Sen. Tim Kennedy is a well-liked, if not terribly wonkish, first-term Buffalo Democrat who scored a primary victory over longtime incumbent Bill Stachowski only two years ago.

Now it is possibly Kennedy’s turn to feel the backlash from his own party in a primary.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Kennedy was trailing Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant 10,580 votes to 10,389.

UPDATE (from Liz): I received several frantic early-morning texts from WNY Democrats who noted that the final precincts were very late in reporting. But, with 100 percent of 21,573 votes counted (well after midnight), Kennedy was ahead by 271 votes.

Whoever wins this primary will essentially win the entire election, because there’s no Republican running in November.

Kennedy told The Buffalo News he’s certain he has won:

“We’re confident that the lead we have tonight is going to sustain any challenge. My opponent is a very formidable candidate – she ran a tough race.”

The rivalry between Grant and Kennedy actually dates back to when Kennedy was in the county legislature himself. Neither got along with each other terrible well, and Grant had accused Kennedy of being a little too chummy with the then Republican County Executive, one Chris Collins (who is now a House candidate trying to unseat Rep. Kathy Hochul).

But Kennedy’s issues may stem in part from the redistricting shift in the Senate District to include more black votes (Grant herself is African-American).

When Republican lawmakers redrew the boundaries for legislative districts, they shift more black voters out of Republican Sen. Mark Grisanti’s seat and into the district where Kennedy would have to run. The move was done to protect Grisanti, a Republican who narrowly defeated Sen. Antoine Thompson in 2010.

Democrats shouldn’t be terribly worried about a potential Kennedy loss since the GOP has only token opposition in the district come this fall.

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