New York Republicans have lost two congressional seats in the past two elections, both in squeaky-tight races that could, with a tiny push, have gone the other way. But some political experts maintain that those outcomes are further proof of a changing political landscape, where the heavily Democratic state is becoming even more so.
On Election Day 2004, there were 3,209,082 registered Republicans, compared to 5,534,574 Democrats. While the New York GOP has historically been able to compete and win from a lower starting point, the climb is getting steeper. Over the past four years, Democratic statewide enrollment is up by more than 290,000 while Republicans climbed by fewer than 40,000 people.
Almost half of the Democratic increase came in New York City, but smaller gains were made in many of New York's 62 counties. "When I go into New York City, I wear a Groucho mask," joked Gerald Benjamin, a political scientist at SUNY New Paltz and a former Republican leader of the Ulster County Legislature. Even in Benjamin's home county Democratic enrollment exceeded Republicans for the first time in 30 years. He attributed the shift to two forces: New York City Democrats spreading out, and an increasing difficulty for many New Yorkers to identify with a national Republican party focused on conservative social values.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-bc-ny--bluestate0117jan17,0,4462433.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlines
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