In a pastel plaid shirt, blue jeans, and clean boots, Blake Gendebien looked the part of the farmer, all cleaned up after a hard day’s work, as he made his way onto the stage at a "Meet the Candidates" event at the Old Waddington Town Hall in St. Lawrence County last month.
"Today, Kyler and I planted about a hundred acres of corn," he told the crowd, referring to one of his campaign aides. "While we planted corn, he was in the instructor’s seat giving me names to call and people to keep in touch with because it’s really important to multi-task, right?"
A homegrown North Country candidate
Gendebien was no stranger at the event. He hugged many of the approximately 80 people in the crowd.
St. Lawrence County is Gendebien’s home turf. He was born and raised in Lisbon and returned to the area a few years after college. He and his wife, Carmen, raised their three sons on a dairy farm that’s grown to 500 cows and 1,200 acres.
The couple also co-founded the Jules of Life Foundation, which helps local families of children with cancer. Gendebien has served as president of the Lisbon school board and vice chair of the board of Agri-Mark, the largest dairy cooperative in the Northeast.
"It’s these experiences that have shown me just how awesome the North Country is, but it also showed me how Washington has completely forgotten us," he said.
That phrase—"Washington has completely forgotten us"—is a refrain Gendebien has repeated throughout his nearly 18-month campaign for New York’s 21st Congressional District.
Back in December 2024, Gendebien threw his hat in the ring for an anticipated special election to replace North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik after President Donald Trump nominated her as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The district’s 15 county party chairs unanimously voted Gendebien their presumptive nominee. Trump ultimately pulled Stefanik’s nomination and the special election never happened.
But Gendebien stayed on the campaign trail. Now, in order to secure the Democratic line on the November ballot, he needs to defeat Lake Placid businessman Stuart Amoriell in the June 23 primary.
Gendebien is viewed as the frontrunner in the Democratic primary. He’s raised almost $4.7 million, more than 40 times what Amoriell has reported.
Gendebien has also had plenty of time to build name recognition and home in on his priorities: lowering costs, fighting dysfunction in D.C., and saving rural health care.
"Right now our rural hospitals are tied to the railroad tracks and the Medicaid cuts are coming in November, they’re barreling towards them," he said in an interview. "I want to be part of the solution that helps untie our hospitals and make them successful again."
Gendebien said he also wants to fix what he describes as a “broken immigration system.” For him, that’s about securing the border and deporting people in the country illegally with due process, but also the creation of a year-round guest worker program for agriculture.
Gendebien said that’ll help cut costs at farms and food processing facilities.
"And when we do that, we can drive down costs at the grocery store for everyone," he said. "And when we show that it works for agriculture, we can show that it works for health care as well."
Support from the Democratic establishment
Gendebien’s stances on immigration and health care resonate with Bob Ladouceur of Canton, who was at the event in Waddington. He said they reflect the community in NY-21.
"Not just as people that grew up in this area, but the people that come here from different parts of the country, from different parts of the world," he said. "We all need to learn to live together and to be very productive members of society and I think that Blake supports that."
Gendebien’s approach has also caught the eye of congressional Democrats. He’s part of a joint fundraising effort with Jamie Raskin of Maryland and touts endorsements from members of New York’s delegation.
State Democrats have added Gendebien’s campaign to a coordinated effort to expand their numbers in the midterms. At the Democratic Rural Conference in Saratoga Springs last month, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York talked up Gendebien and said he understands rural America.
"He is going to be phenomenal—and he is going to win," she said. "You heard it from me first: he is going to win New York 21."
Can his campaign appeal to progressives and conservatives?
Gendebien’s campaign coincides with something of an identity crisis for Democrats in the US, with moderates and progressives fighting over which direction their party should go.
Gendebien has described himself in the past as a very conservative, blue dog Democrat who’s a “pragmatic, moderate reflection” of the district. He’s the kind of candidate NY-21 Democrats have been comfortable running, like former Congressman Bill Owens or Matt Castelli, who ran as a moderate four years ago.
But Castelli still lost to incumbent Congresswoman Elise Stefanik by 18 points. Even though the district is now solidly red, Sean Myers of Potsdam wondered if North Country Democrats should try something different.
"The establishment Democrats keep running centrists, and we keep losing. Maybe a change—or something."
Myers said he plans to vote for Amoriell, who has voiced support for more progressive positions like universal health care, in this month's primary.
For his part, Gendebien insisted that progressives in his party are important to him and that he wants to hear feedback from folks across the political spectrum. He said he believes his candidacy can transcend party lines, reaching Republicans and Trump supporters.
"When my neighbor’s barn burns, I don’t ask them their party affiliation before I take their cows, house them at my place, feed them at my place, and milk them at my place to take care of them before they have a new barn," he said.
"People are tired of partisan games, partisan bickering," Gendebien added. "They want somebody who’s going to get to work for them and they know that I am the candidate and I am the person that can deliver for everyone on both sides of the aisle."
Gendebien has secured the independent Lower Costs Now party line, which he said is part of his philosophy of supporting everyone in the North Country regardless of party.
That means he could remain on the ballot in November even if he loses the Democratic primary. But he said he’ll support whoever wins that nomination.
The NY-21 Democratic primary debate will premiere on the CBS6 Albany YouTube page Thursday evening.
Editor's note: NCPR's Catherine Wheeler and the New York Public News Network's Jimmy Vielkind contributed reporting for this story.