New York state Senator Timothy Kennedy, a Democrat, has won the special election to take the place of retired Democratic Representative Brian Higgins in Congress. Decision Desk HQ projected his victory.
Kennedy defeated Republican Gary Dickson in New York’s 26th Congressional District. This district was expected to remain Democratic, but the race was closely watched as the GOP holds a small majority.
Both Kennedy and Dickson were chosen by local party leaders as their party’s candidates for the special election. Kennedy will serve the remainder of Higgins’s term.
Higgins left Congress in February after nearly 20 years, citing dysfunction and slow progress in Washington. He now leads Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo. He was one of many lawmakers who decided not to seek reelection due to frustration with chaos in Capitol Hill.
The district includes Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Kennedy pushed for gun safety laws in the New York state Senate following a mass shooting in Buffalo in 2022.
Dickson, the Republican candidate, was the first Republican town supervisor in West Seneca in many years.
Kennedy will hold Higgins’s seat for the rest of the year. He is also running for a full term in the House in the November elections, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
The special election took place while former President Trump is on trial in Manhattan. Trump faces charges of falsifying business records related to a payment during the 2016 election.
