Lived in upstate NY in decades past, and a state rep once admitted to me privately that there's a deal cut between the NYS dem party and the NYS republicans. He said they agree to let certain seats stay in each other's hands, refusing to run strong opposition candidates in those districts. This was true in both the state senate and the assembly, and also the NY seats in the House and Senate in DC.
Point being, the NYS republicans were corrupt as shit, just as bad as dems. Yes, I heard this decades ago, but… anyone seriously think that things have changed much?