It was an anticlimatic moment in the state Senate chambers, as New York awarded its 29 electoral votes for Hillary Clinton. 

But it was also a bittersweet one for the state's electoral college, who gathered in Albany. Among them: former President Bill Clinton.

"I never cast a vote I was prouder of," Clinton said. "You know, I watched her work for two years, I watched her battle through that bogus email deal, be vindicated at the end. She fought through that, she fought through everything."

Clinton blamed the last-minute re-opening of the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, as well as the hacking by of emails at the Democratic National Committee, alleged to be done by Russian agents.

"In the end, we had the Russians and we had the FBI," Clinton said. "She couldn't prevail against that, but she still won by 2.8 million votes."

Donald Trump cruised to victory in the Electoral College despite thousands of anti-Trump protesters who converged on state capitols across the country. Monday's vote ensured that Trump will become America's 45th president.

Other electors, like Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, say a woman occupying the Oval Office is still possible within her lifetime.

"Obviously, we have a lot of work that we have to do as women," Stewart-Cousins said, "and there are tremendous glass ceilings still to break."

Elsewhere at the Capitol, talk turned to a special session and whether lawmakers would return to the Capitol before the end of the year, paving the way for the first salary hike in nearly 20 years. 

"I'm not going to bring them back and pay millions of dollars to bring them back just so they can vote for a pay raise for themselves," said Governor Andrew Cuomo. "If they want to come back so we can vote on the peoples' business, then we'll have something to talk about."

That session could include other items like expanding ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, which Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says he's open to, but with conditions.

"We want to make sure that people are safe, the drivers are safe, potential passengers are safe, and I think some of that is getting lost in this debate," Heastie said. "We'd love to have ride sharing in other parts of New York, and we're trying to get it done."

But Heastie continues to insist none of the issues Cuomo wants addressed in a special session should be tied to the pay hike.