Democrats won a special election for a House seat in Western New York on Tuesday, the Associated Press projected, further shrinking the GOP’s narrow majority in the House.
Democratic state Sen. Tim Kennedy defeated Republican city supervisor Gary Dickson in New York’s 26th District, a reliably blue area that includes Buffalo and some of the surrounding suburbs. Democrats will now control 213 seats in the House, compared to 217 for Republicans. Five seats remain vacant.
Kennedy will serve out the remainder of Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins’ term. The 10-term congressman resigned in February to run a local performing arts center and had some choice words for the partisan impasse in the House. Higgins told Buffalo News at the end of last year that Congress is “in a very, very bad situation” and that “we are in the early stages of a deterioration in the prestige of the institution”.
That still didn’t stop Kennedy from running in the special election or a full term in November.
“The dysfunction has become an embarrassment throughout this country and throughout the global community,” Kennedy said in a phone interview Monday. “And we must restore honor, civility and functionality to the halls of the House of Representatives.”
Kennedy’s victory on Monday was no surprise — President Joe Biden won the district by 23 percentage points in 2020, according to calculations by the Kos Daily Electionsand the district has twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans.
That means Democrats are the favorites to keep the seat in November. Kennedy will first have to win the June primary to run for a full term, but he could have that race all to himself.
Former Grand Island Town Supervisor Nate McMurray, who ran unsuccessfully in a neighboring congressional district, also plans to run. But Kathleen McGrath, spokeswoman for the state Board of Elections, wrote in an email that there are multiple objections to McMurray’s petition signatures and that access to the polls will be determined at a meeting on Wednesday. Kennedy also had filed a lawsuit challenging McMurray’s signatures.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues to help the people of this country and ensure the House of Representatives better reflects the people,” Kennedy said of his campaign for a full term. “And I believe that, in November, we will have the high morale to take back the Chamber as Democrats. I believe the people of this country are tired of seeing dysfunction in the chaos that reigns under MAGA Republican control of the House.
Kennedy will likely be a reliable Democratic vote in the House, focusing his campaign on core party issues, including protecting Social Security and Medicare, defending democracy and codifying the right to abortion into federal law.
A practicing Catholic, Kennedy said in 2014 that his views on abortion “evolved,” And now it’s calling for federal law to mirror abortion protections in New York state law.
Kennedy was among state lawmakers who voted in 2019 to protect abortion rights in New York up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for non-viable fetuses and when the patient’s health is at risk.
“I believe that a woman’s right to make health care decisions about her own body should be made between a woman, her family and her doctor,” Kennedy said. If we restrict and ban abortion in this country, women will die.”
Kennedy had the endorsement of the political arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in the race. He reiterated his support for Israel, while calling for the protection of civilians in the country’s war against Hamas.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
