He Won. Then He Opened His Mouth. Will Anyone Work With Him?

At 11 p.m. on election night, Anthony Constantino bounded onto a stage at Sticker Mule's Amsterdam headquarters to the theme from "Rocky," wearing a jean jacket airbrushed with a deer. He had just won a seat in Congress. What followed ran about 30 minutes.

He called the reporters in front of him "scumbags" and "f---ing a--holes." He told the people who voted for his opponent they had made a mistake. He pointed at a Watertown TV reporter and led the crowd in a chant of "Kick him out" until security walked the reporter out. He closed by saying President Trump should "consider freeing Diddy."

Two nights later, Jordan Klepper and Jimmy Kimmel were playing the clips for national audiences. On Nov. 6, the Watertown Daily Times ran an unsigned opinion piece calling it a national embarrassment for the North Country.

The jokes are the easy part of this story. They'll fade by next week. The harder questions are local: who the speech actually spoke for, what the vote count says about that, and what it means for a region that relies on its member of Congress for Fort Drum, farms and federal help.

A speech aired live, then everywhere

WWNY carried about 15 minutes of it live to open its 11 p.m. news, the station reported. So many North Country viewers saw it the way the rest of the country later did: unedited, on television, with at least one child in the audience.

He told the room that dishonest coverage cost him a far bigger win. "How would you like to spend $17 million, because you guys are a bunch of lying a--holes?" he said, according to WAMC. His advisers had warned him the margin would be two or three points, he said. He had wanted 20 or 30.

There was more. A rapper who goes by Greatness performed. Constantino announced a $1,000 bonus for Sticker Mule employees and asked every big company in America to do the same. He addressed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani directly, telling him the North won the last battle between North and South.

By 3:15 the next morning he had moved to X, calling state GOP chairman Ed Cox "dumb as rocks" and declaring the Republican chairs in NY-21 "a group of scammers."

How the country heard it

On "The Daily Show," Klepper ran through the resume: sticker company CEO, retired fighter, rapper. Then he delivered the line that traveled: not your grandpa's Republican, but your "cousin-who-can't-see-his-kids-anymore" Republican. When a clip showed Constantino saying he isn't a politician, Klepper said you could tell by how many people he'd called a-holes in his victory speech. The camera then found a little girl standing in the front row.

Kimmel took a shorter swing. He reminded viewers that this was the victory speech, then joked that Trump may have found his next press secretary.

Elsewhere the reaction split along familiar lines. Mother Jones and Talking Points Memo framed it as a meltdown. Fox News ran the video under a plain description of a profanity-laced speech. Townhall wrote a meet-the-congressman profile, and The Gateway Pundit called the ejection of the reporter "EPIC." WWNY's account of the ejection was carried on a sister station in South Dakota.

That split matters. For Constantino's fans, a congressman who curses at reporters isn't a bug. It's the appeal. His campaign did not respond when asked about the late-night segments, but he has been clear about his view. "It's a new day in America," he told the crowd as he joked about his stressed-out consultants.

The reporter from Watertown

The national clips made the ejection look like a sideshow. In the North Country, it's the part that lands closest to home.

Garrett Domblewski of WWNY had done what the station calls a cordial interview with Constantino earlier that night, and the campaign had invited the station by email. Then, mid-speech, Constantino singled him out. Five or six security guards led him out while the crowd chanted. WWNY says Constantino's security also pushed its camera sideways while it was recording. We found no other outlet reporting that detail.

Constantino tells it differently. Three days later he posted video of Domblewski standing with his arms folded and said the reporter had been giving him a "death stare." He wrote that he "correctly acted to keep the event safe." He also repeated a long-running complaint that the station deleted two of his interviews and published a false transcript.

WWNY says that's false. The station says it "categorically denies these claims" and laid out its version: raw video is deleted as routine practice, it re-interviewed him as a make-good, and one interview he wanted posted had poor audio. Constantino also says the station's claim that its photographer was thrown out is a lie. WWNY says security helped its cameraman take his gear out during the speech.

Not everyone took it as hard. City & State reporter Kate Lisa, whom he called the same name from the stage, laughed it off on WAMC, calling it his tactic. But as Times Union columnist Chris Churchill noted, these weren't network stars. They were mostly young reporters working small North Country markets, the people who will cover this congressman's next two years.

What the local Republicans actually said

The sharpest local reaction didn't come from Democrats. Jefferson County GOP chairman Don Coon told WWNY the name-calling was "silly" and that Constantino should talk to people the way he talks to his customers. Lewis County chairman Mike Young, who had hosted Constantino at a dinner the week before, could only say he didn't know what to say.

Neither man broke with the voters. Young said his party respects what voters decide in a primary. Coon said he wasn't especially offended by the posts about the chairs. But City & State reported that local party leaders are worried about the consequences of the Republican divide his narrow win exposed.

The number under the joke

Here's what the late-night clips left out: the speech couldn't have cost him a single vote. The polls had closed. Whatever voters thought of Constantino, they'd already said it.

