Klein, who was accused on Wednesday of forcibly kissing a former staffer in 2015, is the leader of a
key bloc of
votes in the Senate and agreed to a unity deal that would unite the factions of Democrats in the chamber by the spring,
potentially handing control of the Senate to the party.
Schneiderman has refused to cede the women's
vote — a
potentially key bloc in the September primary — to Rice just because of her gender and in spite of the fact that she has been highlighted as a potential ticket - balancer for the (so far) all - white and all - male Democratic statewide ticket.