New York GOP looking for a new map

ALBANY - Many of the folding chairs at the Mack Center at Hofstra University were empty on that summer day in 2006 at the New York Republican convention. Candidates and party faithful seemed to almost accept the coming Democratic wave, which would take every statewide office that year.

The wave crested Tuesday, when Republicans lost their 40-year grip on the Senate majority, their only power base in Albany, along with half of the GOP's remaining congressional members. Democrats in New York now control the governor's mansion and both houses of the Legislature for the first time since 1935. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Congressional delegation 26-3.

Now Republicans say the party needs re-branding if it is to avoid a long stay in the political wilderness.