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<\/p>\nNY-21 Democratic Congressional candidate Blake Gendebien stands on stage at the Charles R. Woods Theater in Glens Falls during a town hall on Friday. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md, center, and Glens Falls reporter Ken Tingley look on.
\n(Provided photo \u2014 Alex Gault\/Johnson Newspapers)<\/p>\n
\tGLENS FALLS \u2014 In a small theater in this city\u2019s downtown core, congressional hopeful Blake Gendebien laid out his plan to revitalize rural America and the district he hopes to represent in Washington alongside a prominent lawmaker, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin, D-Md.<\/p>\n
\tOn Friday, the two men met with a crowd of more than 300 people at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls, to speak to the crowd and take questions from the audience. The event was moderated by Ken Tingley, a retired editor of the Glens Falls Post-Star. In about an hour and a half, Gendebien and Raskin delivered separate but connected messages. Raskin took the anti-Trump torch, deriding the record of the president and the Republican Party in power these last eight months.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m here as a true-blue, high octane Democrat,\u201d was how Raskin introduced himself.<\/p>\n
\tHe mocked Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, for her absence from New York\u2019s 21st Congressional District, referencing Watertown Daily Times reporting that found the congresswoman hasn\u2019t hosted an in-person town hall for her constituents in about six years.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSome of her constituents reported her to the \u2018Bureau of Missing Politicians,’\u201d Raskin joked. \u201cShe\u2019s a little upset, I\u2019m learning from my office back in Washington, that I\u2019m up in her district.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Blake Gendebien, the Democratic nominee to represent the North Country in Congress.
\n(Provided photo)<\/p>\n
\tBut between jokes and applause lines about Republican scandals and Trump administration decisions, Raskin painted a stark picture and raised the stakes of this and other congressional races next year.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMy friends, I don\u2019t need to tell you we are in the fight of our lives, and everything is under attack,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and I can tell you that everything in our Constitution, Bill of Rights, is under attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRaskin said he was concerned about the decisions President Donald J. Trump has made since he took office in January, from the international import taxes he\u2019s imposed to decisions to exclude certain media organizations from the White House because of editorial decisions they have made. He also took aim at downballot Republican decisions at the state level, like efforts to enforce the Ten Commandments in public schools or to redraw congressional district maps to favor Republicans.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cEvery part of the Bill of Rights is under attack,\u201d he said. \u201cHabeas corpus is under attack. Due process, the two most beautiful words in the English language, under attack. The two words that protect our rights and our freedoms and our liberties against arbitrary state power.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRaskin said the only solution to these problems is to win back control of Congress \u2014 which includes electing Democrats like Gendebien, a St. Lawrence County dairy farmer.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI can\u2019t think of anybody better to represent this extraordinary and this beautiful district than Blake,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so I came up here to say, Blake, I\u2019m going to max out to your campaign today. I\u2019m sending you $2,500.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRaskin said he is deeply invested in the Gendebien campaign and would work to help him win in 2026. On Saturday, Raskin and Gendebien did a joint town hall in Essex County.<\/p>\n
\tGendebien spoke second Friday, and his message tracked more closely to hometown issues. He never mentioned Trump by name but did criticize choices out of Washington, like the tariffs and changes to Medicaid coverage that are projected to hurt rural hospitals. He tied it all back to his identity as a rural farmer.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIf you want to talk about driving down costs at the dinner table, in the kitchen, in the living room, wherever your family gathers, send a farmer to Congress,\u201d he said, repeating what\u2019s become a tagline for his campaign.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIf you want to have meaningful, meaningful border security, meaningful immigration reform, send a farmer to Congress,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\tGendebien laid out one keystone piece of legislation he\u2019d work to pass in Congress, what he called a comprehensive agriculture and food processing workforce development bill. That would include a rural housing component, an issue he said is not fully addressed in policy approaches being taken today.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHouses are incredibly expensive since COVID, because so many families moved up, bought second homes, raised the value of the homes, and it\u2019s almost impossible to afford to live there,\u201d he said, explaining the problems his dairy co-op AgriMark has had in securing a workforce for its rural Vermont cheese plant.<\/p>\n
\tHe also said the district could lean on the volume of young men and women leaving the service at Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division who are looking for a place to lay roots. He said the North Country could be that place, but disinvestment in regional health care complicates that.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019ve lost almost 20 physicians out of the Syracuse VA,\u201d he said, noting that the uncertainty of basic benefits is likely driving people away from living in the region.<\/p>\n
