Mayor Bill de Blasio predicted Saturday that “the Republican Senate majority is an artificiality that won’t be there that much longer.” | AP Photo/Julie Jacobson De Blasio: Democratic takeover of state Senate 'should be in the forefront of all we do'

Mayor Bill de Blasio told Democrats at a campaign event Saturday that Republican control of the state Senate is “an artificiality” impacting New York City and “the future of our country.”

The comment came after Democrats took a numerical majority in the chamber following Democrat Brian Benjamin's win in a special election late last month. And there's been growing pressure in recent weeks on the breakaway faction of Senate Democrats whose alliance with Republicans keep the GOP in power.


De Blasio — who was criticized over how he steered donations to Democrats during their unsuccessful efforts to take control of the Senate in 2014 — said helping Democrats in the Senate “should be in the forefront of all we do here.”

The mayor's remarks to the West Harlem Progressive Democratic Club came just days after de Blasio praised state Sen. Jeff Klein of the Bronx, the leader of the Senate's breakaway Independent Democratic Conference. “I know you defend our interests every day, and I thank you for that,” de Blasio said of Klein at a joint appearance in the Bronx last week.

De Blasio predicted Saturday that “the Republican Senate majority is an artificiality that won’t be there that much longer.” He noted that Democrats control 108 out of 150 seats in the Assembly, calling that “the true nature of New York State. That’s the shape of things to come.”

There is “no reason in the world that we should have a Republican state Senate,” de Blasio said. That is because “not only do they decide so many things that affect New York City, they also decide the congressional redistricting lines. And that means the number of congressional districts that if they were fairly drawn would be Democratic are not right now. That has ramifications for the U.S. Congress and the future of our country.”

Benjamin was among the officials at the event with the mayor Saturday. With Democrats in control of that chamber, de Blasio said the city could, potentially, benefit from boosted state funding for public housing and support for other policies helpful to city residents.

Democrats hold 32 of the Senate's 63 seats, a numerical majority. One Democrat, Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, caucuses directly with Republicans, and eight additional Democrats are members of the Independent Democratic Conference, which has a power-sharing arrangement with Republicans.

The mayor has a difficult track record when it comes to trying to help Democrats' prospects in the Senate. Back in March, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced he was closing an investigation into de Blasio’s fund-raising activities and not filing charges. But he criticized the way de Blasio helped steer large contributions from donors to county committees to specific state Senate candidates. At the same time, the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York announced he was closing, without charges, a separate probe into de Blasio’s solicitations of money for a nonprofit organization he created in order to support his city policies.

De Blasio has previously said he wanted all Democrats in the Senate to unite. When the mayor left the event Saturday, he did not respond to a reporter’s question about whether his “artificiality” remark included Klein and the IDC. Later, de Blasio campaign spokeswoman Monica Klein said in a statement, "The Mayor has been crystal clear, both publicly and privately, that the progressive changes we've yet to realize in our state hinge on the reunification of the Democrats."

Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate Republicans, said in a statement that "the absolute last person on Earth who should be dictating how ALBANY should operate is a radical, left wing Mayor from New York City who can't even competently run his own government."

A spokesperson for the IDC did not immediately return a request for comment.