BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Democratic state Sen. Timothy Kennedy won a special election Tuesday for the New York Assembly seat vacated by Democrat Brian Higgins.
Kennedy defeated Republican Gary Dixon in the upstate New York seat, helped by a 2-1 Democratic registration advantage in the district, which includes Buffalo, Niagara Falls and several suburbs.
Kennedy has served as a state senator since 2011. He described Washington as “chaotic and dysfunctional” and said Congress would focus on reproductive rights, immigration and tougher gun laws like those passed in New York after 2022. mass shooting incident At a Buffalo supermarket.
“New York has become a bulwark against Donald Trump's extremist MAGA policies that have infected our politics and our nation's capital,” he said during the campaign. “MAGA extremists are making a laughing stock of the House of Representatives.”
Registration wasn't the only advantage for Kennedy. Democrats have raised $1.7 million as of April 10, while Dixon has raised a total of $35,430, according to . campaign finance report. While the candidates spent encouraging voters to go to the polls, Mr. Kennedy spent just over $1 million on offseason campaigns, compared to Mr. Dixon's $21,000.
Kennedy will serve as a member of Congress until the end of the year. He is on the general election ballot along with Republican attorney Anthony Malecki. Former town mayor Nate McMurray, who was scheduled to run against Kennedy in the June Democratic primary, said in a social media post Tuesday that election officials removed Kennedy from the ballot because he did not have enough signatures. Stated.
Earlier this year, the slim Republican House majority shrank in the close Long Island region. special election It followed the expulsion of New York Republican George Santos from Congress. The race, won by Democrat Tom Suozzi, was seen as a test of both parties' general election strategies on immigration and abortion.
When Dixon, a former FBI special agent, announced his candidacy in late February, he acknowledged the challenges of running in an upstate district and said he was in the race to give voters a choice. Ta. He said he supports Trump as the Republican presidential nominee, but said his own politics are “more centrist.”
Voting was done in the following way President Trump is on trial The first criminal trial of a former US president was held in New York City. First of Trump's four indictments To reach the jury.