Democratic enrollment surges statewide; Republicans stay flat

ALBANY — Democrat enrollment surged by more than 158,000 since April while Republican numbers stayed all but flat, according to state Board of Elections figures released Thursday.

Democrats said the numbers support their claims about party members being more energized since the election of President Donald Trump and could affect congressional and State Senate contests. Democrats slightly increased their advantages in Nassau and Suffolk counties, though it was more because of a decrease in Republican voters.

"The blue wave is real and it's going to sweep Democrats into office across New York," said Mike Murphy, spokesman for the State Senate Democrats.

Long Island is seen as key to the fight for control over the State Senate, where Republicans hold a 32-31 advantage. A Senate Republican spokesman downplayed the changes in enrollment and took a swipe at Democrats.

"Registration figures are meaningless when you push a far left agenda that includes billions in higher taxes, free college tuition for illegals and shifts Long Island's fair share of school aid to New York City," Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif said.

According to the Board of Elections, statewide Democratic enrollment grew from 5,621,811 in April to 5,780,030 in October, an increase of 158,219, or 3 percent.

By contrast, Republican enrollment increased by 1,435 statewide. As of Thursday, there were 2,633,776 active enrolled Republicans in New York.

Democrats say the surge was related to heightened interest in the congressional primaries in June and statewide primaries in September. Democratic turnout in both elections increased significantly over primaries in 2014.

On Long Island, Democrats saw net increases in their lead over Republicans since April.

In Nassau, Democrats dropped from 368,913 active voters to 365,982. (The board declares "inactive" or removes voters who die, move away or don't vote for a number of years.) Yet the Republicans declined even more, from 311,019 to 304,217. As a result, the Democrats went from a nearly 58,000-voter advantage in April to almost 62,000 now.

In Suffolk, Democrats numbers grew slightly, from 322,444 in April to 325,329 in November. Republican numbers dropped from 312,952 to 308,613. As a result, the overall Democratic advantage grew from 9,492 to 16,716.