The Full Record

U.S. House · New York's 21st District

The North Country: St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Hamilton, Fulton and Warren counties, plus parts of Saratoga and Herkimer counties in far northern New York.

General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

✓ Fact-checked 2026-09-25: 19 claims re-checked against their sources · 2 corrected · 0 removed

A second, independent research pass re-opened every cited source for this race and corrected or removed anything the source didn’t support.

  • Corrected a stale claim that Elise Stefanik 'is instead a candidate for New York Governor in 2026' — her own Ballotpedia page shows she withdrew from the Governor's race on December 19, 2025 and did not appear on the June 2026 gubernatorial primary ballot; added her Ballotpedia bio page as a new source (s5) and reworded the claim.
  • Fixed a wrong-page citation: the Democratic/Republican primary vote percentages (64.5%-35.0%, 59.2%-40.3%) were cited to the statewide NY House overview page, which does not contain per-district vote totals; verified the exact figures on the district-specific Ballotpedia race page instead and added it as a new source (s4), re-citing that claim to it. All other claims (Gendebien and Constantino biography, priorities, quote, and positions) verified verbatim against their Ballotpedia Candidate Connection surveys.

On the ballot · 3 candidates

Blake GendebienDLower Costs Now

Raised $5.5M · spent $3.1M · $2.6M cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Anthony ConstantinoRTaxpayer RightsFounder and CEO of Sticker Mule

Raised $9.5M · spent $8.7M · $3.0M cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Christopher SchmidtIND

Where they stand — side by side

Only positions documented in a cited source are shown. Where an officeholder’s recorded votes speak to an issue, the votes set the position (marked “votes”). A dash means we found no clear public position — not that the candidate has none.

ISSUEBlake Gendebien
DLower Costs Now
Anthony Constantino
RTaxpayer Rights
Christopher Schmidt
IND
Protect legal access to abortionSupports[2]——
Expand immigration enforcement and deportations—Supports[3]—
Expand public health coverageSupports[2]——

The candidates, in full

Blake Gendebien

DLower Costs Now

Won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary

Blake Gendebien is a second-generation dairy farmer and small business owner from the North Country running as the Democratic nominee for this open seat, with a campaign focused on affordability, healthcare access and government reform.[1][2]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

Positions on the issues

  • SupportsProtect legal access to abortion

    Says he will protect a woman's right to choose and opposes new regulations imposing total abortion bans, including in cases of rape or when the mother's life is at stake.[2]

  • SupportsExpand public health coverage

    Says he will never vote to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid and wants to expand telehealth and lower prescription drug costs.[2]

In their words — priorities

  • Affordability, including repealing what he describes as costly and unnecessary government regulations, supporting fair trade deals and bringing back American manufacturing to lower costs for working families.[2]
  • Healthcare access in rural communities, including expanding telehealth, lowering prescription drug costs, and opposing cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.[2]
  • Government reform, saying he wants to end the "elected to lobbyist" pipeline and get dark money out of politics.[2]

Background

  • Earned a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1999.[1]
  • Works as a farmer and small business owner; served as Vice Chair of the Cooperative Board of Agri-Mark.[1][2]
  • Served on the Lisbon Central School Board and founded a nonprofit supporting children with pediatric cancer and their families.[2]

Campaign money

Raised $5.5M · spent $3.1M · $2.6M cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Campaign website ↗Shareable profile page

Anthony Constantino

RTaxpayer RightsFounder and CEO of Sticker Mule

Won the June 23, 2026 Republican primary

Anthony Constantino is the founder and CEO of Sticker Mule, a printing and technology company based in Amsterdam, NY, running as the Republican nominee for this open seat on a self-funded campaign centered on immigration enforcement, healthcare cost reform and cutting government spending.[1][3]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

Positions on the issues

  • SupportsExpand immigration enforcement and deportations

    Cites illegal immigration as a top concern and says open borders have caused significant harm.[3]

In their words — priorities

  • Says he is self-funding his campaign to be free of special-interest influence and does not ask for donations.[3]
  • Addressing illegal immigration, citing his fluency in Spanish and stating open borders have caused suffering in the U.S. and abroad.[3]
  • Healthcare policy focused on innovation and outcomes rather than what he describes as an endless debate over making it free.[3]

Background

  • Founder and CEO of Sticker Mule, a global printing and technology company with more than 1,000 employees.[3]
  • Compiled a 2-1 professional boxing record.[3]

Campaign money

Raised $9.5M · spent $8.7M · $3.0M cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Campaign website ↗Shareable profile page

Christopher Schmidt

IND

Write-in candidate on the general-election ballot

Christopher Schmidt is an independent write-in candidate on the general-election ballot for NY-21 who completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey, describing an independent, locally focused campaign.[6]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

In their words — priorities

  • Says his campaign focuses on local issues such as housing, healthcare access, and employment challenges in the region, an independent approach to legislation, and community engagement with residents' feedback.[6]
  • Lists government accountability and transparency, housing and infrastructure, energy and utilities, economic and workforce issues, and healthcare access as the public-policy areas he is most passionate about.[6]
Shareable profile page

Research notes & limits

Christopher Schmidt (write-in) completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey (https://ballotpedia.org/Christopher_Schmidt_(New_York)), which supplied his priorities above; Ballotpedia's page for him has no separate biography section and lists no campaign website, so no background items or issue positions could be sourced. Federal key votes and FEC totals are added separately by script for sitting members of Congress; this is an open seat so no candidate has those.

Sources · 6

Researched 2026-09-25. Green citations are official government records.

  1. 1.United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2026 · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
  2. 2.Blake Gendebien · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · 2026-02-08 Candidate's own words
  3. 3.Anthony Constantino · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · 2026 Candidate's own words
  4. 4.New York's 21st Congressional District election, 2026 · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
  5. 5.Elise Stefanik · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
  6. 6.Christopher Schmidt (New York) · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · 2026-09-25 Candidate's own words