Is Constantino’s brash social media persona landing with voters?

Roger Stone, known as one of the biggest assholes in American politics, sees something in Anthony Constantino: himself.

Stone, a veteran conservative operative, self-described “dirty trickster” and longtime confidant of Donald Trump, told the Sticker Mule CEO to “be a little nicer” as he runs to replace GOP powerhouse Rep. Elise Stefanik in the North Country. In fact, Stone was one of the first people to encourage Constantino to run for the seat.

Constantino hired Stone, who was convicted in 2019 for lying to Congress and witness tampering during the 2016 Trump campaign investigation, which Trump later pardoned, for strategic advice last year.

“Roger Stone is my biggest critic telling me to be nicer – he's always criticizing me for not being nicer,” Constantino told City & State. “He’s always like, ‘Why do you have to be a comedian? You know, we should be nicer, Anthony. Like, ‘Don't do mean’ or ‘Don't do jokes like that.’”

“I’ve always been nice, but I’ve always been a counter-puncher – if you criticize me, I’ll criticize you back,” he said. “I don’t just pick random people and say stuff – these are generally people that do things to me.”

Known for his brash, aggressive social media presence throughout his campaign against Democrat Blake Gendebien, Constantino often takes things a step further than your typical politician on the cusp of an election. In fact, he’s openly confrontational with people who don’t support him – both in person and online and on both his personal and staff-monitored campaign pages. He posted an AI-generated deepfake video this summer that fabricated Gendebien saying he supports rape, human trafficking and child abuse. He’s targeted campaign staffers, journalists and private citizens by name when he doesn’t like what they’ve said about him or his congressional bid. The list goes on.

Naturally, Constantino reminds some of President Donald Trump with this approach. But that doesn’t mean they think it’s working for him. “Constantino is no Donald Trump,” said one state GOP insider. “His antics will catch up with him on Nov. 3 or soon thereafter. Burning every bridge you cross has never been a successful long-term political strategy.”

Many party leaders got on board with Constantino after he won the primary, defeating GOP pick Assembly Member Robert Smullen by 20 percentage points, and Stefanik endorsed Constantino on primary night. But the seat, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats almost 2 to 1, isn’t typically viewed as competitive. But recent polls have shown the race is close. Earlier this month, the Cook Political Report updated its district rating to “Likely R” as opposed to its usual “Solid R.” While Constantino’s online persona is likely not the only reason for this – Trump’s dwindling popularity across the country is surely a factor – several GOP leaders around the state told City & State they worry Constantino’s brazen online footprint is underperforming with the base. 

“I think the guy’s a jackass who doesn’t belong in Congress, or in public life,” said a party insider, who spoke openly about the race on the condition of anonymity. “He’s not fit to serve in Washington. That bar is really, really low, and he didn't make the bar in my book.”

But Constantino did win the primary handily; something about his approach must be appealing to some Republican voters. “People (in both major parties) want fighters, they don’t want compromisers,” Republican strategist Chapin Fay said. “It’s a problem in American politics, but Constantino is showing that he’s a fighter on behalf of himself, on behalf of the president and on behalf of the party.”

Constantino argues that people shouldn’t take his online rhetoric too seriously – and said he reassures Stone of that when he tells him to tone down his jokes. “You can be funny, and if you look at some of the most successful people on the planet, they're not overly serious people,” he said.

But clearly, not everyone finds them so funny.

Constantino faces a defamation lawsuit from Philip Perry, the fiancé of Clinton County GOP Chair Jerika Manning, after he made a post accusing Perry of a 2021 felony drunk driving arrest and confused him for someone else of the same name; Constantino has since said this was a mistake. Earlier this summer, Constantino mocked Gendebien for selling spa products for his wife’s company, which prompted a heated online back-and-forth. Constantino said his staffers told him the joke went too far. 

Constantino’s staff even built BlakesDump.com – an online game mocking a recent complaint about his opponent dumping garbage behind his Ogdensburg farm. (The state Department of Environmental Conservation investigated and cleared Gendebien of wrongdoing. Constantino posted over the weekend that the DEC has reopened the probe, but the agency said in a statement the investigation into the complaint remains closed.) 

Earlier this summer, a bipartisan couple who owns The Little Adirondack Farm Stand in the southern Adirondack Park started to post anti-Constantino content on its Facebook page,  tagging him in a post last month, questioning his ties to Trump and his qualifications to serve in Congress. The owners have received letters and online messages from Constantino’s supporters threatening their lives and business. Facebook administrators eventually locked the page from posting after receiving several reports of inciting violence. The farm stand owners started a new page and continue to post about the race.

Constantino immediately started commenting on the page with his personal account and replying to other commenters who wrote about him negatively. He also retaliated by posting about the stand and made false claims about their motives. Several people in the district who’ve written on either of the Little Adirondack Farm Stand or Constantino’s Facebook pages declined to discuss the race or its rhetoric on social media.

In another incident, he responded to a sarcastic Facebook comment that invoked the Secret Service by threatening to report the commenter to the Secret Service and reportedly messaged her privately demanding personal information, not knowing she’s a retired attorney from Canada who does not live in the district. “It really makes me wonder: What kind of people do you even get allowed to do to run for Congress out there? What makes people like him think that this is OK, and how many other people did he do that to, and how many are genuinely intimidated by him?” the commenter, Colleen Robertshaw, told City & State. 

But since last month, Constantino has noticeably toned down his personal jabs, and saved the harsher uppercuts for Gendebien. He has seemingly stopped interacting with individual users or specific comments. “Maybe you're seeing less because I'm trying to pick my battles and fight the battles that really matter,” Constantino said. He has continued to goad his opponent though, bringing out an inflatable chicken to represent Gendebien from debates where the Democratic nominee was absent.

In a statement, Gendebien said Constantino has spent the entire race attacking him, his family, staff, people in the community and journalists on purpose. “(It’s) all to create a distraction so he never has to answer for the diesel prices and healthcare cuts he's cheering on,” Gendebien said. “Washington is already drowning in chaos, and someone who spends every day ranting online would fit right in. That's not leadership, it's a sideshow, and North Country families can't afford it.”

Several GOP officials said they’ve spoken to many Republicans in the North Country who don’t want to vote for either Constantino or Blakeman and are tempted to stay home. “If Republicans don’t consolidate (or) tend to go Gendebien’s way, then it's gonna be close,” one party official said. “It’ll be close – it shouldn't be close.” But though officials have their doubts, they’re also skeptical the online battles have done enough damage to actually lose the seat. 

On the other hand, should Constantino get elected to Congress, party officials suspect he will ruffle feathers. “The way (Constantino and his staff) go around threatening people, you know, eventually that's got to catch up with you,” they said. “Somebody's not going to take it."