| Election Name: | 2012 New York State Senate election |
| Country: | New York (state) |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | No |
| Previous Election: | 2010 New York State Senate election |
| Previous Year: | 2010 |
| Next Election: | 2014 New York State Senate election |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Seats For Election: | All 63 seats in the New York State Senate |
| Majority Seats: | 32 |
| Election Date: | November 6, 2012 |
| Image1: | File:Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)- IMG 4713 (8188031069) (cropped).jpg |
| Leader1: | Dean Skelos |
| Party1: | New York Republican Party |
| Leaders Seat1: | 9th District |
| Seats Before1: | 33 |
| Seat Change1: | 3 |
| Seats After1: | 30 |
| Leader2: | John L. Sampson |
| Party2: | New York Democratic Party |
| Leaders Seat2: | 19th District |
| Seats Before2: | 29 |
| Seat Change2: | 4 |
| Seats After2: | 33 |
| Map Size: | 350px |
| Temporary President and Majority Leader | |
| Posttitle: | Temporary President and Majority Leader |
| Before Election: | Dean Skelos |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Dean Skelos |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 2012 New York State Senate elections were held on November 6, 2012 to elect representatives from all 63 State Senate districts in the U.S. state of New York.[1] [2] Primary elections were held on September 13, 2012.[3]
Democrats won a total of 33 seats for a three-seat majority. Democrats gained seats in Senate Districts 17 (where Democrat Simcha Felder defeated Republican incumbent David Storobin), 41, and 55 (where Ted O'Brien defeated Sean Hanna to win the seat vacated by the retiring Republican Sen. Jim Alesi), and won the election in the newly created Senate District 46.[1] [2] [4] In Senate District 46, Republican George Amedore was named the winner and was sworn in as a senator. However, a recount revealed that Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk had defeated Amedore by 18 votes; therefore, Amedore vacated the seat (becoming the shortest-tenured senator in modern New York history) and Tkaczyk was sworn in.[4] [5]
Of the four Republican state senators who voted for the Marriage Equality Act in 2011 (Sens. Roy McDonald, James Alesi, Mark Grisanti, and Stephen Saland),[6] only Grisanti was re-elected in 2012.[7]
On December 4, 2012, it was announced that Senate Republicans had reached a power-sharing deal with the four-member Independent Democratic Conference (IDC).[8] Together, the Senate Republicans and the IDC held enough seats to form a governing majority. That majority was augmented when freshman Sen. Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, a Democrat, joined the Senate Republican Conference.[9]