ALBANY — Four New York lawmakers have not appeared at the state Capitol at all this year, including two 89-year-old legislators whose attendance has been limited by serious, long-term health problems.
The 10 members of the New York Senate and Assembly with the most absences since January also include a Republican serving in the military who was deployed to the Middle East, a senator who took maternity leave and two longtime New York City Democrats who did not explain their repeated absences.
Although lawmakers may cast votes remotely, they cannot take part in legislative sessions from afar. The 10 most frequently absent lawmakers collectively missed 442 days and each failed to attend more than 37% of the votes held in Albany, according to attendance records obtained by The Post through a public records request.
Together, the lawmakers represent just 5% of the state Legislature but accounted for 39% of all recorded absences since January, the records show.
Two of the four lawmakers who never appeared in person — Assembly members Vivian Cook, a Queens Democrat, and David McDonough, a Nassau County Republican — are both 89, dealing with ongoing illnesses and serving out their final year after deciding not to seek reelection.
Assemblyman Brian Maher, an Orange County Republican and Navy reservist, missed the entire legislative session while deployed to the Middle East from November 2025 through last month. He said prolonged absences by elderly lawmakers underscore the need to consider term limits.
“People will say elections are term limits. We know they’re not. We know that incumbency brings a lack of an even playing field,” said Maher, who is running unopposed this year.
McDonough has not appeared in Albany in at least two years, despite winning reelection in 2024 with 65% of the vote, according to a Newsday analysis published in February.
The seven-term lawmaker announced the following week that he would not run again. He remains in office while state Senate staffer Shannon Fredericks campaigns to succeed him. McDonough joined proceedings remotely on eight occasions, the records show.
Cook, who first won her Assembly seat in 1990, entered rehab in March, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal People-Stokes, an Erie County Democrat, announced on the chamber floor. Cook has been coping with an undisclosed illness and participated remotely only once.
Rochester state Sen. Samra Brouk, a Monroe County Democrat, was absent while on maternity leave. She was listed as excused through late April and used the Senate’s remote voting option for much of the rest of the session.
Brouk announced on Instagram that she gave birth in late December. She voted remotely on 24 of the session’s 64 days and is considered heavily favored to win reelection.
Questionable absences
State Sen. Sam Sutton, a Brooklyn Democrat, and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, also a Brooklyn Democrat, did not respond to requests for comment about their attendance records.
Sutton, 77, won a special election in May 2025 to fill a vacant Senate seat. He missed 36 days and never participated remotely, according to the records. He and Brouk, who was only weeks away from giving birth, were the only senators absent on the first day of the legislative session.
The records show Sutton sometimes missed entire weeks and often appeared just one or two days during the standard three- or four-day workweeks lawmakers spend in Albany during the roughly six months of the year when the Legislature is in session.
Bichotte Hermelyn, who previously headed the Brooklyn Democratic Party before resigning amid a bitter internal power struggle, missed 23 days, including nine days when she was absent from the Capitol but could have participated remotely.
Medical and family crises…
The Senate Mental Health Committee, which Brouk chairs, has not held a meeting this year.
“Dave is 89 years old and will step away having earned the respect of his constituents and his colleagues. Legislative operations have evolved significantly since COVID. Despite limitations, he’s passed legislation, voted on bills, and done important work in the district,” Assembly GOP spokesperson Michael Fraser told The Post.
Assemblywoman Vivian Cook (D-Queens), 89, also missed every day of session due to an unspecified illness. The longtime Assemblywoman signed on remotely once to vote for a state budget bill on May 26.
State Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens), who also represents Cook’s Jamaica, Queens district, said he was in regular contact with Cook during the session, regularly seeking her “decisive” “advice and consent.”
“I think she was still able to serve her community in a positive way during that time,” Comrie said.
State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), suffered a stroke in early April, her office announced publicly in a statement a few days later. The episode left her hospitalized, causing her to miss session between April 7 and May 21, before attending remotely every day thereafter, state record showed.
Krueger, 68, told The Post in an interview she has luckily escaped major stroke symptoms and doctors cleared her to return home after only six days in the hospital and without any rehab. The doctors did however stipulate that she remain in close proximity to the hospital for the first 90 days after she was released, keeping her from Albany.
Krueger said, were it not for the bright outlook for her recovery, the 12-term incumbent would’ve seriously considered retirement.
“Pretty quickly, I realized I’m going to be able to keep doing what I need to do,” Krueger said. “‘It’s really OK if you say to me, it’s time Liz,’” she said she told the Democratic clubs in her district.
Assemblyman Demond Meeks (D-Monroe), took a leave of absence after his 23-year-old daughter suddenly passed away on April 17, according to an announcement posted to his Facebook page.
Afterwards he missed several days, and eventually began tuning into session remotely. Over the year, he accumulated 23 missed days with seven remote days.
The records show Meeks with perfect attendance prior to his daughter’s death. His office didn’t return a request for comment.
Auditioning for the next job…
- Assemblyman Alex Bores (D-Manhattan), missed 31 session days, exactly half of those as he vied in the highly competitive Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District primary to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
He was sixth for most missed votes. Bores ultimately lost that race and will vacate his seat, but defended his absences noting that he would often skip Mondays, when lawmakers traditionally pass less controversial bills.
He also said he passed 10 bills in Albany this year, despite his race.
“They want to see you at their local events and at their town halls and at their debate and forums and you kind of half to juggle,” he said of his constituents.
Assemblyman Micah Lasher (D-Manhattan), won the 12th District primary against Bores and a slate of other Democrats, though at the cost of missing 26 session days, or 42% of days overall. That puts him at eighth, for most days missed.
A spokesperson for the former aide to Nadler and later Gov. Kathy Hochul, declined to comment.
Assemblyman Steve Raga (D-Manhattan), unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary to replace outgoing state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who was not seeking reelection.
The two-term Assemblyman was crushed by leftist Democratic Socialists of America comrade Aber Kawas, who is expected to easily win the Astoria district. Per attendance records, Raga was tied for ninth place, missing 37% of days.
Serving our country…
- Assemblyman Brian Maher (R-Orange), an active New York Naval Militia reservist was deployed to the Middle East in November of last year, only returning from what became an active military theater last month.
While active duty military service obviously meant he would not be able to participate in session, even remotely, that did not stop him from regularly communicating with his staff. That included calls with his chief of staff he said had to be cut short because income enemy fire.
“I had to get off the phone because there was an incoming ballistic missile and we had to give to the nearest bunker,” Maher told The Post.
He said one of his first calls after learning of his deployment was to state Sen. Mark Walczyk (R-Jefferson), an army reserve captain who was deployed for nine months in January 2024.
“Our constituents appreciated the fact that I was getting back to them,” he told The Post. “Dven though I was where I was,” he added.
Of the 214 lawmakers included in the analysis, 61 had perfect attendance, according to the records.
They include lawmakers from across the state, including Long Island Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavone (D-Suffolk) and Southern Tier Assemblyman Joe Sempolinksi (R-Stueben).
Two Assembly members who faced — and ultimately lost — fierce primaries were amongst those with perfect attendance; Robert Smullen (R-Montgomery) and Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Queens).
Rajkumar told The Post she has no regrets of her priority to ensure she was in Albany for the duration of the session.
“Showing up is the job. You don’t take a day off from the people who elected you, not even to campaign, and not even when you lose,” Rajkumar said.
