Trump-backed Anthony Constantino wins New York GOP primary for House seat

Anthony Constantino defeated Robert Smullen in New York’s 21st Congressional District, handing Donald Trump’s preferred candidate a clear win over the party-backed favorite in a race that exposed the Republican divide between institutional power and outsider branding. Constantino, the CEO of Sticker Mule, won the June 23 primary to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik in a seat that runs from the Canadian border to the northern Albany suburbs.

The contest had become a test of whether Republican voters would follow the state party and county committees or the president’s endorsement. Smullen, a New York state Assemblymember and retired Marine colonel, was backed by the New York State Republican Party, the New York Conservative Party and 12 of the district’s 15 county Republican committees. Constantino, by contrast, entered the race as a political newcomer with Trump’s backing, a profile that increasingly defines internal GOP fights far beyond upstate New York.

Early returns showed how decisive the margin was. NBC News had Constantino ahead 26,565 votes to 18,028, or 59.3% to 40.2%, with 94.5% of expected votes in. AP News and other outlets called the race as Constantino’s lead held. Smullen conceded after 10 p.m. on primary night, ending a bitter campaign that had already produced threats of legal action over campaign claims and a post-debate moment in which Smullen refused to shake Constantino’s hand.

The result puts a sharper spotlight on Republican recruitment after Trump. Party leaders leaned on Smullen, a traditional candidate with elected-office experience and broad institutional backing. Constantino relied on Trump’s political brand, a large “VOTE FOR TRUMP” sign he displayed atop his Amsterdam, New York, factory during the 2024 presidential race, and a campaign style built around personal loyalty rather than party hierarchy. In a deep-red district where the general election on November 3 is still expected to favor Republicans, the primary outcome matters less for the seat’s partisan lean than for the message it sends about who can now claim authority inside the GOP.

For establishment Republicans, the defeat raises a practical question about candidate selection, donor strategy and party discipline in the Trump era. Smullen had the machinery; Constantino had the endorsement that appears to matter most. That may shape who runs, who gets funded and who gets heard the next time a safe Republican seat opens in upstate New York or anywhere else Trump’s backing can still reorder the field.