The government may be shut down but Western New York’s representatives in Congress have been busy raising money for their campaign treasuries. Federal Election Commission financial reports were released on October 15th.
Leading WNY House members and the senators in the most recent quarterly reports is Representative Tim Kennedy. In the quarter ending September 30th Kennedy raised $359,781. That amount exceeds the quarterly take for Representatives Nick Langworthy and Claudia Tenney as well as Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristin Gillibrand.
Kennedy was first elected in a special election in April 2024. Langworthy became a member of the House in 2023. Tenney became a House member in 2017. Schumer has been a member of Congress since 1981, first as a House member and since 1999 a Senator. Gillibrand began as a member of the House in 2007 and has been a Senator since 2009.
Here is a summary for the quarterly reports (R = raised; D = disbursements; and C = Cash on hand):
- Kennedy: R — $359,181; D — $155,739; C — $884,861
- Tenney: R – $343,214; D – $292,561; C – $967,357
- Langworthy; R – $332,118; D – $177,936; C – $1,708,894
- Schumer: R – $133,460; D – $321,785; C – $8,550,225
- Gillibrand: R – $334,389; D – $159,701; C – $1,622,749
Kennedy was a prolific fundraiser as a member of the state Senate. As of August 5th his state Senate campaign account still totaled $1,269,144.
Kennedy, Langworthy, and Tenney will all be running for re-election in 2026. Gillibrand was re-elected to the Senate in 2024. Schumer’s current Senate term ends in 2028.
The Bills at the bye week
Big expectations have come down to earth at one Bills Drive. Lofty projections about a Super Bowl run are being recalibrated. Long expected to win their sixth consecutive AFC East title, they are currently in second place behind New England. The Bills are still a pretty good team with a decent record but some retooling is in order.
The 4 and 2 Bills are not alone among the premier teams in the league with two or more losses. Philadelphia, San Francisco, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Seattle, the Los Angeles Rams, and Denver all have two losses, while Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers have three. It bears noting, however, that the four teams the Bills have defeated have a total of three wins among them after seven weeks of play.
The team’s defense has had several injuries to deal but that does not explain sloppy play with many missed tackles. Those sorts of things are the responsibility of the defensive coordinator, Bobby Babich. The Bills replaced their offensive coordinator mid-season two years ago.
The team has had a total of 28 penalties in the past three games.
I noted prior to the start of the season that the team was lacking in a superstar receiver or two. That view is being confirmed by the lack of fire power in the passing game. The offensive line is doing their job in protecting Josh Allen but the receivers are not doing their part by getting open.
There is still time to do some roster adjustments or even change the defensive coordinator position. The NFL trade deadline is November 4th at 4 p.m.
Early voting
Early voting 2025 begins this Saturday, October 25th and runs nine days through Sunday, November 2nd. Turnout will be light this year so every extra opportunity for folks to vote is a chance to run up those numbers a bit. Early voting gives voters the convenience of added dates and times and a variety of locations in the county to vote if they choose.
Here are links to the Erie and Niagara Counties Board of Elections websites that note the dates and times and locations that the polls will be opened. The same information is available on the websites of other counties.
Erie County: EARLYVOTING2025GEN.pub
Niagara County: 2025-09-16-080138-2025-general-election-early-voting-communication-plan.pdf
Bluesky @kenkruly
Twitter/X @kenkruly
Threads kenkruly
