Blake Gendebien, the Democratic candidate running to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik in New York's red-leaning 21st Congressional District, has been clashing with his Republican challenger Anthony Constantino in the final weeks before Election Day.
Gendebien, born and raised in the North Country, has owned and operated Twin Mill Farms, a dairy farm in Ogdensburg, New York, with his wife Carmen and their three sons for the last 22 years. He's also served as the vice chair of the Cooperative Board of Agri-Mark, is a former member of the Lisbon Central School Board and coached junior varsity basketball and youth soccer.
The Democratic candidate, who an Oct. 9 Siena Research Institute poll shows holds a slight 46%-42% lead over his opponent, also founded
the nonprofit Jules of Life Foundation alongside his wife in 2009, which provides resources and support to North Country families battling pediatric cancer.
As Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3 quickly approaches, the USA TODAY Network recently spoke exclusively with Gendebien about his campaign, including what sets him apart in the race and why he believes he'll be able to outrun his competitor.
The candidate's answers have been edited for space and clarity.
Why did you decide to run for New York’s 21st Congressional District?
I’m running because I spent my whole life here in the North Country, and I’ve watched as people from outside of rural America just continue to stop paying attention to the people up here. We haven’t seen our congressperson for almost two years. And I know what it’s like as a farmer when fuel, fertilizer and grocery bills go up faster than the money you can bring home because my wife and I, who’ve been married for 23 years and have three boys, we’ve lived it.
We’ve lived it at our kitchen table. Our hospitals are closing, costs keep climbing. Too many politicians are trading stocks and getting richer while families struggle to just get by. And the seat is open for the first time in over a decade. And the North Country deserves somebody who lives here, who’s from here, who will show up, who won’t move away and live in Washington, D.C., but who loves being in the North Country and upstate New York.
And I will fight to lower costs. I’m going to fight to save our rural healthcare. I’m going to fight to repair our relationship with Ontario and Quebec because our friends to the north are so important. And I will work with everybody to get that done.
What do you hope to deliver to your constituents, if elected?
Well, in rural America, we disproportionately pay the price for bad decisions in D.C., and this administration is no different.
Rural families oftentimes drive over 200 miles in a day just to go to work and watch a high school sporting event. And that’s on $4.50 to $4.80 gasoline. That’s because of an international conflict that nobody voted for. We need to make sure that we win this race and we have the courage to vote on policies and assert the war powers authority in Congress.
Also, this international conflict that we’re in is driving up fuel prices. So many families in rural America heat our homes with fuel oil. That’s basically diesel fuel. Families are terrified that they’re going to have $2,000-$3,000 increases in heating oil this wintertime. The choice is going to be between food and fuel or the amount and quality of food that you can afford and what temperature you can heat your house at.
We need to make sure that we continue supporting LIHEAP and HEAP (energy assistance programs) so that our families can keep themselves warm in the cold winters in the North Country.
And then one last thing — districts like ours make up just 16% of the nation’s population, yet almost 50% of our military recruits every single year come from rural districts just like ours. And don’t you think Congress should assert its war powers authority and vote on conflicts that we send our young men and women into?
Representatives from rural America should be having their voices heard before we send our young people to war. That’s common sense and that’s why I’m running.
What will you bring from your dairy farming experience into Congress, and how does that help you relate more to your constituents?
As farmers, we do not live in echo chambers. We have friends and neighbors and other farmers that are Republicans and Democrats, and we never ask each other what our party affiliations are, we just get to work.
I am a pragmatic reflection of upstate New York and the North Country, and I am willing to work with anybody on either side of the aisle, if it’s a good idea. That’s the way it should be. When we are buried in our corners and we can’t get out of them, we never have an opportunity to create good policy that helped the people that voted us into office. I want to be that type of legislator that always puts people in New York’s 21st District first.
