Hundreds of people turned out in Rome on Monday to be part of a rally for Republican candidates headlined by Vice President JD Vance.
When Vance got off Air Force 2 at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park, he brought some other prominent people with him, including Donald Trump Jr. and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
Both the president’s son and the cabinet official made brief stump speeches, to urge people to vote Republican, especially for 21st Congressional District candidate Anthony Constantino. Vance talked about the sticker and marketing company that Constantino has in Amsterdam, New York.
“Now, Anthony built a great American company right here in upstate New York, back when everybody, everybody said that you had to send manufacturing jobs overseas to countries that would pay subsistence wages,” Vance said.
Some polls suggest Constantino is getting stiff competition in that reliably Republican district from the Democratic candidate in the 21st district, North Country dairy farmer Blake Gendebien, and Constantino wants to make sure people get out to the polls on Tuesday.
“And if you do that, then I'm going to pay all you back by going to Congress, creating jobs, keeping the border secure, fighting to cut taxes, restoring our Second Amendment rights in New York State,” Constantino said.
There was a protest not far away from where Vance spoke, organized by the group Indivisible Mohawk Valley. They are worried about the direction of national leadership and what the organization calls ‘hyper-partisan messaging.’
While the rally largely focused on the 21st congressional district race, Vance briefly mentioned the neighboring 22nd district contest between Democratic incumbent John Mannion and challenger Kailee Buller.
Mannion said in an interview Monday he prefers to focus on himself and a positive message rather than his opponent. But he said he finds it interesting that JD Vance ended up in Rome.
“This event is in NY-21, which Donald Trump won by 21 or 22 points and Elise Stefanik won by 23 points," Mannion said. "They could be anywhere in this country right now. They could be in what would be considered traditional swing districts. They're not. They're in a dark red, what used to be safe district.”
Mannion said the war in Iran, haphazard trade policies, and high costs may be changing some minds. He understands the rationale of bringing in a high-profile political figure in an effort to motivate like-minded voters but wondered if it also generates anger on the other side.
