State Sen. Peter Oberacker and Anthony Constantino won their party’s nomination for Congress in the Tuesday, June 23 Republican primary.
Constantino defeated Assembly member Robert Smullen. Democrat Blake Gendebien won his primary against Stuart Amoriell to face Constantino in the NY-21 congressional race in November.
Oberacker, who defeated Alex Portelli, will face first-term Democratic Rep. Josh Riley for the NY-19 congressional seat.
The NY-19 seat includes all of Chenango and Delaware counties, and most of Otsego County. NY-21 includes Schoharie County.
“Thank you to the voters who made tonight’s decisive victory possible,” Oberacker said in a Tuesday night Facebook statement. “This campaign has always been about giving Upstate New York a real voice in Washington and this is first major step toward flipping this seat in November.”
Oberacker won with 13,576 votes, or 74.16% of the vote, according to state Board of Elections unofficial results. Portelli, who has not held elected office before and overcame efforts to prevent him from making the ballot, received 3,864 votes, or 21.11%.
Portelli thanked supporters in a Tuesday Facebook statement and said that “considering this campaign had no money, no staff, almost no volunteers, no county committees backing it, and no major big name endorsements, we are still going to get thousands of votes. That in itself is a huge achievement.”
Oberacker was the favorite to win the race with the backing of party leaders including President Donald Trump. Republicans hoped to flip the congressional seat, which has traded hands between Democrats and Republicans in recent elections. The seat could make a meaningful difference for which party controls a House of Representatives with razor thin margins.
“Tonight was the first step in moving forward to victory in November, flipping NY-19, and sending common sense to Congress,” Oberacker said in the statement.
In NY-21, Republicans had less of a consensus. Constantino, who was endorsed also by President Trump, won with 26,493 votes, or 58.59%. Smullen, who was endorsed by New York Republican State Committee Chairperson Ed Cox, received 17,997 votes, or 39.80%.
Constantino thanked supporters for the “historic night” in a video posted online Tuesday night. “We won in a landslide,” he said. “More excitingly,” he said, he received more votes than the combined total of the NY-21 Democratic primary candidates. Constantino said he was looking forward to working with Trump to “make America great again forever.”
Smullen thanked supporters in a Wednesday Facebook post. “The fight for the values that make our district, our state, and our country strong will continue,” he said in the statement. “As a proud lifelong resident of Upstate New York, I will never stop fighting for the people, principles, and communities that make this region so special.”