And we have serious issues to focus on ... We have to support our hospitals. We have to support our schools. We have to generate new business opportunities and development to keep our Teamsters and our IBEW and our steel workers working and busy. One in three households are union households. It’s a big deal for this district. And if you are not representing unions, you’re not representing this district in the North Country and upstate New York.
We also have more veterans than any other district in New York state. And almost half of our electorate is made up of seniors over 65. We need to make sure that inflation does not outpace the benefits of our hardworking seniors and our veterans who have lived a lifetime keeping our country secure and driving our economy.
These are just some of the issues that I hear about every single day on the campaign as we’ve crisscrossed the district for almost 22 months.
How do you feel your coaching experience has prepared you for a role like this?
There’s a woman who’s kind of a legend in the area. She’s an old dairy woman, and she said to me, Blake, cows and kids teach patience. And so, as a coach and as a farmer, you’ve gotta have a lot of patience.
My job was to make sure that they were prepared and ready and had self-confidence and enjoyed what they were doing. And getting mad and yelling at them never worked, but encouraging them to play well and be disciplined and focused always worked and to stay laser focused on the little things like boxing out and rebounding and playing good defense and staying on your toes and diving on loose balls.
I will always take a workhorse of an athlete over a show horse of an athlete because they do the dirty work and they get things done and they keep their cool. That’s how we’re running this campaign. We’re getting down, we’re picking up all the loose balls. We are doing well with the fundamentals, and we never lose our cool. Because when you lose your cool, you miss shots. And when you’re calm and composed, you make every single one.
So that’s what this campaign is about. It’s about discipline and focus and making sure that, like the kids that I coached, we reflect back on every single voter and make sure that they’re doing well. Because when they’re doing well, this campaign is going to do well.
What is the story behind the Jules of Life Foundation?
Through personal experience navigating the system, Carmen and I wanted to give back to the North Country. And we formed the Jules of Life Foundation many years ago, and we help families who learned that one of their children is suffering from pediatric cancer and we are a resource and we can connect families with the proper help that they need.
Because oftentimes, rural families that get this news, their minds go blank, they’re terrified. They might be frightened of hospitals. They might be frightened or intimidated by physicians. And we can help them navigate the most difficult times of their lives.
That’s what this is all about. We’re helping four families right now. And it’s part of the beauty of northern New York and the North Country. This is what we do. We help each other and we don’t ask what your party affiliation is. We want everybody to do well.
You’re running in a mainly red district that’s been that way in recent history. Why do you believe you’ll be the Democrat to change that cycle?
Because I’m a pragmatic reflection of the district. Born and raised here in Lisbon, New York, graduate of Lisbon Central School, coach at Lisbon Central School, farmer in the district, leader in agriculture in the district.
Farmers from AgriMark, our billion-dollar cooperative, elected me to be the vice chairman of the board. Those are farmers on both sides of the aisle. And when you’re a trusted member of the community, people know that you’re in it for the right reasons.
And so we are fighting every single day because I’m tired of hearing our veterans say, inflation has outpaced my benefits. I’m tired of hearing our hardworking seniors say, inflation has outpaced my retirement. It’s terrifying that we’re losing our maternity care at our hospitals. It’s terrifying that we’re actually losing our hospitals.
This is not a divisive campaign. You want a congressperson that is going to fight to repair our relationship with Ontario and Quebec, my campaign is for you. If you are looking for a congressperson that’s going to lower costs from the farm gate to the dinner plate, my campaign is for you. If you’re tired of paying a fortune for gasoline and heating oil for the wintertime, my campaign is for you.
And if you want to save our rural hospitals, I’m gonna fight every single day to make sure that we don’t have to drive two or more plus hours for maternity care or healthcare or rehab care for our seniors and veterans in New York's 21st district.
Emily Barnes covers state government for the USA TODAY Network-New York with a focus on how policy and laws impact New Yorkers' taxes, communities and jobs. Follow her on Instagram or X @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at ebarnes@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Democrat Blake Gendebien talks his campaign for NY-21 House race: Q&A
