John Flanagan

New York State Senate Majority Leader

As New York State Senate majority leader, John Flanagan has ascended from chairman of the education committee to one of the powerful so-called Three Men in the Room — him, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) — in charge of setting the legislative and budget agenda for the state, wielding an enormous amount of influence on New Yorkers’ daily lives in the process. Although since Democrats technically have a majority in the state Senate, it’s actually Four Men in the Room now, since maintaining a GOP majority required striking a strategic alliance with a group of breakaway Democrats known as the Independent Democratic Caucus. After Flanagan replaced his fellow Republican predecessor, the scandal-ridden Dean Skelos, Flanagan took up the torch of being the lone GOP check on Democratic control of every other branch of New York State government. The namesake of his late father, who was an esteemed lawmaker, Flanagan has inherited a legacy he is working to honor—from protecting our drinking water to steering us toward more equitable distribution of state school aid for our districts. No matter the decision or piece of legislation before him, Long Islanders can rest assured this hometown hero has constituents’ best interests in mind. And on a personal level, he also showed he’s harnessed the power of change and humility, when last year he sought help for reported alcohol abuse.