There are six people publicly planning to run for the NY-21 congressional seat in a yet-to-be-announced special election as current North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik is set to vacate the seat after accepting a nomination to be the next U.N. ambassador.
For the Republican party, newcomers Anthony Constantino and Otto Miller are confirmed to be seeking the nomination.
For the Democrats, two of the candidates from the fall election are planning on running again — Paula Collins, a cannabis attorney who got 36.74% of the vote on election night, and Steve Holden, a retired army lieutenant colonel and military contractor who did not get on the primary ballot in April.
Brian Rouleau, who sought to get the Working Families Party line last time, is seeking his party’s endorsement again in this special election.
Scott Lewis, who fought in the state courts to have his name added to the ballot in November’s election and had to settle for a write-in campaign, is planning to run as an independent candidate on the Common Sense Party line in the special election.
To read more about how the special election will be run, go to tinyurl.com/kum6ddjv
Collins
Paula Collins, who is fresh off a NY-21 campaign against Stefanik, is working for a second run for the seat sooner than expected. When she conceded the election on Nov. 5, she announced her plans to run in 2026. Now, she’s seeking to be the Democratic candidate in the special election.
Collins’ race against Stefanik ended with her getting 36.74% of the vote, and Stefanik taking 59.92%.
She thinks it’s important for voters to have continuity in the race. After all, she still plans to run in 2026.
Collins supported a capital gains tax to tax earnings on assets like stocks and real estate, supported Medicare for All and said the federal government needs a proactive effort to stop climate change.
She said taxing billionaires and corporations can better fund the federal budget. During the last election, she promised to fight to maintain transgender rights, LGBTQIA-plus rights, women’s rights, the truth, the economy, immigration, labor and military rights.
If she doesn’t get her party’s nomination, Collins did not say whether or not she’d attempt an independent run.
To read more about Collins’ platform race in the past election, go to tinyurl.com/yt6c7wnm and tinyurl.com/mwyubf8y.
Constantino
After betting big on Tesla’s stock to rebound after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now renamed X, Anthony Constantino has $2.6 million he’s using to self-fund his campaign. Now, he’s all in on Trump.
Constantino is the CEO of the online sticker company Sticker Mule. He has known Stefanik since they attended the Albany Academy for Boys and Albany Academy for Girls at the same time. Independently funding his campaign allows him to skip a step in the campaign process by not needing to solicit donations. He also says it will keep him from being influenced by “special interests.”
His pitch has been relatively light on policy, thus far, deferring his ideas and plans to Trump and saying he’ll follow the president-elect’s lead. Constantino’s platform will be Trump’s platform. He feels Trump is “the best decision-maker in the world” and said he will be “subordinate to the commander-in-chief.” He wants to move quickly to get Trump’s agenda done as fast as possible.
Constantino’s entry into politics came after the July 13 assassination attempt on then-candidate Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Thomas Crooks’ motive for the assassination attempt is still unknown.
Constantino saw hatred of Trump turn into violence and was “tired of the nonsense.” He believes Democrats are poisoning people’s brains.
He installed a large “Vote for Trump” sign on his factory in Amsterdam, drawing media attention before the election.
Constantino started a merch line called “Trump for Peace” because he believes Trump will bring peace and stability in the world. Trump is “the world’s best negotiator,” he said, with the power to end wars around the world. Still, the U.S. needs to be able to say, “We have the power to beat you if we need to,” he said. He said he’d continue Stefanik’s push for a missile defense system at Fort Drum.
“New York’s biggest problem is that people are leaving,” Constantino said, pledging to bring people back.
He believes New York has been “decimated by Democrats.”
New York has an image problem — it’s seen as a dangerous place for Republicans, he said.
“You can’t have a state that operates effectively when half the country thinks it’s dangerous for them to live there,” Constantino said.
A fluent Spanish speaker, who spent time boxing in Mexico, he said nobody understands the immigration situation better than him.
“I’m a fan of legal immigration,” he said.
Constantino feels that opening asylum opportunities instead of legal immigration is cruel, because it splits up families.
“You don’t move the entire community. You move two people,” he said.
Legal immigrants can return home. Illegal immigrants are stuck in the U.S.
“What has been done with regards to open borders has been really cruel to people in other countries as much as it’s been cruel to our people,” Constantino said.
He didn’t say he wanted to expand legal immigration, but said he’d follow whatever Trump’s plan is.
“I trust that he’s going to solve it in a great way,” Constantino said.
He likes the Supreme Court’s decision to return the topic of abortion access to individual states to decide.
Personally, he feels solar energy is a scam because the technology isn’t good enough, but he’s interested in electrification. He feels farm land shouldn’t be used for solar arrays.
