BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Erie County Democrats endorsed NYS Senator Tim Kennedy on Thursday for the 26th Congressional District seat that will soon be vacated by Congressman Brian Higgins.
Higgins has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of Shea's Performing Arts Center. He will lead Shea's beginning February 5, after he resigns from the House of Representatives.
The endorsement brought tears to Kennedy's eyes as he passionately spoke about being a force for change for all Americans.
“This is a fight that will continue the progress that we've seen in our community. A fight to change the embarrassing dysfunction that we have seen for far too long in Washington DC.,” says Kennedy. “This is a campaign that will bring all people together.”
Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner spoke on what he said was the right decision to endorse Senator Kennedy.
“20-year member of congress in his cloud and Washington we need to replace that with somebody that doesn't need on-the-job training. Somebody who's not a keyboard warrior, someone who's not gonna embarrass this community by you know wild things that they say on social media,” says Zellner. “We need a leader, and we need somebody who has delivered already for this community that Senator Kennedy it's it's crystal clear on tonight that our committee was overwhelmingly supportive of him and unanimously supportive of him for that very reason so it wasn't a really difficult decision to make.”
Senator Kennedy emphasized his commitment to not leaving any Western New Yorker behind.
“No one will work harder than I will for the people in every single part of the district that I represent, and I'm looking forward to getting to work,” he says.
Zellner tells 7 News reporter Yoselin Person he’s confident Senator Kennedy will make the change that needs to happen in Congress for the better.
“This isn't a sound bite. This isn’t just about popularity, this is about going to Washington. We get a lot of resources from the federal government here in Western New York, and we can't lose that,” he says. “So having the senator as a candidate for congress makes his seat even more important.”
Nate McMurray, who previously served as Grand Island Town Supervisor and is a two-time Democratic Congressional candidate, announced his candidacy for the seat earlier this week.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who were both believed to be possible candidates for the seat, have announced they will not run.
A special election is expected to take place in April.
