NYS Senate Minority Leader Flanagan Won’t Run for Re-Election

State Senate Minority Leader John J. Flanagan of Long Island announced on Wednesday that he will not seek re-election for his seat in November.

Flanagan, who represents New York's second Senate district, has spent the last 17 years in the Senate. He was the Senate majority leader until Democrats took control of the majority two years ago. Flanagan also spent 16 years as a NYS Assemblyman, after being elected in 1986 when the seat was vacated following the death of his father.

In 2017, Flanagan announced that he was entering an alcohol treatment facility due to his dependence on alcohol. He reentered a treatment facility in 2019. Senator Joseph Griffo of Rome, the Deputy Minority Leader, assumed the role of Minority Leader following Flanagan's announcement. Griffo is up for re-election in November.

"I am making the best decision for me and my family," Flanagan said in a statement sent out Wednesday afternoon. Flanagan joins eight other Republican senators who have announced they won't run for re-election.