New York's democrats ended a 7-year civil war. Now comes the hard part.

“We can’t take another two years like the past two years,” said Cuomo, a second-term Democrat seeking re-election — and facing a challenge from the left. “This is eroding the progressive soul of New York.”

Under the agreement, Stewart-Cousins will become leader of the reunified Senate Democrats, and Klein, formerly the leader of the renegade Independent Democratic Conference that had collaborated with the Republicans to rule the Senate, will be demoted to serving as her deputy.

And while both leaders thanked the governor for brokering the peace — under which the IDC had dissolved in the course of an afternoon, like a jellyfish on a hot beach — neither Stewart-Cousins nor Klein seemed particularly ecstatic as their new partnership debuted.

“Let’s see how well we do,” Stewart-Cousins said.

“Sometimes you have to take a step back before you can take two steps forward,” said Klein.

Indeed, despite the governor’s carefully staged Kumbaya moment, there are many logistical, political and practical questions about what the future holds for the reunited Democrats and what changes might be afoot.

The most immediate answer, of course, is not much: Despite the IDC’s eight senators joining with Stewart-Cousins’ 21 members, the Democrats are still short of a majority in the 63-seat chamber, something that Republicans who control the chamber were quick to note, and mock, on Wednesday.

“Simple math tells you that 29 out of 63 is not a majority,” said Sen. Rich Funke, an upstate Republican, who also called Cuomo’s announcement the “worst deal to take place in New York City since the Yankees’ 10-year deal with A-Rod.”

The possible addition of two more Democrats through special elections April 24 will still leave the party just shy of the magic 32 needed for a majority because of the continued defection of state Sen. Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who caucuses with the Republicans. On Wednesday, Felder, too, seemed to tamp down expectations, repeating that while he had no loyalty to any party, he seemed happy enough with the GOP. “I think it’s fair to say that I would have to feel a compelling reason to leave,” he said.

Still, there are some indications that things will be different — particularly for members of Klein’s now-defunct faction — when the Legislature returns to Albany on April 16. Thanks to their agreement with the GOP, members of the IDC had enjoyed the perks of committee chairmanships, which come with handsome bonuses (known as “lulus” in Albany parlance) and the power to steer legislation. Two members of Klein’s conference had also been paid as vice-chairs of committees, a practice the state comptroller ruled improper in recent weeks.

But those chairmanships are likely to be taken away by the Republican leader, State Sen. John J. Flanagan of Long Island, who is said to have only heard about the pending reunification early Wednesday from Klein, his longtime political partner. The IDC also had enjoyed other benefits, including larger staffs and offices; the status of those perks is still under discussion, according to Scott Reif, a spokesman for Flanagan.

In an interview Thursday, Klein himself seemed to confirm this, saying, “Clearly, things are going to change.”

At the same time, the governor’s election-year embrace of Democratic unity does not seem to have quelled opposition to the IDC, which has worked with the Republicans for most of Cuomo’s time in office. On Thursday, at Foley Square in Manhattan, a succession of Democratic primary challengers to IDC members blasted the deal as “too little, too late,” particularly because it came after the passage of the state’s $168 billion budget, during which time Klein — then regarded as one of four leaders in top-level negotiations — was still cooperating with Republicans.

“We’re going to remember those who were in bed with the Republicans — the party of Trump,” said Allan Roskoff, the president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, which advocates for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual rights.

Others — including Cuomo’s Democratic challenger, actress Cynthia Nixon — have also suggested that the timing of reconciliation was orchestrated to inoculate the governor and the IDC from primary challenges, a theme picked up by Republicans as well. (One speaker at the Foley Square event called the IDC deal “the Democratic Primary Discouragement Act.”)

“Let’s be honest,” said Reif. “The only reason that any of this is happening now is because Andrew Cuomo is scared to death of Cynthia Nixon.”

Cuomo and his surrogates rejected this narrative, saying they had been working on a deal between Stewart-Cousins and Klein since last summer and had fostered a tentative deal in November. “It had nothing to do with it,” the governor said Wednesday, in response to a question about Nixon.

The governor has also emphasized that the deal he announced is actually secondary to efforts in the fall to elect a wave of Democrats at every governmental level.

How the Senate might operate on a daily basis is also an open question. Under rules adopted for this session, the IDC is regarded as a separate conference in the chamber and part of a ruling coalition. Indeed, Republicans argue that even if Felder were to side with the Democrats, rules might not allow a change in majority leadership, because rules cannot be changed without 38 votes, beyond even unified Democrats. Democrats disagree, but legal battles could follow.

The uncertainty surrounding the Senate — and its now shifting loyalties — has also led to speculation that little, if anything, will get done between now and the end of the legislative session in June.

On Thursday, no physical changes were visible in Albany; Klein’s suite of offices, on the top floor of a legislative office building, were intact. Klein said he expected to conference with his fellow Democrats in the Senate when the Legislature returns to work. He said he would also dip into the IDC’s campaign funds — some $1.2 million as of January — to support Democrats, as well as fending off primary challenges to his fellow IDC alumni.

Klein said he remained proud of what the IDC had accomplished — voting to pass things like paid family leave, a raise in the minimum wage and same-sex marriage — over its seven years of dissidence.

“I still believe, at the time,” he said, “it was a good thing.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

New York's democrats ended a 7-year civil war. Now comes the hard part.

On Wednesday afternoon in his Manhattan office, Gov. Andrew Cuomo sat between two formerly sworn Democratic rivals — Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein — and declared a truce in their seven-year civil war, one that had intensified since the election of President Donald Trump.

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