BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Former Grand Island supervisor Nate McMurray will not be on the 26th Congressional District special election ballot in April, he confirmed to News 4
McMurray, a Democrat, had been mounting a challenge against State Senator Tim Kennedy, who received the endorsement from the Erie County Democratic Committee to be on the ballot for the April 30 election, which will decide the replacement for longtime Western New York representative Brian Higgins, who stepped down earlier this month to become the president of Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
McMurray told News 4 that although he has spent the past few weeks raising more than $10,000 for his campaign and gathering thousands of signatures, he said that the questions regarding redistricting make it difficult to know whether people who signed the petition will vote in the district itself.
In addition, he said that he does not want to split the vote among democrats, which could hand the victory to West Seneca town supervisor Gary Dickson, who recently received the endorsement of the Erie County Republican Committee to run in the election.
NY-26 GOP candidate Gary Dickson: “I think the people need to have a choice”
This is now the third time that McMurray has unsuccessfully campaigned for Congress, following a pair of runs in 2017 and 2019. He also ran a brief campaign for Erie County Executive in 2023.
New York’s 26th Congressional District represents Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Lackawanna, Tonawanda, North Tonawanda, among other municipalities.
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.