This weekend, New York’s 21st House district received a visit from two Democrats who are seeking to flip control of Congress in the 2026 midterms.
Representative Paul Tonko, from the Capital Region’s neighboring 20th district, rallied a Plattsburgh crowd Sunday, introducing a high-profile colleague.
“My friend, Alex Ocasio-Cortez!”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become a leader of the left. Her three-letter acronymic nickname is recognizable to supporters and critics across the country.
The progressive star who became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in 2018 took the distinction from the 21st district’s own Elise Stefanik, now a member of House Republican leadership.
Between criticism of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill signed into law earlier this month, AOC told the friendly town hall audience at the Strand Theater that the sprawling North Country district is once again in play in 2026.
“But we saw everything that was going on, and because of your organizing, and because of all your conversations with your neighbors, you all took an R +10 seat into a tossup,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
Stefanik, a once-moderate-turned-Trump-loyalist, has easily won each of her six bids for Congress. Once named by the president to become ambassador to the United Nations – only to have her nomination pulled to help bolster the narrow GOP House majority – Stefanik is mulling a run for New York governor.
With a potential open seat in the upcoming midterms, Ocasio-Cortez encouraged the enthusiastic crowd to seek office at every level of public service.
“Every single Republican at every level of government in the state of New York must be challenged point-blank, period,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
For the event that resembled a campaign rally, North Country residents Casey and Tom McGlynchey came to see the liberal firebrand from the 14th district.
“I don’t like what’s going on in the country right now. A lot of messed up things. I believe AOC has the right idea to move this country forward,” said Casey McGlynchey.
Tom McGlynchey said Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democratic-Socialist in the U.S. Senate, Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, are standing up to a tumultuous administration.
“I could go on and on. I could go on for three hours. Chaos. Nothing but chaos in country. That’s why I like AOC and Bernie. What have they done? They’ve been the resistance to that crap, that’s what they’ve done,” said Tom McGlynchey.
Not all who attended the event were AOC and Tonko supporters. Mark Gendron describes himself as a former “Bernie Bro” who “saw the light” and now supports Trump.
“Trump’s the man. He’s a business man,” said Gendron. “Biden put us back 40 years.”
In a district that shares a border with Canada, border security remains a top concern for Gendron, who thinks President Trump has what it takes to stop violent people from entering the country.
“We gotta protect our borders. We just had four Iranians coming through Mooers, New York. I mean, one [CBP officer] in Vermont in January was shot by German nationalists, they had expired visas. I mean, the southern border, now the northern border? This has got to stop,” said Gendron.
Five Iranian nationals and two Uzbeks arrested in Mooers Forks on July 1st are accused of entering the U.S. illegally.
In Vermont, Border Patrol Officer David Maland was allegedly killed by Teresa Youngblut, a U.S. citizen from Washington state, during a January 20th shootout. Felix Backhault, a German national, died after police say he attempted to draw a weapon during the incident in Coventry. Youngblut and Backhault belonged to a cult-like group known as the Zizians.
Tonko and Ocasio-Cortez are not the only out-of-district Democrats to rally supporters in NY-21. In April, Vermont Senator Peter Welch joined Tonko for a rally in Plattsburgh in support of Medicaid.
For her part, Stefanik released a statement calling the Sunday event a “political gift.”
The statement reads in part, “AOC is the leader of radical policies like the Green New Scam, abolishing ICE, Defunding the Police, and gun bans. North Country Republicans, Independents, and Democrats reject these insane policies.”
