At Hochul’s urging, legislative leaders delay passage of special elections bill

Gov. Kathy Hochul has pumped the brakes on a controversial proposal that could have allowed Democrats in Albany to keep Rep. Elise Stefanik’s seat vacant for months, which would narrow the GOP majority in the House for a time, in the hopes that the bill can be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Trump administration over congestion pricing.

The proposed legislation, which has drawn outrage from Republicans, was introduced on Friday evening and had been expected to receive a vote on Monday afternoon. But just after 2 p.m., Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced to members in a conference meeting that the bill was dead – at least for now. The state Senate will not vote on the measure on Monday either, according to a person familiar with the discussions, who said that leaders plan to meet later in the day to discuss the bill.

Three other people familiar with the ongoing discussions around the bill said that Hochul was the one who sought to delay swift passage of the measure. One of them said that Hochul is keeping a close eye on negotiations with the federal government on issues like congestion pricing, with the special election law as a potential bargaining chip. Drawing out the debate keeps the issue live, with the North Country congressional seat and Republican power in the House in play. President Donald Trump offered some details to the New York Post over the weekend about his plan to kill congestion pricing, but wouldn’t offer too much about his conversations with the governor. Politico New York reported Monday that Trump may offer infrastructure funding in exchange for rolling back the tolling program.

A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately return a request for comment. The New York Times previously reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had met with Hochul, pushing for the law change in order to keep Republican ranks diminished for longer in the House, where the GOP has a very narrow majority.

Under current law, the governor must call a special election within 10 days of a vacancy occurring. After that, the contest would need to take place between 70 and 80 days from the proclamation. That law isn’t that old – lawmakers changed it in 2021 to limit the power of the governor, who until then could technically wait as long as they wanted to call a special election. The current law was passed at a time when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was weakened by scandal, and lawmakers pounced to flex their influence.

The new bill would give the governor an option to schedule a special election at the same time as a regularly scheduled general election if the vacancy occurs during an election year. That would provide the opportunity for a seat to remain empty for a longer period than the current speedy timeframe would permit. Although Democrats contend that the move is about good government, saving money and increasing voter participation, the change would also give Hochul new authority to postpone a special election to replace Stefanik, keeping Republicans’ House margin as small as possible.

The proposed legislation is now on ice. The state Senate version was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Friday evening and referred directly to the Rules Committee, usually the last stop for a proposal before getting a full vote. The Assembly version, sponsored by Heastie, is currently in the chamber’s Election Law committee. 

Republicans in the state Capitol were gearing up for a fight over the bill on Monday. “For members of the media, buckle up,” said state Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt at a press conference. “Get a sandwich, order food. We’re going to be here for a long time.” 

Ortt was joined by Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay and members of both of their conferences. They reiterated calls for the federal Department of Justice to investigate whether the Democratic proposal violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Ortt called the new bill “the latest in a series of maneuvers" by Democrats to pass election laws that benefit themselves. He said that the investigation should go back to Democrats’ redistricting attempts from 2021 and 2022, the first attempt of which was thrown out as partisan gerrymandering. Rep. Mike Lawler was the first to call for a federal RICO investigation, and a group of House Republicans later sent Trump’s Department of Justice a letter formally requesting a federal investigation.

Ortt ripped into Democrats for supporting the law in 2021 to speed up the special election timeline, only to attempt to roll that back now that Trump is in office and a conservative seat will soon become vacant. Even if the measure is delayed for now, he had strong words for his Democratic counterparts. “They are full of shit,” Ortt said. “They are absolutely full of shit.”