Constantino has been getting coverage from national news with a piece in Politico, Newsmax and InfoWars.
He’s getting support from Roger Stone, a prominent political consultant and self-described “dirty trickster” known for his work in the Nixon and Trump administrations.
“I announced my interest in the seat, actually, in Roger Stone’s bathroom,” Constantino recently told Newsmax’s Greg Kelly.
He says he was going to dinner with Stone when the news of Stefanik’s appointment was announced. They spoke about it and he decided to run on another visit a few days later.
Constantino said if he’s not selected as the Republican nominee, he plans to run in 2026.
Holden
Steve Holden needed at least 1,250 signatures to make the primary ballot for the past election, but fell short. He alleged preferential treatment of other candidates by regional Democratic chairs, described feeling burned by the NY-21 Democratic leadership and deregistered from the party.
This time around, he’s feeling more prepared and more included. Holden planned to run in 2026 anyway, so when his fundraising firm called to ask if he was interested in the special election, he was ready to get back in. This week, he’s starting to travel the district and talk with voters.
Holden hopes to work with Democrats and Republicans alike to stave off the negative impacts he sees from Trump’s planned policies. He’d like to play the role of an ombudsman, bringing Democratic concerns about policies to the Republicans with a majority of power to negotiate changes, rewrites or blocks. Holden wants success and although he doesn’t agree with Trump’s plans, he’ll work with what he’s given. He believes he can sway Republicans in blue districts to vote against GOP policies he thinks will be harmful.
He said when things like tariffs and mass deportations start impacting people’s lives, people will probably start saying “This isn’t what I voted for.”
Holden said it was clear that people’s pocketbooks were a key issue in the November election.
He doesn’t think tariffs will work the way Trump believes they will.
“You can’t have good job creation and reduce inflation if you’re going to have tariffs in an area that’s going to affect … small business owners’ bottom line or the average Joe or Jane who’s trying to make ends meet,” Holden said.
The area also needs housing. Holden would like to get venture capitalist and equity firms out of the housing business after they bought up a lot during the pandemic.
Holden predicts mass deportations will cause major impacts in many industries, especially in agriculture. He believes Congress can pass sensible immigration policy without mass deportations.
Holden supports full abortion access.
“I have a personal belief that you cannot chart your own destiny if you don’t have control of your body,” he said.
Trump has said he won’t sign a national abortion ban, and Holden said he would hold the president to that.
Holden said Trump has soured on providing aid to Ukraine, but enough members of both parties support it. He said Ukraine is the “battlefront for democracy,” and he supports sending money, but not soldiers right now.
With four combat deployments to Afghanistan, Holden said soldiers should be a last line to cross. The U.S. needs to be ready, he said, but not eager to enter conflict.
Holden supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
He says his experience as an Army finance officer gives him a leg up on federal budgeting.
If he does not get his party’s nomination, Holden said he would not run a third-party or independent campaign.
Lewis
Scott Lewis is still fighting in court over the last election’s ballot. He says he was unfairly kept off the ballot, and that his lawsuit against the state board of elections is a fight for ballot access rights that he wants to keep up.
When the special election is announced, he said he’ll collect signatures to get on the new ballot as an independent.
Lewis said improving health care is at the top of his list. Specifically, he wants NY-21 to have more health care centers in more areas. In many areas, there’s only one option. More competition means higher standards, he said.
Lewis said the federal government needs to tax corporations. He has a finance degree from Western New England University and worked as a stock trader for Northwestern Mutual and Charles Schwab for several years, so he understands how Wall Street works. He said the fight in America is not Republican or Democrat, left or right, but that it is “rich versus poor.”
Lewis is “all for immigration,” but he added that America needs policies for legal immigration, particularly by speeding up the hearings process. The process is too slow right now, he said, and that is what creates the illegal immigration problem.
He has international concerns with Trump as president, especially around Trump’s consideration of withdrawing from NATO. Lewis believes supporting Ukraine with money, but not soldiers, is best.
Lewis said he would defend abortion.
To read more about Lewis’ platform in the previous election, go to tinyurl.com/3b59u39r.
Miller
Otto Miller has wanted to run for Congress his whole life and was planning on doing so in 2026.
“I plan on not only continuing but starting a new legacy of transparent, human connected representation for the constituents of the 21st district,” he wrote in his announcement on Facebook.
If he doesn’t get the Republican party nomination, he’d possibly consider a third-party or independent run.
“Whether I win or not, I wanted to take this chance to get my name out there,” Miller wrote. “I’ll be back in 2026 should someone else be elected.”
Miller sees himself as an orator and an independent thinker. Often, politicians say they’re bipartisan, but aren’t, he said.
