Democratic Buffalo state Sen. Tim Kennedy defeated Republican West Seneca Supervisor Gary Dickson in Tuesday’s New York special election to replace longtime former Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY).
Kennedy jumped out to a massive 78.4%-21.6% lead over Dickson when the Associated Press projected it to go in his favor, at 9:17 p.m.
“We did it. We did it as a COMMUNITY,” Kennedy wrote on X. “Because that’s what this was all about since Day One. And that’s what it will always be about.”
“I’m honored. I’m humbled. I’m ready to get to Washington and get to work,” he added.
The 47-year-old state senator will serve out the remainder of Higgins’ term in the House of Representatives, which expires at the end of the year.
Higgins, 64, resigned from his 26th District congressional seat in early February, in order to become president of Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo.
The former 10-term congressman also expressed dissatisfaction with Congress when he announced his decision to resign.
“Congress is not the institution that I went to 19 years ago. It’s a very different place today,” he said in November.
“We’re spending more time doing less. And the American people aren’t being served.”
Kennedy’s victory narrows the Republican conference’s already slim majority in the House to 217-213, meaning the GOP can only afford to lose one vote on any bill if Democrats vote along party lines.
Kennedy outraised Dickson, a former FBI agent, by more than $1 million dollars, Federal Election Commission records show.
Dickson described his politics “more towards the center” of former President Donald Trump, whom he said he supports as the GOP nominee for president, according to the Associated Press.
Kennedy is also running to serve a full term in New York’s 26th District, which encompasses Erie and Niagara counties, including the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
The district is considered a safe seat for Democrats. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the 26th District by a greater than 2-1 ratio.
Kennedy will square off against attorney and former Grand Island Town Supervisor Nate McMurray in the June 25 Democratic primary.
McMurray is currently facing a lawsuit from Kennedy seeking to remove him from the primary ballot over more than 1,000 allegedly invalid signatures collected in McMurray’s electoral petition.
McMurray has denied the claims in the suit.
