What has happened to the GOP in New York state

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The Conservative Party, Gun Control mania in the suburbs, population decline in the Southern Tier, Pataki's unpopularity in his third term. The rapid decent to marginalism upstate from being strongly GOP. The fall of Alphonse D'Amato wiped out the influence of someone that could control and actually get the Conservative Party to back a moderate(Pataki). The failure to create a new generation of Republican candidates resulting in the State Senate becoming filled with elderly Republicans who should have been put out to pasteur long ago but fear of losing the seats or lack of a bench to replace them has kept them from leaving. How is that for starters?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Long Island wasn't all that much of a Republican bastion at congressional level, fwiw.

This is true. Prior to WW2, most of its Congressmen were Dems. GOP dominance was post WW2 occurance. and considering that NY-01, NY-02, and NY-03 changed hands frequenctly. NY-04 was the only consistently Republican district from 1952-1996.