PLATTSBURGH — Steven W. Holden, Sr., is hoping to highlight his experience, education, background and military service for voters as he campaigns to become the Democratic nominee for the anticipated special election for the North Country’s 21st Congressional District.
Last week, Holden announced he was forming an exploratory committee to prepare a run – its the first step and a way to campaign without the seat being vacant yet. Congresswoman Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, has not resigned the seat yet and is unlikely to do so before facing Senate confirmation for the U.N. Ambassadorship next year.
In an interview on Monday, Holden said he’s ready to bring his message to the voters – that the North Country and Washington need a well-versed, familiar, ready-to-work candidate that he believes he best embodies.
“There are certain times meant for certain candidates, with all of these different things going on out there, we feel like I’m the only one, Democrat or Republican, who would have the requisite experience to be able to properly represent the district,” he said.
BACKGROUND
Holden, 52, grew up on an Oklahoma dairy farm – he retains a slight accent even after nearly 20 years of living in the northeast. He spent over 20 years in the Army, seeing four combat deployments and becoming a senior officer. He worked as an Army consultant as recently as 2019.
He was also an Army finance officer, which he said has given him prime experience needed to represent Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division, as well as a Congressional district with one of the highest number of resident veterans.
Holden can talk about military and defense policy, agriculture and dairy farms, food policy and more with some ease. He’s billed himself as a “practical progressive,” but with the upcoming Trump administration and Republican-held Congress, Holden says he’s more concerned about insulating the district as best as possible from possible harm from Republican policies, and working with Republicans in the House to block bad bills.
“Number one is that you have to be able to work across the aisle,” he said. “And that’s going to go both ways in the House.”
TARIFF CONCERNS
He’s worried about the potential tariffs that President-Elect Donald J. Trump has said he would impose on Canada and Mexico, and the effects that a mass deportation push as Trump has called for would have on the local agricultural economy.
If those policies come to pass, Holden said he would push to put more federal money into small family farms, allowing them to expand and create a more integrated supply chain domestically.
“That would help minimize the need for foreign goods from Canada or Mexico or China, and allow them to be able to operate in a more linear, or horizontal, format,” he said.
He said he’s worried about a cut to SNAP and WIC, the keystone federal food aid programs – besides feeding needy families, they also drive a significant amount of food purchases with the dollars they provide. WIC and SNAP rules dictate what people on the aid can buy with the money, how much of it and when they can buy it – Holden said if those programs were cut, there would be a measurable decline in food buying, hurting both farmers and grocers as well as the benefit recipients.
“If you don’t have as many people who can buy your goods at the grocery store, that’s going to take away from your bottom line, grocery stores won’t stock as much of your product,” he said.
‘LET’S WORK ON SOMETHING HERE’
Coupled with potential tariffs, Holden said a cut to domestic food demand would be a gut-punch for the agricultural economy, including the farms in NY-21.
Holden said he has the experience in negotiations to be able to convince Republicans to take his side on these issues – he referenced his 2019 deployment to Afghanistan to assist with the U.S. Army’s pullout from the country.
“I’ve had to work in DoD negotiations, I’ve had to work making sure we got leases paid to Afghan war lords,” he said. “I don’t have a fear of going up to someone with an R after their name rather than a D and saying ‘let’s work on something here.’”
He’s got some work to do to get to the negotiation table first. In the special election to represent NY-21, the clock doesn’t start until Stefanik steps down. When she does, the first step will be for the chairs of the 15 county committees that make up NY-21 to select a nominee. For both the Republicans and the Democrats, that’s done by a weighted vote based on the party registration numbers in each county.
OTHER CAMPAIGNS
There are a number of names in the running for the Democratic nomination – Paula Collins, the candidate in the general election this year, is running, and there are a handful of local elected leaders who are quietly considering a campaign as well.
There’s a similar effort on the Republican side – one candidate has gone public, Anthony Constantino of Montgomery County, a pro-Trump conservative who has worked to get as close as possible to Trump and earn the President-Elect’s support in his campaign. A handful of local elected officials and some business leaders in the district are also, quietly, considering a Republican campaign, but have not declared in part for deference to the sitting Congresswoman.
Whoever the candidates end up being, the race is likely to get a lot of attention. For an open seat, it’s anticipated that the state and federal party committees will get involved, and with the margin for control of the House left to just four seats, this race could prove decisive.
Holden said he is ready for a big, flashy, much-discussed race for Congress this time – his previous two runs, first as the Democrat nominee against Congresswoman Claudia L. Tenney, R-Cleveland in 2022 and his attempt to appear on this year’s ballot for NY-21 were both more quiet affairs without state or national attention or support.
“If it gets into something testy, something big or nasty, we’re prepared for it,” he said. “I’ve ran in races like that before.”