New York State Sen. Timothy Kennedy, a Democrat, won the Empire State’s special election to fill retiring Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins’ seat in Congress, according to a projection from Decision Desk headquarters.
Kennedy defeated Republican Gary Dickson in New York’s 26th Congressional District for the seat, which was expected to remain in Democratic hands – but the race still drew scrutiny as the GOP struggles with a razor-thin majority.
Both candidates were chosen by local party officials to be their respective nominees for the special election. Kennedy will serve the rest of Higgins’sunexpired term.
Higgins resigned from Congress in February after nearly two decades in the House, citing growing dysfunction and the “slow and frustrating” pace of progress in D.C., and now serves as president and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo. The longtime lawmaker was among several House members who announced they would not seek reelection amid frustration over the chaos at the Capitol.
The New York Districtruns along the Niagara River, including the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. A 2022 mass shooting in BuffalorequestedKennedy will defend gun safety legislation in the New York State Senate.
Dickson, the Republican candidate in Tuesday’s special election, was the first Republican elected town supervisor in decades in West Seneca.
Kennedy will finish the rest of the year in Higgins’ place — but the Democrat is also on the November ballot to take on a full term in the House, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
The election comes as former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is on trial in Manhattan. In the first of Trump’s four criminal indictments to be presented to a grand jury, he faces felony charges of falsifying business records in connection with a secret payment made during the 2016 cycle.
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