New York State Senate District 48

New York State Senate District 48 is represented by Rachel May (D).

As of the 2020 Census, New York state senators represented an average of 320,885 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 308,271 residents.

About the office

Members of the New York State Senate serve two-year terms and are not subject to term limits. New York legislators assume office the first day of January after a general election.^[1]

Qualifications

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

Article 3, Section 7 of the New York Constitution states:

“

No person shall serve as a member of the legislature unless he or she is a citizen of the United States and has been a resident of the state of New York for five years, and, except as hereinafter otherwise prescribed, of the assembly or senate district for the twelve months immediately preceding his or her election; if elected a senator or member of assembly at the first election next ensuing after a readjustment or alteration of the senate or assembly districts becomes effective, a person, to be eligible to serve as such, must have been a resident of the county in which the senate or assembly district is contained for the twelve months immediately preceding his or her election.^[2]^[3]

”

Salaries

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

State legislative salaries, 2024^[4]
Salary	Per diem
$142,000/year	The exact amount members receive for per diem is unknown.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures

If there is a vacancy in the New York Legislature, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat. A special election can be held as long as the vacancy occurred before April 1 of the last year of the former officeholder's term. If a special session is called in the state legislature after this date, a special election may be called to fill the seat.^[5] The person elected to fill the vacant seat serves for the remainder of the unexpired term.^[6]

See sources: New York Public Officers Law § 42

2016 pivot county

See also: Pivot Counties and Legislative districts intersecting with Pivot Counties

This district was one of 710 state legislative districts that, based on boundaries adopted after the 2010 census, intersected with one or more Pivot Counties. These 206 Pivot Counties voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012.

The 206 Pivot Counties were located in 34 states. Iowa, with 31, had the most such counties. At that time, the partisan makeup of state legislative districts intersecting with Pivot Counties was slightly more Republican than the overall partisan makeup of state legislatures throughout the country.^[7]

District map

Redistricting

See also: Redistricting in New York

On March 14, 2012, the state legislature approved a constitutional amendment to establish new redistricting procedures beginning in 2020. The New York Constitution requires that two successive legislatures approve an amendment in order to qualify it for final approval by popular vote. The legislature approved the amendment a second time in 2013. On November 4, 2014, voters approved the amendment, the provisions of which were set to take effect during the 2020 redistricting cycle.^[8]

The 10-member commission comprises the following members:^[8]

Two members must be appointed by the temporary president of the New York State Senate.
Two members must be appointed by the speaker of the New York State Assembly.
Two members must be appointed by the minority leader of the New York State Senate.
Two members must be appointed by the minority leader of the New York State Assembly.
Two members must appointed by the aforementioned eight commissioners. These two appointees cannot have been enrolled in the top two major political parties in the state.

The legislature must approve the commission's plans by a simple up/down vote. The legislature must reject two separate sets of redistricting plans before it will be able to amend the commission's proposals. All districts will be required "to preserve minority rights, be equally populated, and consist of compact and contiguous territory." Further, state law will require that districts "not be drawn to discourage competition or to favor/disfavor candidates or parties." In prior redistricting cycles, authority for both congressional and state legislative redistricting was vested with the state legislature. An advisory commission participated in the process.^[8]

State law requires that state legislative districts be contiguous and compact. State legislative districts must also take into account the "historic and traditional significance of counties."^[8]

2020-2023

See also: Redistricting in New York after the 2020 census

State Assembly districts
New York enacted new State Assembly district boundaries on April 24, 2023, when Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed legislation establishing them for use starting with the 2024 elections.^[9] The bill adopting the districts passed earlier that day in the State Assembly by a vote of 132-13, and it passed the state Senate by a vote of 59-1.^[10]^[11] The legislation stated, "Vacancies in the Assembly will be filled using existing boundaries until January 1, 2025, at which time vacancies will be filled using the new boundaries."^[12]

