PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – Campaign season is underway as Republican candidates compete for Elise Stefanik\u2019s former congressional seat representing New York\u2019s North Country. There is a two-way Republican primary between Assemblyman Robert Smullen and businessman Anthony Constantino. <\/p>\n
Assemblyman Robert Smullen says he\u2019s been a tireless voice for upstate values and wants to bring his \u201cupstate first\u201d mentality to Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am confident I am going to win in June, and I will be on the ballot in November,\u201d Smullen said.<\/p>\n
Smullen represents the 118th District in the New York State Assembly, which includes Hamilton County and borders Essex and Franklin Counties. He grew up in Fulton County and has served in the state Assembly since 2018.<\/p>\n
In addition to his political career, Smullen is a retired Marine Corps colonel who was deployed several times to the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were the first Marine Corps forces into Pakistan and then into Afghanistan after the 9\/11 attacks,\u201d Smullen said.<\/p>\n
He describes himself as a \u201cservant\u201d leader, prioritizing constituents over his own self-interests. \u201cI want balanced budgets, I want to unleash American energy. I want to close our borders, but what people need to know — I will represent all of the people in the 21st Congressional District,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On policy, Smullen says he wants New York to tap into the state\u2019s natural gas reserves to help with energy independence. While he supports President Trump\u2019s trade policy, he also wants to work on the country\u2019s relationship with Canada. \u201cI am in favor of many of President Trump\u2019s policies having to do with leveling the economic playing field, but I am also very cognizant of our friends in Canada who I have very high esteem for, and understand the international business relations between the United States and Canada,\u201d Smullen said.<\/p>\n
Smullen has racked up several endorsements, including those from the state\u2019s Republican and Conservative Party. However, he was passed over by President Trump, who instead chose businessman Anthony Constantino. On the Channel 3 News on Wednesday, you\u2019ll hear why Constantino thinks he should get the vote.<\/p>\n
The New York primary is June 23, 2026.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – Campaign season is underway as Republican candidates compete for Elise Stefanik\u2019s former congressional seat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[858,9,11,10,49,51,50,56101,19157,1631],"class_list":["post-229217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-congress","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-robert-smullen","tag-stefanik","tag-wcax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}