\tGendebien pitched an enthusiastic message about his prospects for 2026. The lineup for that race isn\u2019t entirely clear yet. Gendebien is running, and last week another Democrat announced a campaign as well but it\u2019s not clear who the Republican candidate will be.<\/p>\n
\tStefanik was planning to leave the district to become a Trump administration official earlier this year, and a job offer could come again. She has teased a potential run for governor of New York as well, but as of now the only office she\u2019s filed to run for is reelection to Congress.<\/p>\n
\tGendebien said the path to success for him in this race is consistency and discipline.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019re going to be disciplined, we\u2019re going to be unprovoked, and we are going to win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tThe question portion of the event came last. Attendees were asked to write their questions on slips of paper that were taken by a campaign staff member and reviewed backstage. Out of what looked like at least 100 questions, Gendebien and Raskin took eight questions from the crowd. Moderator Tingley also asked three of his own questions.<\/p>\n
\tTingley asked Raskin if Trump is a threat to democracy. Raskin said yes, because the president does not respect constitutional limitations on his office. He offered one solution of securing statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, to add more enfranchised voters.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe only solution to the ills of democracy is more democracy,\u201d Raskin said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re suffering from today isn\u2019t democracy, it\u2019s the obstacles and impediments to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe next question was for Gendebien.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cConsidering the ugliness of politics today and the inevitable attacks that Rep. Stefanik and the Republicans in general are known for, why would you possibly want to run for Congress and subject yourself and your family to this type of abuse?\u201d Tingley asked.<\/p>\n
\tGendebien said that he\u2019s been unhappy with Stefanik\u2019s brand of politics, where she often levels personal and broad-sided attacks on political opponents, for years. But he said he is ready for it.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI am impenetrable, I will not allow her to get under my skin,\u201d he said. \u201cI do not govern by the thickness of my skin, I will fight hard to bring grace and humility and honesty and decency to this district.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tTingley\u2019s last question was for Raskin \u2014 if he worries about his and his family\u2019s safety after being a prominent and consistent critic of Trump.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI don\u2019t know how to answer the question,\u201d Raskin replied. \u201cI mean, people in my family have been tough and they\u2019ve been brave, and we really count on the goodness and the virtue of the American people, and I believe in it with all my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe questions from the crowd ranged on a series of national issues \u2014 if the Texas redistricting plan that aims to add five Republican seats can be blocked, how Congress could move to protect vaccine access or release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and how to bring young people into politics.<\/p>\n
\tSome questions addressed issues the two men had already addressed in their speeches, how Gendebien plans to protect rural interests and what he plans to do in Congress \u201cbeyond resisting Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn an interview after the event, Gendebien said this was a bigger than average event. Too many people showed up to fit into the theater and some had to be turned away. Dozens of people were seated in an overflow section with no view of the stage. This was Gendebien\u2019s 14th town hall since February when he was competing for an anticipated special election.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe average town hall size has been at least 100 people, we had as many as 250 at the theater in Plattsburgh,\u201d he said. \u201cThe general vibe is positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said he has generally kept the questions unlimited and unfiltered, and then sticks around to meet with constituents.<\/p>\n
\tAnd Gendebien answered one question he hadn\u2019t been asked by the voters in attendance. Does he support efforts by Gov. Kathy Hochul to redraw New York\u2019s congressional maps in response to that Texas remapping plan?<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI absolutely hate redistricting,\u201d he said, referring to partisan gerrymandering. \u201cI think if there\u2019s no choice and you\u2019ve got to fight fire with fire, then you have to join the game. But if I had my choice, nobody would redistrict.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhen reached for comment, Stefanik adviser and spokesperson Alex DeGrasse said the move to bring Raskin to the district was a desperate ploy.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis is a desperate distraction from the fact that North Country Democrats now have a vicious Congressional primary. The latest radical Democrat hauled into our district is election denier Jamie Raskin who recruited psychologists to help Democrats cope with President Trump\u2019s landslide victory and is now campaigning alongside local far left Democrat Blake Gendebien, a sad joke of a candidate,\u201d DeGrasse said.<\/p>\n
\tDeGrasse said the visit would ultimately help Stefanik in the firmly Republican district that has handily reelected her for a decade.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe thank Raskin for his visit \u2014 Elise\u2019s popularity in the North Country will continue to skyrocket,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd Democrats will continue to implode. And let\u2019s be honest \u2014 this is all because Kathy Hochul has abysmal approval ratings in upstate NY and is petrified of New York voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t
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