Westchester-area state Sen. Shelley Mayer was appointed last week to lead the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, a post most recently held by former state Sen. Mike Gianaris.
She spoke with Capital Tonight host Susan Arbetter about what she hopes to achieve, including raising money and gaining a 42nd seat for Democrats, who are currently a single seat away from holding a supermajority.
A supermajority would provide the conference with the ability to override a gubernatorial veto, but there are other reasons to push for one more Democratic senator, Mayer told Capital Tonight.
“It’s a takeaway message, that we have enough votes to vote no,” she said. “And to the credit of our leader, there are times when people have to vote no on the things that rest of us vote yes for.”
Senate Republicans are using the rise of democratic socialism as a selling point to voters. They have argued that “the radical left” is bound to cause a problem for affordability. When Mayer was asked how she would counter that message, she pointed to Washington, D.C.
“Our focus should be on the real damage the Trump administration is doing to New York state. That’s our focus,” she said.