Congress

A district that went +20 for Trump now in play for Democrats

Published

3 months ago

June 25, 2026

NEW YORK — A new internal poll shows a Democratic House candidate is in a dead heat with his Republican challenger in an upstate New York district President Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2024.

The poll, commissioned by Democratic candidate Blake Gendebien’s campaign and conducted by the left-leaning group Impact Research, found Gendebien trailing Republican Anthony Constantino by just one percentage point, 45-44, with 11 percent of voters undecided.

The district is currently represented by outgoing Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who congratulated Constantino on winning the GOP nomination Tuesday after he defeated Republican state Assemblymember Robert Smullen in a nasty primary.

Constantino, the CEO of a sticker company who’s self-funding his campaign with $10 million, earned Trump’s endorsement in April, a blow that proved fatal for Smullen’s primary campaign.

Constantino is an eccentric and passionate supporter of the president and recently recorded an adulatory rap album titled “Thank You President Trump.”

During the primary, he left a threatening voicemail to a constituent in the district, threatened to sue his opponent, whom he referred to as “Slimebob,” and frequently touted the 100-foot-wide Trump sign on top of his Sticker Mule factory, which he erected during Trump’s 2024 campaign. Constantino is also a former boxer.

Luke Martin, a pollster from Impact Research who works for the Gendebien campaign, said the campaign watched the primary in hopes they would face the polarizing Constantino.

“Our research has always shown that a wannabe DC insider like Constantino is very beatable in NY-21, but his rapidly increasing negatives had us concerned that we might lose our shot to run against him if he couldn’t keep it together through the primary,” Martin said in a statement. “The more money he spent, the more we saw his unfavorability tick up in our polls. The data was always clear that Robert Smullen would have been a more competitive Republican candidate for this district.”

Anthony Constantino, a Republican candidate for Congress, stands in front of a

After respondents received messaging on the two candidates, Gendebien, a dairy farmer, climbed ahead of Constantino, 49-40, with 11 percent still undecided. The poll quizzed 500 likely general election voters from May 26-31 and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.4 percent.

Forty percent of those surveyed said they voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and 58 percent said they voted for Trump. Twenty-three percent of respondents identified as Democrat, 27 percent said they were independents and 46 percent identified as Republicans.

There has been no independent polling of the district, which is one of the largest in the northeast and stretches from the northern Catskills region to the Canadian border. Trump won the district with 60 percent of the vote.

A potential curveball in the general election is whether Smullen, a retired Marine colonel, will continue to run for the seat despite losing the Republican primary. Smullen, who has the backing of the state’s Conservative Party, is on its ballot line in November. That would set up a three-way contest between him, Gendebien and Constantino.

Smullen has not ruled out running as a Conservative Party candidate. He has until Friday, July 3 to decline the ballot line.

Another potential factor to Smullen’s decision making is that the Conservative Party’s chair, Jerry Kassar, is in a bitter, personal feud with Constantino. Kassar is suing Constantino for defamation after Constantino said Kassar threatened to kill him. Kassar told Blue Light News it’s up to Smullen whether or not he wants to run on the Conservative line.

“The party itself has no role whatsoever, until an action is taken by the candidate,” Kassar said. “Bob has not indicated to me anything other than what has been public, which is that he’s interested in staying on but is thinking it through and will make a final decision soon.”

Gendebien’s campaign declined to release survey data on a three-way race.

Blake Gendebien testifies before a Senate subcommittee in May 2023.

Battleground New York, which works to flip competitive House seats by engaging disaffected voters, said the bruising Smullen-Constantino primary has put Democrats in a winning position.

“With Democrats surging and the race already tied, Republicans in NY-21 couldn’t afford a messy primary and they got one anyway,” said Andrew Grossman, a spokesperson for the group. “They spent the entire primary proving they can’t stand each other, and now they’ve handed voters a November ballot where they can choose between the guy the party hates and the guy the nominee hates.”

Congress

Capitol agenda: Dems weigh doing Husted a solid

Published

3 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats have a decision to make about whether to grant a political favor to one of their most vulnerable Republican colleagues.