The state redrew its Assembly district boundaries in response to a June 10, 2022, decision by the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court in Nichols v. Hochul.^[13] That court upheld a lower court ruling that declared the state's Assembly district boundaries invalid but determined that they should still be used for the 2022 legislative elections since the lawsuit challenging them was filed too close to those elections for the courts to intervene.^[14] The appellate division ruling determined that the Assembly district map was enacted in violation of the state's constitutional redistricting process and ordered a New York City-based state trial court to oversee the redrawing of boundaries for the 2024 elections.^[14] On September 29, 2022, that trial court directed the IRC to "initiate the constitutional process for amending the assembly district map based on the 2020 census data by formulating a proposed assembly map" and submit such a plan to the legislature by April 28, 2023.^[15]

The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) had voted 9-1 on April 20, 2023, to advance this plan and submit it to the legislature with the Commission stating in its cover letter that the plan "garnered the highest number of votes in support" at its meeting on that date.^[16]^[17]

According to Giulia Heyward and Jon Campbell at Gothamist, the new districts replaced "a nearly identical set of districts that were just put into place for last year’s races before a court threw them out."^[18] Heyward and Campbell also wrote that "The commission had originally put forward a draft that would have made considerable changes before settling on a revised proposal last week mirroring the lines already in place."^[18]

Click here to view more information about Assembly districts enacted in 2023, including zoomable maps and links to detailed demographic statistics for each district.'

State Senate districts
On May 20, 2022, Justice Patrick McAllister ordered the adoption of a new state senate map drawn by redistricting special master Jonathan Cervas which took effect for New York's 2022 legislative elections.^[19] On April 27, the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, overturned a decision by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court which overturned a lower court's ruling invalidating the legislature's state Senate boundaries.^[20]^[21]^[22]^[13]

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) had signed new state legislative district boundaries into law on February 3, 2022. The New York State Senate voted 43-20 to approve them, and the New York State Assembly approved them 120-27 on the same day.^[23]^[24]

Reactions to 2023 state Assembly maps

New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie supported the new districts, saying, "I think the [commission] listened to the testimony that was given to them throughout all of the hearings across the state, and I think they came back with a fair map."^[25] Betsy Gotbaum, executive director of Citizens Union, criticized the new boundaries as too similar to the ones already in place: "The new Assembly districts approved by the Independent Redistricting Commission are strikingly similar to the districts drawn by the legislature last year...This similarity suggests that the Commission drew the Assembly maps to please lawmakers."^[26] Citizens Union describes itself on its website as a group "committed to reforming New York City and State government by fostering transparency, accountability, accessibility, honesty and the highest ethical standards."^[27]

Reactions to 2022 state Senate maps

Following the passage of the map, Hochul said: "These bills are necessary to reapportion districts and to provide certainty and clarity regarding such districts in a timely manner, allowing for efficient administration of the electoral process." State Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy said: "There is a wild, partisan gerrymandering that took place here. It violates the state Constitution, and we’re going to try to get justice."^[28]

Below are the maps in effect before and after the 2020 redistricting cycle. The map on the right was in effect for New York’s 2024 state legislative elections.

New York State Senate District 48
until December 31, 2022

Click a district to compare boundaries.

New York State Senate District 48
starting January 1, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Elections

2024

General election

General election for New York State Senate District 48

Incumbent Rachel May defeated Caleb Slater in the general election for New York State Senate District 48 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Rachel May (D / Working Families Party)	57.9	74,353
	Caleb Slater (R)	42.0	53,891
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	132

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. Source	Total votes: 128,376
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 48.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New York State Senate District 48

Caleb Slater defeated Fanny Villarreal in the Republican primary for New York State Senate District 48 on June 25, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Caleb Slater	55.7	2,636
	Fanny Villarreal	43.4	2,055
	Other/Write-in votes	0.8	39

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,730
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Working Families Party primary election

The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Senate District 48.