GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Republican political candidates routinely highlight their devotion to President Donald Trump. But in upstate New York, Anthony Constantino is taking it to another level.
Constantino, a political newcomer and candidate in the June 23 Republican primary to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik, boasts a giant “Vote for Trump” sign atop his successful sticker business in the city of Amsterdam. He recorded a hip-hop album titled “Thank you President Trump.” He even gifted Trump a big bronze statue of Trump himself last year at his West Palm Beach golf course.
Constantino’s antics have not earned him fans among local party officials, who overwhelmingly support his opponent, state Assembly Member Robert Smullen, in the 21st Congressional District race. But Constantino has won over one powerful Republican who still has the power to sway primaries: Trump.
“Anthony is strongly supported by many of the most Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in our Movement, including Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone!” Trump wrote in an endorsement of Constantino.
The president added: “The sign is still there!”
Constantino’s battle against Smullen, a former U.S. Marine Corps colonel, is shaping up to be another test of Trump’s pull at the ballot box, pitting the brash MAGA disciple against a more traditional conservative in the solid-red district.
Constantino has relentlessly attacked Smullen, calling him a “Trump hater” and giving him a derisive nickname out of the Trump playbook — “Slimebob.” He also doesn’t miss a chance to feud with the state’s Republican leadership.
“The New York GOP is a failing establishment, it’s a losing establishment,” Constantino said in an interview. “They reject outsiders. This happened with Donald Trump. The Republican Party tried to keep Donald Trump out, as well, because they knew he was going to reform things.”
Smullen has cast himself as the adult in the room, stressing his experience in the state Legislature, his military service, and his own ties to Trump.
“I think I directly represent the vast majority of the people in this district, their values, what they think about issues,” he said.
The district is ‘not your country club Republican party’
The largely rural district sprawls across most of New York’s northern tip and includes the Adirondack Mountains, the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum, dairy farms and dozens of small cities, towns and villages.
It’s solid GOP territory — Stefanik won her last race by 24 points — with registered Republicans outnumbering Democrats 215,000 to 134,000. Voters there skew older and white, with many prison guards, police officers, farmers and devoutly religious people, according to Jack McGuire, an associate professor of politics at the State University of New York at Potsdam.
“It’s not your country club Republican party,” he said.
Stefanik shocked the New York political world when she announced late last year that she was suspending her campaign for governor and would not seek reelection to the House.
Her decision came after she didn’t get full-throated support from Trump in the governor’s race, and it followed an episode where Trump withdrew her nomination to be his ambassador to the United Nations over concerns about Republicans’ threadbare majority in the House.
Local Republicans first began angling for the seat after she was tapped to head to the United Nations, only to begin circling again when she launched her run for governor.
A clash of candidates and styles
Smullen, who represents parts of the district in the state Assembly, is running a traditional campaign, chatting up voters at volunteer firehouses and community events.
He highlights a 24-year military career that included three tours of Afghanistan and combat experience, along with his more than seven years in the state Legislature. His 2018 appointment by Trump to serve in the White House Fellows program, along with attending both of Trump’s inaugurations, was a go-to line when Constantino moved to cast himself as the Trump candidate during a recent debate.
“The idea that I have never been a supporter of President Donald Trump is a lie, it really is,” Smullen said during the debate. “And what’s happening here is that if you say it long enough and if you say it hard enough then it’s going to be true. But it’s not true.”
Local GOP officials and committees are backing Smullen, as is the chair of the state Republicans. He also has the support of the state Conservative Party, which guarantees him a line in the general election even if he loses the GOP primary.
Matt Capano, who owns a hardware store in Gloversville, a small city in the district, said he knew Smullen as his local state lawmaker and had to “give him a lot of credit” because of his experience.
Constantino — who found success with his company Sticker Mule — is more of a showman. His style has forced his buttoned-up opponent to let loose. Smullen’s campaign launched an anti-Constantino website that excoriates him for, among many other things, his past registration as a Democrat.
“I am the conservative Republican in this race,” Smullen said at the debate.
Constantino responded that he registered as a Democrat to vote for a childhood friend who was running for political office while calling himself a “lifelong conservative.”
It didn’t take long for him to steer the conversation back toward the president.
“I’ve always had his back through the whole thing,” he said of Trump. “In fact, in 2020, when he nicely exited the White House and a terrible person named Joe Biden entered, I went and I supported the president quietly by buying a Mar-a-Lago membership.”
Michael Hill And Anthony Izaguirre, The Associated Press
