Dem
51
GOP
49
No, not that Kennedy. We'll get to that Kennedy in the next item. The one in this item is state Sen. Tim Kennedy (D-NY), who is now Rep.-elect Tim Kennedy (D-NY). Yesterday, he won the special election to replace Democrat Brian Higgins in NY-26.
The district is D+9, and so Kennedy's win was expected, but the result was actually a laugher, as he crushed Republican candidate Gary Dickson 68.2% to 31.8%. We don't know why Dickson did so badly; chalk it up to the wonkiness of special elections, perhaps. In any event, the House is now 217 R, 213 D, with five vacancies. Three of those vacancies will likely be filled with Republicans between May 21 and June 25, one vacancy (WI-08, left open by the resignation of Republican Mike Gallagher) will remain unfilled until the next Congress, and the disposition of the last vacancy (NJ-10, left open by the death of Democrat Donald Payne Jr.) is still to be determined. (Z)