GOP leaders are expected to set up an initial vote Wednesday on legislation that would advise states on ensuring data centers pay for all their energy costs and grid updates. Democrats may discuss the matter at a weekly party lunch Tuesday, but so far haven’t had a caucus-wide conversation yet, several senators said in interviews.

The bill is being championed by Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted — who is facing a tough election bid against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. The measure easily passed the House last week with 206 Democratic votes, but campaign-season politics are making action trickier for the party in the Senate.

On one hand, voting to start debate on the bill could help keep Republicans off the campaign trail even longer and insulate Democrats against charges of politically motivated obstructionism.

On the other hand, a successful procedural vote could kick off an unpredictable amendment process and — as some Democrats see it — risk helping GOP leaders bail out an embattled candidate who has been inundated with data-center-themed campaign attacks.

“It’s an effort to rescue Husted’s campaign,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said in an interview, even as he acknowledged that he himself hasn’t yet made a call on how to vote.

Most in the party have yet to decide whether to lend their support, according to interviews with more than a dozen Senate Democrats and aides.

That includes in-cycle Jon Ossoff and known bipartisan dealmakers such as Jeanne Shaheen and Mark Warner, who all said Thursday they hadn’t made up their minds.

Sen. Peter Welch is so far the only Democrat to say he will support Husted’s bill, though he, like other Democrats, said “the bill didn’t go far enough.”

Sen. Brian Schatz, the Democrats’ deputy whip, said in an interview Thursday he found the bill “kind of weak” but that he didn’t have an announcement about whether party leaders would whip against it.

Two GOP senators, granted anonymity to describe private conversations, said that Republicans privately don’t expect the bill to get the votes needed to ultimately pass.

But Husted is keeping the pressure on Democrats publicly.

“They say they’re for more affordability,” he said. “This is a chance for everybody to prove it.”

What else we’re watching:

— JOHNSON, TRUMP SET MEETING WITH AI EXECS —- Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump will meet at the White House Tuesday with the executives of top artificial intelligence companies. Congress is under increasing pressure to put federal guardrails on AI development, but House GOP leaders continue to resist any major legislative action to address concerns. The speaker and president were in attendance at the state dinner Thursday night in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, as were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It was not immediately clear which of these executives would be invited to next week’s meeting, and who will be participating.

— SENATE GOP’S NOMS IN LIMBO: Senate Republicans’ hopes of getting several of Trump’s key nominees confirmed before they leave for midterm campaigning are still in limbo. The main GOP sticking point is Sen. Kevin Cramer’s blanket hold on nominations — including but not limited to Keith Sonderling for labor secretary — “pending a repeal of the Biden setback rule on fish and wildlife easements” in his state, the North Dakota Republican told Blue Light News. After weeks of a complete hold, Cramer lifted his blockade on some nominees after the Trump administration committed to reevaluating some of the Fish and Wildlife Service easements that restrict farming.

Jordain Carney, Amelia Davidson, Nico Portuondo, Mia McCarthy, Sophia Cai and Miranda Willson contributed to this report.

Congress

Democrats weigh how to handle data center vote that could benefit a GOP foe

Published

7 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats will soon have to decide whether to do one of their most vulnerable Republican colleagues a big political favor just weeks before the midterm elections.

Republican leaders are expected to set up a vote next week on the Ratepayer Protection Act, legislation that aims to curb energy prices associated with the data centers. It easily passed the House last week with 206 Democratic votes, but it faces a tougher path to passage across the Capitol — thanks to campaign-season politics.

The Senate version of the bill was written and is being championed by Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican who was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance and is now facing a tough election bid against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Despite near-unanimous approval in the House, Senate Democrats see it as an attempt by GOP leaders to bail out an embattled candidate who has been inundated with data-center-themed campaign attacks. Most have yet to decide whether to lend their support, according to interviews with more than a dozen Senate Democrats and aides.

