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Finally, a place where the blue wave actually was a thing: The New York State Senate.

Come Jan. 1, the party will control the Senate, the Assembly and the governor’s mansion. And Senate Democrats will have an impressive cushion of several seats that won't rely on Sen. Simcha Felder, the alleged Democrat who caucuses with Republicans because that's where the power is, or, er, was.

Make no mistake: The turning over of power in the Senate is a big deal. Republicans have controlled the chamber since 1939, except for two brief periods. Since 2011, the GOP got backup from the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference. Sen. Jeffrey Klein and his crew claimed a progressive mantle but their strange alignment with Republicans too often tanked the very legislation they swore they supported. The IDC finally fizzled, and six out of eight lost primary challenges.

ELECTION RESULTS LIST:Who won, who lost on Tuesday?

POST-PRIMARY: How the IDC fizzled

The fortunes of those former IDC members demonstrated that Democrats wanted actual progressive leaders.

That could come with Yonkers’ own Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins. The Senate Democratic leader since 2012 is set to become New York’s first female Senate majority leader and the first woman to crack Albany’s three-person-in-a-room power structure.Stewart-Cousins' first test? Breaking open that three-person budget-crafting system to legislator, and public, view.

Moving legislation

Is New York ready for one-party rule? The last time Democrats took control of the Senate — for a minute in 2010 — the result was chaos and, yes, corruption. That said, split power hardly inoculated Albany from corruption scandals. And a GOP-controlled Senate spent more time keeping legislation from the floor than actually legislating.

Come January, Senate Democrats should be eager to prove to New Yorkers that they can govern responsibly. Fired-up Democrats, woke by President Trump’s 2016 election, will expect Senate leaders to finally move on a slew of landmark liberal legislation — and even moderate bills, like the Child Victims Act, long blocked by the GOP Senate.

How will Cuomo, who spent this election season running against Trump and ignoring his ballot opponents, work with a party-aligned Legislature? He’s promised action, action, action come January. We’ve heard that before — especially on ethics reform. Without those Republicans to blame, will he actually take all that progressive action he’s long promised?

Stewart-Cousins, if she’s Senate boss, will have to demonstrate that she’ll stand up to him and make him stick to his promises.

State GOP stumbles

Democrats may not feel great pressure to be govern effectively. After all, the Republican Party in New York state is in shambles, shrinking in numbers and power. They didn’t even field candidates in some key races, including against brand-new Sen. Shelley Mayer, D-Yonkers. And six Republican incumbents “retired” from the Senate this year as “blue wave” energy spread.

MAYER:Shelley Mayer re-elected unopposed in former state Senate battleground

Statewide, the odds have been and are even more in the Democrats’ favor: Half of New York voters are now registered as Democrats, while only 23 percent are Republicans. The skew became more significant with new registrations: since April, 158,219 registered as Democrats and only 1,435 as Republicans.

Democrats, though, better keep an eye on the growing power of unaffiliated voters. They now number 2.5 million, almost matching the number of Republicans statewide. If Democrats make a mess of things, these none-of-the-above voters could turn red in two years.

Cuomo redux

Meanwhile, the governor waltzed into a third term — the Associated Press declared his victory right after polls closed at 9:01 p.m.

That didn't mean it was a pleasant race for Cuomo. He got pretty muddied up this campaign season. Two close allies were convicted of corruption, including one involved with his touted "Buffalo Billion" economic development efforts and another who he said he considered a brother. He made some painful gaffes, like saying America was "never that great." And he dodged candidate debates, doing just one in the primary and one in the General Election, the latter of which excluded minor-party challengers. Oh, yes, there's that bridge name that irritated lots of Lower Hudson Valley residents across party lines.

So why such an easy path to another four years?

It was about more than just the devil you know.

Credit goes to Cuomo with positioning himself as the anti-Trump, a seller at least in downstate New York.

But fault (or credit, depending on your view) goes to the GOP's abysmal organization and chicken moves last spring, when it looked like a "blue wave" was unstoppable.

Marc Molinaro, Dutchess County executive, got the GOP nod early, but not much of the party's money. Molinaro suffered from weak name recognition and scant financing compared to Cuomo's war chest that topped $30 million at one point.

Progressive priorities

So what will Cuomo do with this third charm? He made promises to push a progressive agenda — like securing reproductive rights in New York as Roe v. Wade is threatened at the federal level. Of course, such legislation has been around for a few years but gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Cuomo's also promised ethics reform and campaign finance fixes, usually after a high-profile conviction like that of Sheldon Silver, or Dean Skelos, or Joe Percoco, or Alain Kaloyeros.

Let's hope Cuomo doesn't confuse a decided victory with disinterest in those issues.

Meanwhile, Cuomo is rumored to have eyes for a presidential run — although he denied it during the campaign. That's a race in which the GOP won't punt.