Congressional candidate Blake Gendebien says he’s moderate, pragmatic reflection of rural America

Blake Gendebien is a dairy farmer and first time candidate, running for retiring Rep. Elise Stefanik’s seat – a sprawling district covering much of Northern New York. And the Democrat thinks he can flip the deep red seat from the Republican Party, as he faces off against GOP nominee Anthony Constantino in the general election.

Gendebien spoke with City & State’s Jeff Coltin, in partnership with AARP New York, about his positions impacting older New Yorkers including Medicare, civic engagement and affordability. You can also read our interview with Constantino here. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

What do you think is the top issue for voters over 50 in New York this year?

In New York's 21st district, almost 50% of the electorate is over 65. We also have more veterans than any other district in New York state. And so some of the top issues are transportation, in what is the third largest district east of the Mississippi. My mother had a stroke in June, and our hospital nearby Claxton-Hepburn has filed for bankruptcy. And the hospital south of it, Carthage, has filed for bankruptcy. So she ended up having to go five hours away to Albany to receive the care that she needed. She is OK, because our local rescue squad and EMS, who are volunteers in rural America – for your listeners, we have a whistle. A siren blows at noon every day to let the farmers know when it's noon when we're outside. And we have a siren that blows when somebody calls for a healthcare emergency or a fire. So, we definitely rely on our local EMS and fire departments for help, which are volunteers. 

So that brings me to two very important issues that we need for our seniors in New York's 21st district. We need more transportation. Because that ambulance that took my mother to Albany was tied up for 10 hours. Then the next person that needed help didn't have access to that ambulance and had to wait, which could be life or death. And then, we need to consider making EMS an essential service because these are volunteers that aren't getting paid, and it's really difficult for our local communities to make sure that they have the resources that they need. And if we consider making them an essential service, we'll make sure that we can get to every senior that's out in rural America on the end of a dirt road, without the support that they need. So those are two very serious things. 

We need to roll back the Medicaid cuts because it will help keep our rural hospitals open, and a lot of rehab centers and support for our seniors are through Medicaid as well.

Let's talk a little bit more about Medicaid. Congress and the Trump administration are trying to reduce Medicare and Medicaid spending. They're hoping for savings on the federal level and enacting a work requirement, and ending subsidies for states like New York. So how do you think that that will affect New Yorkers? And, how would you plan to respond, if you're elected to Congress?

Using our rural healthcare as a wedge issue is unacceptable. It's an attack on rural America. It's an attack on making sure that we can live here. And like I mentioned before, almost 50% of the electorate is over 65, that relies on Medicaid and Medicare funding. And we need to make sure that hospitals like Claxton-Hepburn and Ogdensburg remain open. Can you believe we're using healthcare as a political football? And families, seniors, veterans, don't have access to healthcare? You've got to go one hour, two hours or more to get there. And then we've got gasoline at $4.80. You've got to drive your car long distances to get that healthcare. One in three households are union households. Our nurses unions are incredibly valuable, 1199 and NYSNA, to our hospitals. We need to make sure that they have the job opportunities and that they're there to care for our seniors.

Relatedly, Social Security is a program that voters expect that the promise will be kept, and Congress has a lot of tools to fix that. So if elected, how would you work to protect Social Security for New Yorkers and for New Yorkers' children and grandchildren?

It is an earned benefit that people work a lifetime and put money into. And we need to keep that promise. And when speaking with New York state AARP, I learned that there has not been a bipartisan commission to talk about social security since the ‘80s. That's unacceptable. 

We need to have candidates that are moderate, pragmatic reflections of their districts. Get out of your corners, put tribalism and partisan politics to the side, and work together. Because look, the people that suffer are the voters and the seniors and the veterans and the hard working families. That's the type of legislator I'll be. I would very much like to be on a bipartisan commission that thinks about how we're going to secure our promise to our seniors – that the investment that they made for their retirement in social security will be there. We owe it to them, they've driven our economy, let's keep that promise.

Nearly 4 million New Yorkers care for a family member or another loved one, and they work an average of 27 hours a week just on caregiving. How would you help family caregivers here in New York save money and time so they can continue to care for loved ones?

I certainly would support a tax credit for family caregivers. We will be taking care of my parents. And we're proud to do that, because so many families want to make sure that their parents are around their grandkids, and their great-grandkids, and get to retire with dignity in the home that they raised their families in. And family caregivers are the backbone of rural care. Especially where home healthcare needs are rising. And the expertise is getting more and more difficult. And if our hospitals are closing and getting farther away, and we have fewer nursing homes and rehab centers, we have to make sure that we encourage and incentivize the work that's being done by family home caregivers.

