New York Dem. Kennedy wins special House election, shrinking GOP majority

Democrat Tim Kennedy, a former state senator, won a special election Tuesday in New York’s 26th District, cutting into an already slim GOP majority in the House of Representatives.

Kennedy defeated his opponent, Republican Gary Dickson, by a wide margin in the deep-blue district, which voted for President Biden by a double-digits margin in 2020.

“We need to elect pro-democracy, anti-MAGA candidates all around the country this November,” Kennedy said in his victory speech. “And it starts here in this room in Buffalo, New York, tonight.”

Former Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins, who retired from representing the Niagara Falls-adjacent district in February citing a historically dysfunctional House, shrank the Democratic caucus by one seat.

“Congress is not the institution that I came to 19 years ago,” Higgins told Buffalo News in November, a month after a historic fight for the speakership. “It's in a very, very bad place right now.”

Kennedy’s win puts the House into a 217-213 Republican majority, leaving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) with just three colleagues to spare in a motion to vacate vote, which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is set to call next week.

In a Wednesday press conference, Greene, alongside Thomas Massie (R-KY), vowed to motion to throw the speaker out after he passed aid to Ukraine. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has also previously voiced support for the motion.

Kennedy, who will hold the seat for the remainder of 2024, faces a June 25 primary challenger, Democrat Nate McMurray.