26 CityAndStateNY.com
November 22 - November 29, 2021
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea StewartCousins is the most politically powerful Westchester lawmaker.
1 ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS STATE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has been one of the most powerful politicians in the state since her conference secured a majority during the 2018 elections. Stewart-Cousins, who previously served on the Westchester County Board of Legislators and as a city official in Yonkers, was first elected to the state Senate in 2006. As the legislative body’s first Black female leader, she presided over a flurry of progressive lawmaking and went on to secure a veto-proof supermajority last year.
2 GEORGE LATIMER WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE While some suburban Democrats in New York struggled on this year’s Election Day, Westchester County Executive George Latimer coasted to reelection. The former state lawmaker has been an effective executive, finding ways to keep the county’s budgets balanced,
including cutting property taxes and securing a new deal with the operators of the Playland Amusement Park in Rye. He has also made progress on other fronts, such as developing a multipronged police reform plan. While Latimer has shot down the idea of running for governor, a statewide bid could be in his future.
3 SHELLEY MAYER STATE SENATOR State Sen. Shelley Mayer knows the ins and outs of Albany, having served as chief counsel to the state Senate Democrats before getting elected to the Assembly and, in 2018, moving up to serve in the state Senate, where she chairs the influential
Committee on Education. Prior to that, she was senior counsel at the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School – an experience that will undoubtedly inform her recently launched campaign for state attorney general.
4 MIKE SPANO YONKERS MAYOR With nearly a decade of experience as the mayor of Westchester’s largest city and a longer tenure in the Assembly, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano is reportedly in the mix for a potential gubernatorial run following former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s downfall. The Republicanturned-Democrat, who had a hand in crafting the state
