New York’s Republican State Senators, a group of mostly white men, are working hard to muscle their influence in government and stonewall diversity progress.
Republicans and a group of five Democrats in Albany formed a “bipartisan governing coalition” to secure a majority hold on the Senate. According to lawmakers interviewed by the New York Times, their goal is to keep Blacks, Latinos and Asians out of Senate leadership positions and hinder legislation that could help nonwhite communities in one of America’s most diverse states.
The Democrats appeared to win control of the senate in November’s election, but the coalition will allow the GOP and the Independent Democrats to effectively overpower the Senate Democratic caucus, which includes 14 Black and Latino lawmakers and is the only legislative caucus in Albany headed by a nonwhite person, John L. Sampson of Brooklyn. The deal would also grant the coalition members equal authority in all state budget decisions and committee assignments, including committee appointments.
