Stuart Amoriell never thought he'd run for office. For much of his career, he ran a small tech company in the mid-Atlantic, where he grew up. Then, about a decade ago, he pivoted to the restaurant business in Lake Placid.
“A friend of mine owned the [Pickled Pig] restaurant before me, and he said, ‘Hey, Stu, we have a restaurant we want to sell.’ I came up and the rest is history," Amoriell explained, sitting on a picnic table outside the restaurant.
Menu items at the Pickled Pig include jalapeño poppers, pulled pork tacos, and a dish called Papa Stu’s BBQ Brisket Chili.
Amoriell's pivot to politics came last November, when one of his employees was stopped by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The employee was originally from Venezuela, but Amoriell said he was legally authorized to work in the US. Despite that, Amoriell said ICE pressured the man to self-deport.
"I was furious, and I am still angry," explained Amoriell, "and that was when I decided to run for Congress.”
Entering the race to represent the North Country in Congress
In early December, Amoriell announced his campaign from the back of a snow-covered pickup truck at John Brown Farm in Lake Placid. Along with pushing for a “just and compassionate immigration policy,” Amoriell has also made affordability a key focus of his campaign.
He said it’s too hard for most people to make a good living in the North Country.
"Housing is hard to find and ridiculously expensive, whether you’re looking to buy or you’re renting. The cost of groceries—we all understand how much it’s gone up," said Amoriell.
Another top issue of Amoriell's campaign is healthcare. Nearly 30% of people in the North Country are on Medicaid, a program whose funding was slashed last year by the Trump administration.
At a recent meet-the-candidates event in the St. Lawrence County town of Waddington, Amoriell told the crowd that the federal government needs to reverse its approach and rebuild its healthcare system.
"It is well past time that we have universal, single-payer healthcare for every American," said Amoriell, as the audience applauded.
Darlene Fanus drove to the event from Malone, where she's from. Fanus, a Democrat, is a fan of Amoriell's approach to key issues like "universal healthcare, immigration, all the hot-button topics right now," Fanus explained.
"I think that he’s got a really good head on his shoulders, and I think that he can make it happen.”
Amoriell vs. Gendebien
Amoriell is facing an uphill battle in the Democratic primary. According to data from the Federal Election Commission, Amoriell's campaign has collected about $12,000 in contributions and he's spent nearly $100,000 of his own money. Plus, Amoriell has only been campaigning for about seven months.
Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent, Blake Gendebien, has been campaigning for more than twice as long and has raised $4.6 million. Gendebien was endorsed by every Democratic chair during last spring’s special election that never happened.
President Trump withdrew Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be UN ambassador, so she remained in office and later announced this would be her final term.
Some counties around the district have re-endorsed Gendebien in this race, including the Washington County Committee, run by Jay Bellanca, who doesn’t hold back when asked about Amoriell.
"In my opinion, he’s eminently unqualified to be a Congressman. I don’t know why he’s running," said Bellanca. "He’s not from the North Country. He’s what I would call a carpetbagger."
While Amoriell grew up in Maryland and moved to the North Country a decade ago, his parents are both originally from the region.
Can a progressive platform win in November?
Sue Abbott Jones, a Democrat from Saranac Lake, is impressed by Amoriell's progressive platform.
She thinks the Democratic Party in the North Country is misguided in its support for Gendebien, who has mostly taken middle-of-the-road positions.
Abbott Jones points to the last three Democrats who challenged Rep. Stefanik, each of whom took moderate stances on issues like gun control and the economy. They all lost by double-digit margins.
"The past three candidates, especially, have had this thing that we have to be moderate, we have to be moderate, and they’re not looking around them.”
This critique is one that Democrats nationwide have been grappling with since President Trump’s resounding win in 2024.
What kind of Democrat is better positioned to beat Republicans in November? Progressive candidates have thrived in recent races from New York City to Montana, while voters in a hotly contested New Jersey district backed a more moderate, establishment candidate last week.
The latest voter enrollment data
Cook Political Report rates the 21st Congressional District as "Solidly Republican." According to the latest voter enrollment data, there are about 215,000 registered Republicans in New York's 21st Congressional District and about 134,000 registered Democrats.
The key to any Democrat winning the district could lie with the 135,000 voters in NY21 who aren't unaffiliated with any political party.
Amoriell believes that getting progressives fired up now and through November could help flip the district.
"We see time and again that we cannot take their vote for granted. If they are not motivated, they just simply will not show up," said Amoriell. "We really can win this, but we need somebody that does not run from our positions, but runs on our positions.”
Amoriell is not running on a third-party line, so if he loses the primary, he’s out of the race. If that's the case, Amoriell said he will endorse Blake Gendebien for the general election.