Though he leans conservative, he hates having to choose between party loyalty. He pledges to hold everyone accountable, no matter who they are.
“I’m not anybody’s ‘yes man,’” he said.
Still, Miller said he’s not a fence-sitter. He wants to research and form his own opinion, and adapt it as he learns more.
For example, he goes back and forth on whether he supports Trump’s proposed tariffs. The idea behind them is to rattle a sword, he’s just not sure if that will work or backfire.
He made promises to “never dance around rhetoric,” to be accountable for all his mistakes and to speak clearly so his words cannot be twisted or misinterpreted.
“The only promise I make is to do my best, with the caveat that sometimes my best falls short, like anyone else,” Miller wrote.
The topic of energy production is one of Miller’s favorites to discuss. His father was a nuclear engineer and he sees a lot of potential in it. He said people need education to learn that it is not as dangerous as assumed. Miller believes the U.S. will need fossil fuels for quite some time as he said renewable energies need better technology. But he wants to move to more efficient sources.
Miller proposed an overhaul of the health insurance system. He said many people don’t have insurance because they can’t afford it. This is combined with a food system he said seems designed to make people unhealthy, especially people who can’t afford better food. Though he feels the U.S. has some of the best medical care in the world, he said it has a bad system for people with low incomes to access it.
He wants to stop abuse of social programs on both ends — to fight fraud in government assistance programs, and to end the price gouging of medical supplies. He said, because hospitals need to buy supplies, medical suppliers know they can get away with upcharging.
Miller likes the idea of the Department of Government Efficiency, a new planned commission which Trump has put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of.
Miller would like to streamline the immigration process. It takes too long, he said.
“The more the merrier,” Miller said.
He would like a process where people who are here, but not documented, can verify they are working and without a criminal record to get documentation. This would allow them to earn better wages if they’re here legally, which means more income for the government to tax.
He said there is an open border crisis presenting a humanitarian crisis on the border. Crossing into the U.S. illegally involves dangerous travels, led by dangerous cartels.
“They’re being exploited,” he said.
He’d also like to institute congressional term limits and set a maximum length for bills to make them easier for the public to read.
Rouleau
Brian Rouleau’s first campaign as a third-party candidate never got off the ground. The Working Families Party endorsed Collins. Now, he feels he has time to “do it right” and create a unique image for the WFP.
He feels the party needs its own identity. He said it’s often seen as a party for Democrats who don’t want a “D” next to their name. Personally, his beliefs are left of the Democrats. After the November election, he feels his ideas are resonating better.
If elected, he probably would not caucus with either major party.
Rouleau’s announcement of his intention to run was paired with a promise to try to “Uncap the House.” The “Uncap the House” movement advocates for the repeal of the Permanent Apportionment Act, which would increase the number of people in the House from its current limit of 435. He wants to reduce the current method of one representative for every 750,000 people to one representative for every 50,000 people.
“Send me to Washington so I can reduce my own power,” Rouleau wrote on Bluesky. He also said he’d advocate for a pay cut to Congressional salaries.
Rouleau said this is an anti-establishment position and that the current House form sidelines third-party candidates and keeps government static. He suggested legislators should do most of their committee work virtually, to allow them to stay in their district with their constituents.
He’d also like to uncap Social Security taxes. Right now, only earnings below $168,600 are taxed for Social Security.
Rouleau wants to detach health care from business and switch to a single-payer healthcare insurance system, or Medicare for All at the very least. He said this will make taxes go up, but not as much as people currently pay for health insurance. He believes this will give lower-income people more money to spend and save.
He also wants to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $18 per hour and tie it to the rate of inflation and cost of living.
Rouleau would like to improve the legal immigration system. He said it is “crazy” that the legal process takes so long, so he understands why people take shortcuts.
On energy, he wants to bring a modern nuclear power plant to NY-21. Modern, smaller nuclear plants are safer than people realize, he said, without the harmful greenhouse gas emissions of coal.
On housing, he wants to find grants to rebuild abandoned homes, and keep the construction spending inside the district. He also supports rent control, which he called an urban solution for a rural area.
“There are way too many people that are putting up 30%, 40%, 50% of what they make in their take-home pay towards housing,” Rouleau said.
His policies are more domestic-focused. But on foreign policy he said he wants to bring more soldiers home, financially support Ukraine’s right to defend themselves and find a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Though that last one is tough, he acknowledges.
Rouleau said he is pro-union and pro-abortion.
“What a woman does with her body is her choice,” Rouleau said, adding that he believes it is not for the government to decide.
In his announcement, Rouleau also advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington D.C.
If he doesn’t get his party’s nomination, he said he’d likely run in 2026 instead of attempting an independent run.