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There have been a lot of bad takes about New York State Senate races, so we’re setting the record straight.
1) THERE ARE NO FINAL COUNTS. A record number of people voted by mail, and none of these votes have been counted yet. #CountEveryVote
1) THERE ARE NO FINAL COUNTS. A record number of people voted by mail, and none of these votes have been counted yet. #CountEveryVote
2) For now, it seems the Democrats will maintain a significant majority in the NY Senate, overcoming deeply gerrymandered districts DESIGNED to elect Republicans, and yet Republicans are trying to spin this as their victory. Check out the district map of SD 22:
3) In fact, while the mail-in votes still need to be counted, it appears that Democrats in the NY Senate will have at least the second-largest ever majority in modern history.
4) Republicans are trying to claim that voters chose them and “repudiated” Democrats, and bail reform in particular. But Republicans lost the vast majority of races and hold no power at the state level. If bail reform = Democrats, it won handily.
5) In reality, votes for Republican State Senators and Assembly Members overwhelmingly track votes for Trump, and thanks to gerrymandering, the turnout for Trump had an outsized impact on State Senate races.
6) It is undeniably true that millions of dollars were funnelled into racist, fear-mongering attack ads about bail reform by billionaires and police unions but the vast majority of legislators who supported reform have (likely) been re-elected.
7) Political parties aside, the real victory: Tens of thousands of NYers were not in jail during the COVID-19 crisis because of bail reform. Tens of thousands of NYers maintained their jobs during an economic downturn because of bail reform.
8) Tens of thousands of New Yorkers were home with their kids during remote schooling because of bail reform.
9) The greatest threat to safety in this moment is a surging pandemic. The truth remains that the safest communities are the most well-resourced, not those with the most police & incarceration. NYers urgently need stable housing, quality health care, good jobs and decarceration.
10) We will continue to demand the incoming Democratic legislature deliver progress on all of the above. /end
