Uniting Democrats in the fractious state Senate has been impossible over the last seven years. But Governor Andrew Cuomo believes that latest deal can give the party a working majority in the Senate -- a goal he says is needed to combat Republican policies in Congress.

"The state party put a proposal on the table yesterday that I strongly support," Cuomo said, "and I urge both sides to stop their intramural disputes and reunify, because we have real issues like this federal taxation."

The plan would require both the eight-member Independent Democratic Conference and the 23-member Senate Democrats to drop primary challenges against their members and work together to fill two Senate seats in special elections, likely to be held in May.

"I don't want to say much more," Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said. "I know that both sides are talking right now."

Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins signaled she was on board. But for much of Tuesday, questions remained over whether IDC Leader Jeff Klein would back the deal. Late Tuesday afternoon, he released a statement supporting the plan.

"We need to all focus on that, and we need a joint Democrat united force in order to do that," said Jess Wisneski of Citizen Action. "We want to see special elections called as soon as humanly possible."

Liberal advocates don't support the timeline, which would keep Republicans in power through the state budget talks.

"No, this isn't a serious plan from the governor. If it was serious, he would be calling for unification of the Senate Democrats on January 1 of this year," Wisneski said.

And then there's the political imperative for the governor heading into a re-election year and potentially considering a run for president.

"I am running for re-election of governor of the state of New York next year," Cuomo said. "We've made a lot of progress on any of these issues -- education, taxes. I've done more for upstate economic development than any governor in the history of the state of New York."

Republicans maintain control of the Senate with Brooklyn Senator Simcha Felder, a Democrat who sits with the GOP.