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ALBANY - The primarys over and Democrats see a clear path to winning the state Senate and gaining a stranglehold on political power in Albany.

The defeat of a key upstate Republican senator Tuesday has boosted Democratic hopes for victory in November.

We started this election cycle in an excellent position and our excellent position improved markedly, said Queens Sen. Mike Gianaris, leader of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee.

Democrats believe they can win the seat held by Buffalo-area Sen. Mark Grisanti, a moderate Republican and supporter of gay marriage who lost a GOP primary Tuesday to a more conservative challenger, attorney Kevin Stocker.

Grisanti, who also voted in favor of Gov. Cuomos controversial SAFE Act gun control law in 2013, will still appear on the Independence Party line, setting up a four-way contest in November with Stocker, Democrat Marc Panepinto and Conservative Party candidate Timothy Gallagher.

Adding to the optimism were the primary victories of Queens Democrat Leroy Comrie, who defeated indicted Sen. Malcolm Smith; and Jesse Hamilton, who filled the seat left vacant by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Comrie and Hamilton who are all but certain to win election in November would give the mainline Democrats 26 seats. Together with Grisantis seat and the five-member Independent Democratic Conference which has pledged to abandon its previous partnership with the GOP and form a new coalition with the Senate Democrats Democrats would hold at least 32 seats in the Senate's 63-seat chamber.

Dems are assured of maintaining control of the state Assembly, where they have a 2-1 margin, and Gov. Cuomo now that he has defeated pesky primary challenger Zephyr Teachout is overwhelmingly favored to win re-election.

Republicans, meanwhile, still believe they can hold their current seats and knock off enough Democratic incumbents upstate to seize control of the chamber.

"We are going to win a clear majority in November," said Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif.

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Democrats prepare to tighten grip on state Assembly

The 2014 midterm election featuresplenty ofsurprises, but add this one to the mix: Voters who say the economy and health care are the biggest factors in their congressional voteare currently favoring ... the Democrats!

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll finds the economy leading the pack as a voting issue, with 35 percent calling it their top priority.Between 10 and 15 percent each pick four other issues, including the way Washington works, health care, international conflicts and immigration.

Washington Post-ABC News poll Sept. 4-7. Results based on 888 registered voters, margin of sampling error +/- 4 points.

Voters' focus on a slowly recovering economy might not seem like something that would accrue to Democrats's benefit, yet voters who prioritize the economysay 53 percent to 40 percent thattheycurrently would support a generic Democrat over a generic Republican.

Republicans, meanwhile, winthe most support among the 12 percent of voters focused on international conflicts. They favorGOPcandidates by 22 percentage points over Democrats.Voters focused on health care,the way Washington works and immigration all splittheir votes by single digit margins which are not statistically significant.

The Democrats' focus on the economy and the GOP's focuson overseas issues actually make sense, though, since issue priorities are oftendriven by partisanship.Partisans tend to place a bigger priority on issues where they are critical ofa party orpresident they dislike. For instance, Gallup polling last month found Republicans were much moreapt to say immigration is the nation's top problem as theObama administration came under criticismfor it's handling ofunaccompanied children at the border. And in 2006, exit polling showed voters who supportedDemocrats were far more likely to prioritize the then-unpopular Iraq war.

In this light, Democrats mightfind some solace in the new Post-ABC poll, which showsRepublicans are less apt than Democrats to cite the economy and jobs as their most important issue (30 percent vs.41 percent). Republican voters arediffuse in their electoral motivations, with 19 percent focused oninternational conflicts and 15 percent choosing immigration -- both that's still more than registered voters overall.

At the very least, the lack of unity suggeststheslowly recoveringeconomy and the health care law arenot the cudgels that Republicans once wielded against Democrats.

But the diffuse GOP issues matrixbasicallyall centers around one thing:criticism of President Obama. Fully 62 percent of Republican voters sayonereason for their congressional vote will be to express opposition to Obama; just 42 percent of Democratssay they will vote in an effort to supporthim.

Unlike past elections, though, that criticism isn't really rooted inthe economy or Obamacare.

Read this article:
The Fix: The economy is voters top issue, and Democrats are winning it

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