Western New York seems to like congressional elections. We like it so much that sometimes we do it three times in a congressional election year.
Consider the case of NY23 in its present design and its linear predecessors, a district which in the 2010s became like the Bermuda triangle of congressional districts. Max McCarthy held the seat for three terms in the sixties. After Jack Kemp held the seat for 18 years Bill Paxon was elected. He was a rising star in the House Republican caucus until he wasn’t and left Congress unexpectedly after five terms. Paxon was succeeded by Tom Reynolds who served for five terms and was a rising star in the House Republican caucus until he wasn’t. Then the seat bounced around.
Reynolds was succeeded by Chris Lee, but he resigned not long into his first term after a scandal. He was succeeded for about one year when Kathy Hochul won the seat, only to lose it in a re-drawn district to Chris Collins.
Collins held the seat for less than four terms before he became a felon for insider stock trading and resigned. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo was slow in setting up a special election to fill the seat but one was held in 2020. Chris Jacobs won the special election, the June Republican primary, and the November general election that year. Jacobs lasted for one term.
Then, after a tough primary fight with Carl Paladino, Nick Langworthy was elected the Congressman in 2022, but only after a special election selected Joseph Sempolinski as a placeholder member of Congress. NY23 had three elections that year, although the district lines were modified before the general election. There were six members of Congress in the district in 12 years.
Now in 2024 we have potentially three elections for Congress in the 26th district following the anticipated resignation early in February of Brian Higgins. Governor Kathy Hochul will call a special election for the seat within ten days of Higgins’ official resignation. The special election will be held between 70 and 80 days after the Governor makes the call.
The timetable for the special election will be short. Following the model of the special election presently underway to succeed the expelled George Santos in NY3, here is how schedule will work:
- From the date the Governor proclaims the special election, the political parties will have ten days to officially select their nominee. Senator Tim Kennedy is the Democratic candidate.
- Starting the date proclaiming the special election anyone wishing to run in the special election as an independent candidate will have approximately two weeks to circulate and file petitions to run in the election. At least 3,500 valid signatures will be needed. Former congressional candidate Nate McMurray has told the Buffalo News that he will run in the special election.
- Early voting will be held for nine days prior to the election.
- The date of the election will occur in the latter part of April.
If Kennedy is elected to serve the remainder of Higgins’ term, McMurray could also challenge him in the June primary and/or the general election.
Alan Bedenko recently posted (https://buffalopundit.com/) a great article detailing McMurray’s political activities.
Kennedy’s million
State Senator Tim Kennedy is a fundraising powerhouse. His campaign account as a state Senator was far larger than any other member of the Legislature. Now that he is leaving the Legislature for the congressional race he has been disbursing a large part of his state account treasury to 41 statewide and local political Democratic committees and candidates, some of which may be able to assist him in getting elected in NY26. The six month total was $421,906.
Here is a list of the top recipients of funds that Kennedy has distributed over the past six months:
- New York State Democratic Committee $209,165
- Democratic State Senate Campaign Committee $100,000
- Erie County Democratic Committee $15,000
- Niagara County Democratic Committee $12,500
- Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zeller’s Committee $10,000
- Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins Committee $10,000
- Nassau County Democratic Committee $10,000
- Amherst Democratic Committee $5,250
- Committees of Kathy Hochul; Mark Poloncarz; Monroe County Executive Adam Bello; Senator Mike Gianaris; Senator and Bronx County Chairman Jamaal Bailey — $5,000 each
Substantial payments were also made by Kennedy’s Committee to various consultants and law firms. Those expenses totaled $398,576. Here’s how that money broke down:
- Nexus Point, located in Clarence, New York $166,000
- Threshold Group, a New York City based firm that does advertising, fundraising, and public affairs $159,659
- Hart Research Associates, a polling firm based in Washington, D.C. $52,500
- Perkins Coie, a D.C. law firm $20,417
In addition, the Kennedy for Senate committee sent 85 checks totaling $41,625 to a wide variety of schools and community organizations. The balance of the $1,063,287 that was spent over the six-month period went to pay for the usual assortment of campaign expenses.
We will not see another report about the finances of Kennedy for Senate until July 15. After all of this spending Kennedy still has $1,324,728 in his Senate account.
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