Democrats win special election in blowout

| 8:00 pm EDT May 1, 2024
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On Tuesday, after a fresh round of dooming over a CNN poll, Democrats once again did what they do best: winning special elections in a blowout. This one, in NY-26, the part of the Empire State that includes Buffalo, however, was more than a blowout.

The Democratic candidate, Tim Kennedy, outspent his candidate to the tune of over $1 million despite having a safe seat, meaning it was likely he would overperform somewhat in a seat that went for 28 points to Democrat Brian Higgins in 2022 (something of an overperformance from when it went for Joe Biden by 24 points in 2020.)

Kennedy is ahead by 36 points with much of the vote in, meaning he didn’t just overperform, he massively overperformed, which suggests two things could be true this fall, when he runs for a full two-year term. One: Democrats still have room to grow in urban areas of the country, which means any degree of canvassing or donating can prove effective. (We’ve also seen rural gains for Democrats in previous special elections this year even when Republicans won.)

It also narrows the majority Republicans have in the House to just two seats, making it nearly impossible for them to do anything on their own (unless they were actually interested in governance.) I’m hardly sick of all this winning now, so let’s stay the course and flip the House on Nov 5.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.