In a Republican stronghold in northern New York, the race to replace Representative Elise Stefanik has had something of a carnivalesque feel, driven by Anthony Constantino, the Republican heir apparent.
There was the wall of frozen turkeys that served as a backdrop to his campaign launch. The rap album that he made in tribute to President Trump, or the seven-foot bronze statue of Mr. Trump that he gave to the president.
But as Election Day nears, Mr. Constantino’s showmanship, as well as his feverish loyalty to Mr. Trump, may have opened the door for his Democratic opponent, Blake Gendebien, to flip a seat that has been under Republican control for most of the last 150 years.
A Siena University poll released in early October showed Mr. Gendebien (pronounced GEN-da-bean) with a narrow edge over Mr. Constantino, a remarkable turn in a district where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 80,000 voters.
The shifts in the district have jolted the Democratic campaign apparatus into action. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added the 21st Congressional District to its Red to Blue program this month, unlocking operational and financial support for Mr. Gendebien to combat the $16 million Mr. Constantino has plowed into his self-funded campaign.
Mr. Gendebien, 49, a second-generation dairy farmer, attributed the tightening of the race to his message of bringing down fuel and fertilizer costs resonating with voters. “We’re thrilled we’re hitting all the right notes,” he said in an interview last week.
Mr. Gendebien, a second-generation dairy farmer, is running as a conservative Democrat, in part to appeal to the district’s Republican leanings.Credit…Patrick Dodson for The New York Times
“And,” he added as almost an afterthought, “we have uniquely the worst Republican opponent in the United States in Constantino.”
Given the district’s conservative history, Mr. Gendebien has been mindful of maintaining a Republican-friendly message of improving economic conditions for residents of the North Country by reversing cuts to rural health care, undoing “burdensome” environmental regulations and repairing relations with Canada.
“I am a conservative, old-school, free-market capitalist Democrat,” Mr. Gendebien said of his political philosophy. He calls himself a patriot, and is careful to distance himself from others in his party — particularly the top of the ticket, Gov. Kathy Hochul.
In the Siena poll of likely voters in the 21st District, Ms. Hochul trailed her Republican challenger, Bruce Blakeman, by a double-digit margin.
Even so, Ms. Hochul has been a major supporter of Mr. Gendebien’s campaign, talking him up to major donors and House leadership, and sharing a field office in the North Country.
The race had the early markings of a blowout. Ms. Stefanik has owned the seat since being elected in 2014, and her fervent defense of Mr. Trump helped elevate her own, short-lived challenge to Ms. Hochul’s re-election bid this year.
But Ms. Stefanik surprisingly decided to bow out of the race, simultaneously announcing that she would leave Congress after finishing out her term this year.
Mr. Constantino, a 43-year-old sticker magnate who won attention by erecting a 12-foot-high “VOTE FOR TRUMP” sign atop his company’s headquarters in Amsterdam, N.Y., easily won his party’s primary even while antagonizing local Republican leaders.
Mr. Constantino first garnered national attention after he placed a giant “Vote for Trump” sign atop his sticker company building in Amsterdam, N.Y.Credit…Cindy Schultz for The New York Times
During the primary, Mr. Constantino viciously mocked his Republican rival, Assemblyman Robert Smullen. He repeatedly found himself in publicized feuds with Republican and Conservative leaders, and once accused Gerard Kassar, the Conservative Party chairman, of threatening to kill him. (He also sought to draw a connection between the alleged threat and a subsequent incident where the brake lines in the car of one of his aides may have been cut; Mr. Kassar sued for defamation.)
He’s also come under fire for the company he keeps. There was the Nevada man who had an open murder charge he briefly employed, and the two business associates who were arrested after a man claimed they beat, kidnapped and threatened to set him on fire. That’s on top of one of his press aides, who was accused of swindling a Little League team, and another aide who pleaded guilty to harassment after accusations he molested a 14-year-old.
Mr. Constantino has said that he believes in giving people second chances, saying in an interview earlier this year that it was not his job to “further punish people beyond what the justice system deems appropriate.”
As the race draws closer, Mr. Constantino has not strayed from favoring political antics. In August, he sent Mr. Gendebien — a former vice chairman of the cooperative that produces Cabot cheese — a gourmet cheese basket.
Mr. Gendebien filed a report with the New York State Police accusing Mr. Constantino of harassment for allegedly directing drones over his farm.Credit…Patrick Dodson for The New York Times
On Saturday, he staged a mock debate in a parking lot stacked with pumpkins, using a person in a chicken costume as a stand-in for Mr. Gendebien, who was not present.
And then there are the drones.
According to reports filed with the New York State Police, drones have been observed flying above Mr. Gendebien’s farm at odd hours, and Mr. Gendebien believes that Mr. Constantino is responsible.
Mr. Constantino admitted as much when he announced earlier this month that he had video evidence that Mr. Gendebien had been polluting his farm, releasing overhead footage of pockets of debris.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation investigated a complaint of illegal dumping and found no violations. Still, Mr. Gendebien said that the drone visits had not stopped, including some in the dead of night.
Alex DeGrasse, a senior adviser to Mr. Constantino, disputed Mr. Gendebien’s allegations. “No drones where flown over his house or anywhere near it nor at night,” he said. “Drone reports are filed publicly and this is false.”
The contest’s detour to a dispute over drones has puzzled longtime Republican voters like Christina Myers, who runs the Old Saratoga Mercantile, a general store in Schuylerville, not far from where Ms. Stefanik lives.
Mr. Constantino has won the endorsement of President Trump, in part by vivid displays of his own admiration for the president, including making a Trump-themed rap album in his honor.Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times
Ms. Myers said she no longer casts her vote based on party lines. Indeed, in front of her store sit signs for two local politicians, one Republican and one Democrat.
She said she was no fan of Mr. Constantino’s unwavering loyalty to Mr. Trump, and expressed skepticism over some of his tactics — the drones in particular.
“When I first heard that I thought, I don’t want drones flying over my property,” Ms. Myers said. “I think that’s dirty. I don’t like that.”
Ms. Myers suggested that Mr. Constantino focus on his record and his actions in Congress if he were to win. Still, she wondered if Mr. Gendebien was polluting.
Mr. Gendebien strenuously denied the pollution allegations, and said that his background as a local businessman made him the ideal candidate to represent the North Country’s economic interests, especially if Democrats take control of the House.
“Do we want an antagonistic minority freshman congressman who is going to get nothing for the district for the next two years?” he said. Or, he went on, “do we want a congressman who’s in the majority that will very likely be able to bring things back?”
Corrected on
Oct. 27, 2026
:
An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to comments that Anthony Constantino, a Republican House candidate, made about his Republican rival, Assemblyman Robert Smullen. He mocked Mr. Smullen, but not about the death of his son.
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article also referred incorrectly to an accusation involving the Conservative Party chairman, Gerard Kassar. Mr. Constantino was not accused of threatening to kill Mr. Kassar; Mr. Constantino accused Mr. Kassar of threatening to kill him.