With Constantino on shaky ground, Vance heads to New York

In an apparent last-minute effort to hang on to one of New York’s deepest-red congressional districts, Vice President JD Vance made the trip to Rome, New York, Monday morning to stump for and push back on criticism of Republican candidate Anthony Constantino, who is locked in a tightening race with Democrat Blake Gendebien and has faced controversy in recent weeks.

Standing before a crowd of approximately 500 people at Rome’s Griffiss International Airport, in the southwest corner of New York’s 21st Congressional District, Vance spoke in defense of Constantino. “The Democrats have spent millions of dollars slinging mud at a good man. They’ve tried to tear down his reputation, they’ve tried to lie to you about what he has done,” Vance said. “They’re trying to get you to send a message that even here in beautiful upstate New York, the communists can win.”

The message was not dissimilar to Constantino’s, who spent a portion of his speech calling out what he refers to as the “evil” media that he says is “covering up” an alleged trash dump on his opponent’s farm, even stopping to implore his supporters to take photos of the journalists in attendance before starting a “tell the truth” chant directed at them. “In New York state, you don’t run against your Democrat opponent, you run against the media,” Constantino added. 

The vice president – who arrived via Air Force Two along with Donald Trump Jr., Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and notorious political strategist Roger Stone – went on to praise Constantino for being “self-funded” and compared him to President Donald Trump, saying neither are “owned by their donors.” 

Vance also criticized Constantino’s opponent – who he and Constantino newly dubbed “Blake Gende-Biden” – and called him a “lunatic” who “treats his fellow citizens with such vacant contempt,” who they accused of being controlled by Democratic “handlers.” He spoke for approximately 30 minutes before leaving – without appearing on stage with Constantino. 

The vice president’s trip comes as Republicans look to provide a much-needed boost for Constantino, who has seen a double-digit polling lead all but evaporate as Gendebien leapfrogged him in October’s Siena poll, leading 46% to Constantino’s 42% in the most recent public poll of the race.

“There’s probably a sense of this that we need to be able to reassure the Republicans up here that this guy’s not completely whacked and Vance would be a way to do that,” said Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University. “If you were to not know anything about the candidates and say this (visit) is going on six months ago or a year ago, you would have been very puzzled by it.” 

Reeher added that Vance’s visit could give Constantino some “gravitas” and “legitimacy” with voters who may be turned off by his at times unconventional behavior, as the district’s brand of conservatism doesn’t completely translate to the MAGA one Constantino promotes. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has boosted Gendebien’s campaign with significant funding, called Vance’s visit a “bailout” to “rescue” Constantino. “National Republicans are so worried about Anthony Constantino’s sputtering campaign that they’re flying in JD Vance the morning before election day,” DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi wrote on X. “No last-minute rally will change the fact that Constantino has spent his entire campaign pledging allegiance to his DC party bosses.”

It’s the first time a sitting vice president has visited the 21st Congressional District since Mike Pence visited Fort Drum, New York’s largest military installation, in 2021, just after his Jan. 6 falling out with Trump during the final days of his time in office. It’s a district 

where Republicans have a party registration advantage of nearly 80,000 and outgoing Rep. Elise Stefanik consistently ran up double-digit margins ranging between 15 and 35 percentage points.

Monday’s rally is the latest in a slew of help from national Republicans for Constantino. Last week, Trump released a video filmed in the Oval Office where he reiterated his endorsement of Constantino, whom he first endorsed over the North County GOP’s chosen candidate – Assembly Member Robert Smullen – in June’s heated Republican primary. 

“I love the people of upstate New York and they like me, I guess,” Trump said in the video, in which he also called Gendebien a “hand-picked puppet” of Gov. Kathy Hochul and an “open borders extremist." 

“Anthony is a winner, he’s a great guy, and believe me, he’s been so loyal to me for so long,” the president added.