Last Updated on January 15, 2025
When Congresswoman Elise Stefanik vacates her upstate New York seat to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations, Republican Party leaders have a unique opportunity to elect a pro-Trump champion – but National File can exclusively report that a backroom plot by some Republican leaders is underway to squeeze out the Trumpiest candidate in the race.
It is unclear when Stefanik will ultimately vacate the seat – with President Trump’s staff and Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly wanting her to delay her formal resignation from the House until the two vacant seats in Florida are filled in an April special election.
Whenever Stefanik vacates the seat, Gov. Kathy Hochul will be required to call a special election.
Because it is a special election there will be no Republican or Conservative Party primary to choose the candidate. Party Chairs of the Republican Party will select the candidate with each county representing their percentage of the district on a weighted basis in a convention required by the state party by-laws.
Stefanik has not publicly endorsed a candidate, but among those running is Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino, veteran State Sen. Dan Stec (who declined to endorse Trump in 2016 and 2024), Assemblyman Chris Tague (who supported DEI programs like a New York taxpayer funded office of racial equity and social justice), ex-County Executive Steve McLaughlin (a wild man with extensive personal baggage including allegations of sexual harassment, ballot fraud, and illegal use of campaign funds.), popular Newsmax commentator Joe Pinion, who was the GOP candidate for the US Senate in 2022, and three-term assemblyman and retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Robert Smullen, among others.
Just a few months ago, Anthony Constantino was not active in politics. While he was a day one Trump supporter who donated to his campaign in 2016, he focused most of his time running his highly successful company, Sticker Mule, which in a few short years has created thousands of American manufacturing jobs, mostly in upstate New York.
But that changed on the day President Trump got shot in Butler, PA…
Constantino fired out a massively viral post on X endorsing President Trump, and calling for an end to anti-Trump hate. He mirrored the message a day later in an email to his 5 million customers.
Donald Trump was shot.
I don’t care what your political views are but the hate for Trump and his supporters has gone too far.
People are terrified to admit they support Trump. I’ve been scared myself.
Americans shouldn’t live in fear.
I support Trump. Many at Sticker Mule… pic.twitter.com/mydQpM8GVV
— Sticker Mule (@stickermule) July 14, 2024
The backlash from angry liberals was swift, with his company seeing over 210,000 angry liberals unsubscribe from their email list – a number that reportedly represents $21,000,000 in revenue. But Constantino tells National File that support from new freedom-loving customers is on track to more than offset that loss in revenue, adding that “Sticker Mule is an innovation machine that is too impressive to ignore.”
Ignoring the hateful reaction from the left, the businessman doubled down in his pro-Trump support, launching a pro-Trump Super PAC, spending over $1 million to support Trump leading into the 2024 election, mailing millions of free pro-Trump stickers across the country, and most notably erecting the largest ‘Vote for Trump’ sign in America atop his tallest building in upstate, NY.
After installing the lighted sign, his Democrat mayor threatened him with jail time if he unveiled it. But Constantino didn’t back down, and instead hosted a massive sign lighting ceremony attended by thousands. While just hours before the event, his lawyers won in court, forcing the mayor to back down, Constantino was prepared to go to jail over it if necessary.
This saga cemented him as an America First champion in the eyes of millions, with President Trump himself even thanking him for his actions.
Thank you, President Trump. I was proud to stand up for you and our free speech rights. You can count on me to fight for the America First agenda in Congress. pic.twitter.com/sKQGfV498B
— Anthony Constantino (@ac132) December 24, 2024
So when his Congresswoman, Elise Stefanik, was nominated by President Trump to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations, he immediately became one of the strongest potential candidates, soon launching his self-funded campaign committee using $2.6 million in the appreciated value of Tesla stock he purchased after Elon Musk bought Twitter, the website now known as X. He additionally made the rounds at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s exclusive club and residence, where he has been a member since 2021.
Anticipating Rep. Stefanik’s departure from Congress, Republican County Chairs have been meeting to weigh the different candidates in the race. A source tells National File that Constantino performed well with Republican Chairs during a recent Zoom interview they conducted for each candidate. Newsmax commentator Joe Pinion was also well received. But, just days after the meetings, that source and others familiar with the meetings that spoke to National File were baffled when Politico, in their New York Playbook, claimed that three front-runners emerged from those meetings – Stec, Tague, and McLaughlin – NOT Anthony Constantino or other notable candidates who were well received:
“Three candidates are widely viewed as frontrunners for the Republican nod: Assembly member Chris Tague, Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin and state Sen. Dan Stec, three people familiar with the discussions said.”
Speaking with some of the largest Republican County Chairs, who asked not to be named in this story, it is clear this narrative is being pushed by a small subset of County Chairs attempting to squeeze out non-establishment candidates like Constantino and Pinion.
“The subgroup of GOP County Chairs insisting that the list of contenders be limited do not constitute 50%,” one Republican County Chair told National File, and claimed that a ranked choice voting system was used, which is not legal under state party by-laws.
Another Chair said that they were mystified about a sudden push to have Republicans choose a candidate before the seat is even vacated, never mind limiting the selection to just three candidates. No decision by the County Chairs would be valid until filed with state election officials to qualify for the special election.
The rogue group of County Chairs is reportedly led by Sue McNeil of Fulton County, who was recently successfully sued for violating state election law to disqualify a challenger running to replace her as Chairman.
“It’s the same s*** by the same people and they’re going to end up in court again if they think they’re going to strong arm everybody and dictate how this nomination is decided,” one Republican County Chair told National File.
The process to choose the Republican candidate is well documented in the state party by-laws, said veteran Republican and Trump intimate Roger Stone, who is supporting Constantino. Mr. Stone further explained, “any effort to exclude certain counties or use a system other than the weighted vote based on the percentage of votes each county constitutes will likely end up in Court.”
With the date that Stefanik vacates the seat being unclear, what is expected is that Hochul will call an election 90 days after her formal resignation from Congress – that means a likely summer special election. New York’s 21st District was held by a Democrat as recently as 2015, and New York State Republicans are notorious for their inability to rally their base in special elections. This is another reason why Constantino, who has declared his unwillingness to take campaign contributions from special interests, or anyone for that matter (he doesn’t even have a donation button on his website), and who recently donated $5,000 to every Republican County Committee in the district is the best choice.
“I donated the money to demonstrate my commitment to the party, but I expect nothing in return for it other than to help Republicans win more races,” Constantino told National File.
Constantino said he will also aggressively seek the support of New York’s Conservative Party, and has begun meeting with Conservative County Chairs across the 16,400 square mile district. One Conservative Party Chair confirmed to National File that they would not necessarily bend the knee to Republicans, and that he was sick of the Republican Party nominating RINOs, saying that Constantino’s conservative, populist positions are more in line with the district.
The Conservative Party nominee is chosen by the State Executive Committee, with input from local County Chairs.
A spokesman for President Donald Trump, who declined to be named, confirmed that Trump has selected no candidate in the upstate race, despite his earlier praise of Constantino’s courageous stand when he refused to remove the largest ‘Vote for Trump’ sign in America at threat of jail-time.
This spokesman also told National File that Stefanik has thus far expressed no preference as to her replacement to President Trump.
