The NY State Senate has had so much infighting and switching over who's in power there that I lost track a few years ago. The statewide elections normally give the RATs an overwhelmingly margin (something like 2/3rds of the vote), but Republicans had firm control over the state senate for years. I'm not sure how that worked, whether it was gerrymandering or sheer luck or just weak Dem opposition in Senate races.
The RATs won a majority of the senate seats in 2008 (giving them outright control of the chamber for the first time in 4 decades), since then there seems to have been a lot of back-and-forth over who's "in charge", and at least 2 or 3 "power sharing" Senate sessions. Several RATs have caucused with the GOP, or outright switched parties, and possibly returned to the RAT fold
Right now they have the Dem caucus, which includes liberal Democrats, a couple "conservative" Democrats (like Ruben Diaz Sr., who as far I know is a loyal RAT vote when it comes to organizational purposes, but votes like a Republican on social issues), then there's an separate "Independent Democrat" caucus with 4 or 5 members (not sure why they're not caucusing with their party), AND you have Democrats like Felder who get elected as RATs and remain in the party, but outright caucus with the GOP. And of course, then there's the Republican members of the Senate, and given that it's NY there's probably a large ideological divine between liberal RINO members, squishy right-of-center moderates, and traditional conservatives.
Right now, the NY State Senate has at least THREE "Senate Presidents" -- Robert J. Duffy (RAT), Dean Skelos (GOP), and Jeffrey Klein ("Independent Democrat") who apparently share responsibilities.
I get a headache just thinking about how that body governs.
For years the GOP controlled the Senate and rats the Assembly, so they compromised on redistricting, a rat gerrymander could end GOP chances in the Senate, that’s why taking back control in 2010 was so important.
GOP holds many seats that vote rat statewide, at least recently, if a Republican wins statewide he carries those seats.