Blake Gendebien said he wants to be an independent voice for the North Country and break away from the political gridlock and self-serving behavior that he says has taken over Washington, D.C. The Lisbon-area farmer has started up a campaign, as a Democrat, to become the next Congressman for New York’s 21st Congressional District in the anticipated special election to replace current Congresswoman Elise M. Stefanik.
In an interview Thursday, Gendebien said he thinks that he, a farmer with a proven history of hard work, sacrifice, and community connection, is the perfect candidate to represent the largely rural, northern New York district that stretches from Fort Drum in the west to just north of Albany in the east.
‘I AM UNENCUMBERED’
“I believe that politicians in D.C. are caught up in gridlock and jockeying for power, and that they’ve forgotten that it’s hard work that gets things done,” he said. “I break things down into workhorses and show horses. Too many people are show horses, but if you want someone who will go to D.C. and put in 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, send a farmer.”
He said his perspective as someone who has not worked in state-level or national politics and does not have connections or debts to the party machine positions him as the perfect candidate to win the heavily Republican district.
“I am unencumbered,” he said. “I am not tied to Washington or Albany. I can do what’s best for the North Country.”
Gendebien said he sees a job in Congress as a populist position — the job is to represent the wants and needs of the people in the district, not a member’s own personal ambitions or the whims of a party.
A FARMER’S PERSPECTIVE
He has a handful of policy positions. He supports the Affordable Care Act, which he said his family has personally benefited from, and believes that, generally, American health care needs to become more affordable.
“When the Affordable Care Act passed, that was a piece of legislation that changed our lives,” he said. “It changed what we could afford to eat, the quality of clothes that we could buy our kids, it changed everything for us. We had been living on plywood floors, and it allowed us to afford to put real flooring in our house because we no longer had this second mortgage payment for health insurance.”
Gendebien also said he wants to bring a farmer’s perspective to the immigration question. Almost every part of the agriculture and food production industry in the U.S. relies on some immigrant labor, and the North Country is no exception. He said he wants to ensure that any immigration policies allow for the regular flow of immigrant agriculture workers to the areas that are growing in season.
“America’s farmers are the best in the world, but we need a secure workforce. If we get that, we could feed the world ourselves,” he said.
BORDER STANCE
But he’s also open to making changes to border policies to make things more secure. In Lisbon, Gendebien lives near the U.S.-Canada border, which has gotten a significant amount of attention as President Donald J. Trump threatens steep tariffs on the northern nation and strict border controls to stem the flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S. Gendebien said he acknowledges that the northern border is not as secure as it should be.
“We need to secure the northern border and allow federal and state agencies to collaborate and work together because it’s what’s in the best interests of our North Country residents,” he said.
State policies, including the ‘Green Light Law,’ block state departments and police from cooperating with federal authorities on immigration issues — a position Democrats have long supported but some are starting to reverse course on. Recently, Assemblyman D. Billy Jones, the lone North Country Democrat elected to the state legislature, also called for a reevaluation of state policies on cooperating with immigration authorities.
The candidate made no mention of President Donald J. Trump or his recent policies.
RAISING FUNDS
Gendebien said he feels confident that he’ll get the support of the Democratic chairs across New York’s 21st Congressional District for the special election to replace Congresswoman Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville. The chairs met with candidates this week and have put forward a list of four names — with Gendebien at the top, according to sources with knowledge of the internal party workings not authorized to speak on record.
He’s already raised over $400,000 for a race against the eventual Republican nominee and appears to be the best-positioned Democrat in the race.
The special election for NY-21 remains unscheduled. Congresswoman Stefanik has completed her confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate, but a full vote to approve her as the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations has not been planned. There have also been suggestions that federal Republicans may want to push off her nomination until other vacancies in the House of Representatives can be filled, as the Republicans have a 3-vote majority now and two seats are currently vacant.
If Stefanik’s nomination is delayed, she could remain as the region’s Congressmember into the springtime, to allow for special elections in the vacant seats.