Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino speaks to the media after announcing his campaign for Elise Stefanik’s congressional seat. He was endorsed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, with the president calling him “a Proven Leader who has dedicated his life to serving his Community.”
Chris Churchill/Times Union
Assemblyman Robert Smullen, center, speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Albany. Smullen’s reaction to Trump’s endorsement was predictably mild. “A consultant got to the president, someone who is being paid by my opponent,” he said, referring to Roger Stone. “The president’s made a mistake here.”
Will Waldron/Times Union
Anthony Constantino, right, appears alongside former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The former mayor has endorsed Constantino’s campaign for New York’s 21st congressional district.
Constantino for Congress
Assemblyman Robert Smullen, center, was endorsed by New York GOP Chair Ed Cox in his bid to fill Rep. Elise Stefanik’s Congressional seat.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Donald Trump is super unpopular, and polls suggest he’s even losing support among key segments of the MAGA base.
No wonder. An important element of Trump’s appeal, after all, was his pledge to stop the bipartisan war carousel. Yet, here we are involved in one more utterly senseless Middle East conflict — promise, broken.
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Then, there’s the president’s profane desecration of Easter morning, his vile talk of annihilating “a whole civilization,” his attack on the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics and his AI slop depiction of himself as Jesus. It’s almost as if Trump wants to alienate religious voters.
Who would want an endorsement from this guy? Why, Anthony Constantino would.
Constantino is the CEO of Sticker Mule and a wildly unconventional Republican candidate for the congressional seat held by Elise Stefanik. On Tuesday, Trump endorsed Constantino in his race against Assemblyman Robert Smullen, also a Republican, declaring on social media that “Anthony is a Proven Leader who has dedicated his life to serving his Community.”
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The weird capitalization is the president’s, of course.
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Alas, Trump’s backing seemed more about nutty friends Roger Stone and Rudy Giuliani, who are also in Constantino’s camp, than any serious study of the 21st Congressional District. It didn’t hurt that Constantino flattered presidential megalomania by erecting a massive Montgomery County monument to Trump.
“The sign is still there!” the Donald noted.
What’s interesting about the endorsement is how it spits in the face of New York’s sputtering GOP establishment. As reported by the Times Union’s Alexander MacDougall, the party is fully backing Smullen, who is supported by a bevy of familiar Republicans that includes John Faso, the former Hudson Valley congressman.
That makes it tempting to posit the race as a contest between the state party’s apparatus and Trump’s popularity among everyday Republicans. In other words, will North Country primary voters take note of Trump’s endorsement? Will they be swayed more by local and state leaders? Will they care one way or another?
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All of this presumes Smullen ever had a chance, which is probably a mistake given his distinct lack of money and name recognition. Trump is endorsing the candidate who was always likely to win, not that he’ll hesitate to take credit when the inevitable happens.
Faso, for one, knocks Constantino for making rap videos, a criticism strangely reminiscent of his failed campaign against Antonio Delgado, who unwisely gave up his House seat to be an ostracized lieutenant governor. More broadly, though, Faso and other GOP leaders take issue with Constantino’s temperament amid fears that his volatility could endanger a congressional seat that should be safe for Republicans.
There’s something to that — and not just because Smullen could be on the ballot as the Conservative Party’s choice, setting up the possibility of a split Republican vote in a likely blue-wave year. Democrats are energized. Oh, would they love to steal Stefanik’s seat.
Certainly, Constantino could be a disaster in the general election. One, he’s new to politics and untested; his foot could find his mouth. Two, he fights unnecessary fights. (Reminds you of somebody, does it not?) Nor is it clear he’ll tolerate all the county-fair handshaking and chitchatting required to win.
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Yet it’s easy to be intrigued by the prospect of Constantino in Congress. He’d be … unusual.
Constantino could be an informally attired iconoclast in the mode of John Fetterman, particularly if he mustered the courage to loudly oppose Trump on a policy or two. He could topple convention, make some noise, practice politics in a new way. He could teach House Speaker Mike Johnson how to box and speak Spanish.
On the other hand, Constantino could make all the wrong kinds of noise, harming a high-needs district. He could pick silly fights, spend too much time arguing on cable news, avoid the nitty-gritty that helps constituents. He might focus more on South Beach than South Edwards.
Either way, Constantino would be an entity. That’s in contrast to Smullen, who’s hardly left a mark in the Assembly.
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Smullen’s reaction to Trump’s endorsement was predictably mild. He didn’t note the president’s dismal approval rating, below 40% in many national polls. He didn’t mention how Trumponomics has hurt the North Country. He didn’t say the war in Iran is a folly or a betrayal.
“A consultant got to the president, someone who is being paid by my opponent,” Smullen said, referring to Stone. “The president’s made a mistake here.”
Smullen might be right. The state’s GOP establishment certainly thinks so.
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