“It’s an effort to rescue Husted’s campaign,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said in an interview, even as he acknowledged that he himself hasn’t yet decided how to vote. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer this week dismissed Husted’s bill as a toothless “fraud.”

But there are strategic considerations for Democrats: Voting to start debate on the bill could help keep Republicans off the campaign trail even longer and insulate their own members against charges of politically motivated obstructionism. On the other hand, even a successful procedural vote risks boosting Husted and could kick off an unpredictable amendment process.

The Senate is expected to take an initial vote Wednesday, and at least seven Democratic votes will be needed to advance it. Democrats haven’t yet had a caucuswide discussion about the bill, several senators said in interviews. They could discuss the matter Tuesday at a weekly lunch.

Two GOP senators granted anonymity to describe private conversations said that Republicans privately don’t expect the bill to get the 60 votes needed to ultimately pass.

Publicly, however, Husted is trying to keep the pressure on Democrats, telling reporters Thursday “everybody is going to get a chance to decide whether they’re for the American consumer.”“This would require data centers to pay for their own electricity rather than pass it on to the consumers,” he said. “That’s something the American public wants. That’s something that everybody in Congress says they’re for. They say they’re for more affordability. This is a chance for everybody to prove it.”

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) is so far the only Democrat to say publicly he will support Husted’s bill — though he added that “the bill didn’t go far enough,” echoing House Democrats who overwhelmingly backed the measure despite similar concerns.

“I’d like to help,” Welch said. “I’d like to protect ratepayers.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he would support a procedural motion to take up the bill but would then try to attach his own Power for the People Act, a more aggressive effort to address the data center issue.

He said he would support advancing the bill further “only … if they agree to allow amendments.”

Several other Senate Democrats — including in-cycle Jon Ossoff of Georgia and known bipartisan dealmakers such as Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Mark Warner of Virginia — said Thursday they hadn’t yet made up their minds on the bill.

The Ratepayer Protection Act would require states to “consider” — but not mandate — a framework ensuring data centers pay for all energy costs and grid updates. Senate progressives and Democratic party leaders have spent the past week amplifying concerns that the bill does not go far enough in enforcing protections for ratepayers. Some have pushed a more forceful bill from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).

Husted’s bill is “voluntary,” Schumer told reporters Wednesday. “No company has to do it. The bill we have is mandatory. It is much stronger and is what is needed.”

Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, the Democrats’ deputy whip, said in an interview Thursday that he found the bill “kind of weak” but that he didn’t have an announcement about whether party leaders would whip against it.

The bill has already seen its share of drama in the Senate, when Husted last week tried to follow up a resounding 417-3 House vote on the bill by passing the bill by voice vote on the Senate floor. Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, shot down that request, claiming that the Senate needed to pass legislation with “real teeth.”

Heinrich repeated those concerns Thursday as GOP leaders moved toward a roll call vote on the measure next week. He urged lawmakers to instead pass his own legislation or await a broader energy permitting reform package that could include data center provisions.

“There’s a reason why we’re working on these kinds of issues in permitting reform right now,” he said in an interview. “It’s because we’ve already seen electric rates go up for consumers as a result of the increased demand from data centers. So we should pass something, but it should have teeth in it.”

Anthony Cruz contributed to this report.

Congress

Johnson, Trump set meeting with AI executives

Published

14 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet at the White House Tuesday with the executives of top artificial intelligence companies, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private plans.

The meeting comes as Congress is coming under increasing pressure to put federal guardrails on AI development, as fears mount that technological advancements could soon spiral beyond human control.

Responding to some warnings that AI development was on track to cause human extinction by the end of the decade, Johnson has said he wants Trump and AI CEOs to “go in a big room, close the door and sort this out.” He has yet to endorse major legislative action to address the issue, as Trump has resisted calls for government regulations, citing concerns about lagging behind China.

The president and speaker were in attendance at the State Dinner on Thursday night in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, as were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It was not immediately clear which of these executives would be invited to next week’s meeting, and who will be participating.

News that the meeting had been scheduled was first reported by Axios.