Democrats win a New York special election, further narrowing the House GOP's majority

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 town supervisor Gary Dickson in the 26th District, a reliably blue area that includes Buffalo and some of its surrounding suburbs. Democrats will now control 213 seats in the House, compared with 217 for the Republicans. Five seats remain vacant.

Kennedy will serve the rest of Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins' term. Higgins, who was in his 10th term, resigned in February to run a local performing arts center, and he had some choice words for partisan gridlock in the House. Higgins told The Buffalo News late last year that Congress is “in a very, very bad place” and that “we’re at the beginning phases of a deterioration of the prestige of the institution.”

That did not deter Kennedy from running in the special election or for a full term in November.

“The dysfunction has become an embarrassment across this country and across the global community,” Kennedy said in a phone interview Monday. “And we have to restore honor and civility and functionality back into the halls of the House of Representatives.”

Kennedy’s victory Monday was no surprise — President Joe Biden won the district by 23 percentage points in 2020, according to calculations from Daily Kos Elections, and the district has twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans.

That means Democrats are favored to hold on to 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 to himself.

Former Grand Island Town Supervisor Nate McMurray, who ran unsuccessfully in a neighboring congressional district, is also looking to run. But Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the state Board of Elections, wrote in an email that there are multiple objections to McMurray’s petition signatures and that ballot access will be determined at a meeting Wednesday. Kennedy had also filed a lawsuit challenging McMurray’s signatures.

“I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues to deliver for the people of this country and making sure that the House of Representatives is more reflective of the people,” Kennedy said of his campaign for a full term. “And I believe going into November, we have the moral high ground here to take back the House as Democrats. I believe the people of this country are sick and tired of seeing the dysfunction in the chaos that’s reigning under MAGA Republican control in the House.”

Kennedy, who is likely to be a reliable Democratic vote in the House, focused his campaign on core party issues, including protecting Social Security and Medicare, defending democracy and codifying the right to an abortion into federal law.

Kennedy, a practicing Catholic, said in 2014 that his views on abortion had “evolved,” and now he is calling for federal law to reflect the abortion protections in New York state law.

Kennedy was among the state legislators who voted in 2019 to protect the right to an abortion in New York up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for nonviable fetuses and when a patient’s health is at risk.

"I believe that a woman’s right to make health care decisions about her own body ought to be made between a woman, her family and her doctor,” Kennedy said. “And if we do not allow for that scenario to play out, and if we restrict and ban abortion across this country, women will die.”

Kennedy had the endorsement of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s political arm. He reiterated his support for Israel while also calling for civilians to be protected in its war against Hamas.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com