Utility bills are expensive statewide, and according to an AARP survey, 84% of New Yorkers over the age of 50 said their spending has increased recently. So, what would you do in Congress to address that high cost of utilities, and to help New Yorkers who are struggling?

That's just it. That's what this campaign is all about. We need to have pragmatic reflections of the district from rural America as legislators. I'm born and raised here. I get it. I operate a farm here. My electricity costs have also doubled. My fuel costs have also doubled. My gasoline costs have also gone up. I understand what it's like to have to travel farther for healthcare. The hospital I was born in has filed for bankruptcy. Maternity care is disappearing. Care for our veterans and seniors is disappearing. I get it.

I want to support an all-of-the-above energy policy, because I am tired of our families and our seniors in rural America footing the bill and paying these increases as individual ratepayers. We need to drive down the costs. We need to bring investment into the North Country and upstate New York. We need to roll out the red carpet when a company wants to come here and invest. And when they do, they need to make sure that they're prepared to take care of their own energy needs, so that as individual ratepayers and seniors and veterans, we can afford to retire. I do not want to hear, one more time, a senior or veteran say, “I guess I lived too long. Inflation has outpaced my benefits.” I don't want to hear that ever again. I want to make sure that I'm fighting so that our seniors and our veterans can afford to retire and live here in the quality of life that they dreamed of, close to family members.

You mentioned all-of-the-above energy policy. Upstate New York is home to a lot of the “above.” Would you support new nuclear in your district? And would you support fracking in your district? 

I am open to a conversation about all of the above. Nuclear, natural gas, renewable, renewable natural gas, solar, wind. We need to be thinking very seriously about how to drive down costs for energy in New York's 21st district. It's too expensive to live here. We have to get serious about creating policies that drive down costs.

Another thing that's hurting seniors is, scams. Elder fraud cost Americans nearly $300 million last year. And scammers are now using new technology like AI and cryptocurrency in order to modernize these elder scams. Is this issue on your radar, and what would you do to help protect older New Yorkers?

It's absolutely on my radar, because I was the victim of a deepfake by my opponent. And it looked real! It looked like me saying horrible, disgusting things. And I believe that some of our seniors who didn't grow up with cell phones and didn't have laptop computers as kids are vulnerable to some of those things. It looks real! And we need to make sure that we have policies that punish these companies for scamming our seniors, and it has to be zero tolerance. Because we cannot let our seniors down. We have to keep our promise to them. They have driven our economy. They have made sure that New York's 21st district is a great place to live. And we're going to create a clear pathway to report the fraud. And if someone is abused and taken advantage of, I will be there to fight for them personally. We are going to have the best constituent service offices in New York state around this district where we can help people.

What do you think is the biggest opportunity to increase voter registration and voter participation in New York?

New York state's a great place. And we want to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to vote. We have the endorsement of nearly every single union in the district. One in three households are union households. They are going to make sure that we get out there. We're all going to put our sneakers on. We're going to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to vote. Mail-in ballots are very, very important for rural America, and we need to make sure that we keep that option open. This district is huge. It's large, it's rural. It means showing up in every county and helping our seniors and our veterans and anybody that wants to register to vote that they can vote. And we need to make sure that only American citizens are able to vote. That's really important. And I think we can all agree with that.

There have been issues going through the courts about mail-in ballots. Do you have specific concerns about mail-in ballots and voting in your district, or do you feel like it's all been worked out and everybody who wants to vote will have access?

I believe everybody who wants to vote will have access, and we agree that only American citizens should be voting in this election, and in elections in the future. But we also want to make sure that our seniors have access – ways to vote and get to the polls. We want to make sure that we have polls close to home. Everybody that is a citizen should be allowed to vote.

This district is a pretty red one, and Trump won it big, but we've seen a lot of momentum in recent days and weeks. towards your side. You raised a lot of money. Some of the race raters have, said that this one could be competitive. What do you think is the main reason for that? How are you possibly making a Trump +20 district competitive?

Well, we've been crisscrossing the district for the last 22 months. And yes, our opponent is -6 in net favorability. We're at +12. Because we're talking about the things that matter. We're talking about the issues that our friends and neighbors are concerned with. 

If you want someone that's going to fight to drive down the cost of food from the farm gate to the dinner plate, our campaign is for you. If you want to repair our relationship with Ontario and Quebec, our campaign is for you. If you want to save rural healthcare, make sure that inflation doesn't drive up the cost of everything so that it goes beyond your savings and your pension, our campaign is for you. And if you're looking for someone that will work with anybody to get that done, this campaign is meant to work for people in New York's 21st district. That's why we're winning. That's why the people in New York's 21st know that we're the right candidate to fight for them.