Syracuse Sen. John Mannion declared winner by just 10 votes in recount, Democrats retain supermajority in N.Y. Senate

ALBANY — Democrats will retain their supermajority in the state Senate after Syracuse-area Sen. John Mannion won re-election by a mere 10 votes, an upstate judge ruled Monday.

The incumbent Democrat eked out the razor-thin win over Republican challenger Rebecca Shiroff after state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte ruled on objected ballots following a hand recount.

Mannion’s win means Democrats will keep their 43-seat supermajority in the state Legislature’s upper chamber when lawmakers return to Albany next month.

“With no more votes left to count this race is over and I’m honored to have been re-elected to represent in the New York State Senate, the place that my family and I have lived in and loved our entire lives,” Mannion’s campaign said in a statement following the ruling.

There were more than 123,000 votes cast in the 50th Senate District, which includes parts of Onondaga and Oswego counties, according to Syracuse.com.

Democrats entered Election Day with 43 members out of the 63-seat Senate. The party won control of the chamber in 2018 and expanded to a supermajority two years later.

“After rightfully counting every vote, I’m thrilled to congratulate Sen. John Mannion on his re-election,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins (D-Yonkers) said in a statement. “Sen. Mannion is a valued member of the Senate and that is why the voters have sent him back to Albany.”

Republicans had hoped to regain seats in the Senate this year following a convoluted redistricting process and GOP candidates stoked public backlash over Dem-sponsored criminal justice reforms including cashless bail as Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) attempted to unseat Gov. Hochul, a Democrat.

Zeldin lost by six percentage points while the GOP made gains on Long Island, winning seven of nine Senate seats in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The party was unable to oust enough Dems across the the state to wrest away the Democrats’ supermajority.

Several Assembly seats in south Brooklyn went red for the first time in years but Dems maintained control of that chamber as well.