicans cruise to victory with the special master’s maps that replaced Gianaris’.

The entry for Michael Gianaris was updated to better explain the redistricting process.