Sam Dingman: Earlier this week we talked about how the question of what Hochul will do with the power she'll have as a governor with strong majorities in the state's legislature is kind of a microcosm of the question of what national Democrats will do with their newfound power. And yesterday, on the Republican end of the spectrum, we saw a post-gubernatorial race spat between Bruce Blakeman, who lost the governor's race to Hochul, and Elise Stefanik, the current Republican congressional representative for New York's 21st district, who briefly entertained hopes of running for governor herself. Speaking to the New York Post about Republican losses in the midterms, Stefanik said it was a "political reckoning," and called out Blakeman's campaign specifically as "a low energy campaign with limited resources that lacked an apparatus.” Blakeman later fired back on social media, writing, "Elise Stefanik is a selfish, do-nothing politician that didn't lift a finger to help Republican candidates in New York this year. She had one moment of glory in what was otherwise an unremarkable career." Stefanik then responded, "I know feelings are raw in the aftermath of Tuesday's result, so I will cut some slack, because while I don't know from experience, as I have never lost any of my seven elections, I imagine it might take time to process." Zing! Lucas let's bring in Aaron Shellow-Lavine for this conversation - Aaron, welcome back!
Lucas Willard: Aaron. So I just want to note that during election night, Elise Stefanik was actually appearing on CBS News on a panel of other electeds and former electeds, I believe she was sitting next to Joe Manchin. So certain certainly she had her eyes on this election cycle. But what seemed to kick off what later turned into quite the shouting match.
Aaron Shellow-Lavine: So we're sort of talking a little bit about the New York 21st. I know you guys have already discussed the race. We talked about NY-21 which I think is is very much tied into what we saw between Stefanik and Blakeman. I would argue almost was the kernel for sort of opening the gates online for this kind of not so nice rhetoric. We can frame it. Gendebien finally conceded today, you know, with a two point lead to Constantino by 11 o'clock. When Constantino had taken stage. He got up. He gave his now viral acceptance speech, calling media a-holes. Other words we are not allowed to use on air. Then later that night, you know, we'll say in the 3 a.m. ish range, Constantino took to the platform formerly known as Twitter to sort of send off a storm of messages, which we've got a couple just to read through. I think they're important to just set the groundworks of Ed Cox.
Willard: Right, that's the chair of the New York State Republican party.
Shellow-Lavine: He said Ed Cox "is dumb as rocks." Liz Joy—
Willard: Who's the chair of the Schenectady County GOP, and is also a former congressional candidate herself.
Shellow-Lavine: Liz Joy "is evil and must resign immediately. Assemblyman Matt Simpson, who is of the 114th district, who did win, by the way, but who, like a lot of other upstate New York Republican officials, did not stand behind Constantino during the primary campaign, "is a sloppy, racist loser and weak RINO." Jim Tedisco, state senator of the 44th state senate district, who never endorsed Constantino. He said of Tedisco, "He is a racist a-hole who refused to endorse me. He lost because he is racist and stupid."
He goes on and on, and then talking about the 13, you know, Republican county chairs from the 13 counties within NY 21 who never endorsed him. He said they are objectively a group of scammers. Continuing, continuing, you know, tying it back to even Bruce Blakeman was in on the con. He just wandered around like a headless chicken, then insisting again that Ed Cox be fired or replaced. Bruce Blakeman didn't ask me for anything other than a free dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
Dingman: Okay, so lots more real winners from Constantino there. But Blakeman and Constantino did appear on stage together not that long ago for a rally that President Trump attended in Syracuse. What else was said?
Shellow-Lavine: So, Blakeman seemingly responding to those tweets from Constantino said, "Constantino was by far the worst candidate I ever encountered. I ran way ahead of him in his district, and if it weren't for me, he wouldn't have won. See you in two years." Just a brief aside: Constantino won the district by two points. It's a district that. At least Stefanik carried by 24 points in the 2024 election. So I mean, we are. This is a district that barely eked by giving Constantino the win, and that's sort of seemingly what Blakeman is really trying to dig into.
Willard: And the numbers did look very good for Blakeman in those upstate New York counties.
Shellow-Lavine: Blakeman then, you know, turned his sights to outgoing Stefanik, who we've already read that message of really just digging into Elise Stefanik as this longtime North Country representative who is very successful when she runs in that district. So, then Stefanik again chimed in with a little bit more of the message that Sam ran at the top; "The reality is, with time, we will need everyone to be part of the solution, including local county level officials, because we so desperately need it in our state and country."
Dingman: So, Aaron, at the top of this segment, I mentioned this idea that the potential challenges Kathy Hochul faces were a bit of a microcosm for the national picture for Democrats. Do you see this very messy spat between all of these Republicans as a bit of a microcosm for the picture for national Republicans? Is that a fair comparison?
Shellow-Lavine: I think absolutely. I think Constantino in particular. I joked with people that I was seemingly at the only you know victory party for a Republican congressional candidate in the Northeast on election night and reporting in and and you know enjoying my time being able to do that. But certainly Constantino's win, and we talked about this. You know JD Vance's visit on Monday seemingly could have been a. We really need to get people out to vote. But then, if he won, could have been a C. We told you he was our man. And so I think there's a there's a timeline before us where the National Republican Party can put forward candidates like Constantino and say the folks who are still very pro Trump are technically still winning. He still won the district, and maybe not focusing so much on the fact that it was by such a slim margin.
Dingman: Right, it counters a little bit the MAGA is dead narrative.
Willard: And it also remains to be seen how the Republican establishment will treat Anthony Constantino when he does go to Congress. Right.
Shellow-Lavine: I mean, he's entering a Congress that is very much controlled by Democrats. It is yet to be seen how interested he is in working across the aisles. I mean, we know how he is approaching at least local media. It will be very interesting to see how he reacts to getting pushback from some of the larger players in D.C. at least from the media scene. But certainly, how you know how he interacts with some of the even more outspoken progressive candidates that just won, you know, with him on Tuesday. It's going to be a very interesting freshman class in Congress.