They said it in an unusual way. Stefanik won this district by 24 points in 2024, and Trump carried it by 20. Constantino finished about two points ahead. He took 50.9% in AP's count. When blank ballots are included, the Watertown Daily Times puts him just under half, at 49.84%.

Some of that was the national tide, not him. Democrats won the House and Senate in a rout, and New York Republicans lost at least 12 legislative seats. But Blakeman, who lost statewide with about 40%, drew at least 27,000 more votes in NY-21 than Constantino did. More than 5,800 ballots were left blank in this race. Those voters turned out and skipped it. NCPR's analysis found that some voters clearly backed Blakeman but not Constantino.

In other words, the region was already sending a mixed signal before he ever reached the stage. Then his speech blamed the press for it.

He has real supporters, and they have reasons

None of this means the voters who chose him were fooled. In June, Republicans gave him about 59% against Smullen even though the state party, the Conservative Party and most county committees backed Smullen. President Trump endorsed him. His persona was never hidden.

People in the crowd told the Times Union about what Sticker Mule has meant in Amsterdam, and about a local guy creating jobs with the nerve to stand up to people. One registered Democrat from Argyle told WAMC that Constantino was simply the better candidate.

He has also made promises that have nothing to do with the stage show: better cell service across the North Country and an overhaul of government websites. And he says he intends to finish the missile defense system at Fort Drum that Stefanik pushed for. Those are campaign pledges, and voters can hold him to them.

So what does it cost the North Country?

Honestly, nobody can put a number on it yet. We found no evidence so far that a late-night joke has cost a business a customer, a tourist a trip or Fort Drum a dollar. Anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing.

What can be measured is the job he's walking into, starting with Fort Drum. Stefanik describes herself as the chief advocate for Fort Drum on the House Armed Services Committee, a seat that matters enormously to the 10th Mountain Division's neighbors. No committee assignment for Constantino has been reported.

Will anyone work with him?

He can say whatever he wants. He can't pass anything alone. A bill needs co-sponsors, committee votes and a leader willing to bring it up. Democrats will run both chambers in January, and CNN projects them above 250 House seats. He arrives as a freshman in the minority, with no gavel.

Stefanik didn't have that problem at the end. She finished with 12 years in Congress, Republicans running the House and Senate, and a seat in House GOP leadership. Her office could point to wins for NY-21 in the annual defense bill. Constantino starts with no majority, no seniority and a public fight with his own state party.

He's also unproven. Constantino is a political outsider who has never held elected office. What he had was $17 million of his own money, by his own count, and he won by about two points. That kind of money can buy ads. It can't buy a co-sponsor.

And he isn't Trump. The president's combative style comes with a national following that has stayed with him. Constantino borrowed the style without the cushion. Trump carried this district by 20 points in 2024. Constantino won it by about two, and ran at least 27,000 votes behind Blakeman on the same ballots.

His answer is that results will settle it. "I'm a very difficult boss," he told City & State, "but I get results for people." He has also told NCPR he's willing to work across the aisle. In Congress, those results run through the people he'd have to call first, and that list now includes some he spent his first week as congressman-elect insulting.

What happens after the laugh track

Gendebien's concession took the opposite tone. He said he respects the choice voters made and hopes Constantino will put the North Country first. As of Nov. 10, we found no apology from Constantino since election night. His posts continued into Nov. 6, including a remark about a female reporter's looks. ClickNNY sent Constantino's campaign written questions about this report on Nov. 7 and asked for a reply by Nov. 9. The campaign did not respond.

The Watertown Daily Times piece ended by hoping he learns from this. "We deserve better," it said. Some of his voters would say they got exactly what they wanted: a fighter who won't be pushed around.

Both groups will get the same test. He'll be sworn in this January, and the people who will decide whether NY-21 is a punchline aren't in Klepper's writers' room. They're in Gouverneur and Lowville, on Fort Drum, and in the towns that will need a phone call answered.

Questions readers are asking

Who won the NY-21 race?

Republican Anthony Constantino, the Sticker Mule CEO, beat Democrat Blake Gendebien by about 5,700 votes. The Associated Press called the race on Nov. 6, and Gendebien conceded the same day. Results are unofficial until certified.

Is Watertown in NY-21?

No. The city of Watertown and most of Jefferson County are in NY-24, represented by Claudia Tenney. In Jefferson County, only the towns of Antwerp, Le Ray, Philadelphia and Wilna vote in NY-21. All of Lewis and St. Lawrence counties are in the district.

Why was a reporter removed from the election-night party?

Constantino ordered WWNY reporter Garrett Domblewski out during his speech, saying he looked angry and was staring him down. Domblewski said he didn't know why he was singled out. Constantino says he acted to keep the event safe and accuses the station of deleting interviews. WWNY denies that.

Which late-night shows mocked the speech?

"The Daily Show," with host Jordan Klepper, and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" both aired clips on Thursday, Nov. 5.

Did the speech affect the election?

No. He gave it after the polls closed. His narrow margin came before the speech, and Republican Bruce Blakeman drew at least 27,000 more votes than he did in the district, according to a Watertown Daily Times analysis.

When does Constantino take office?

He's due to be sworn in with the new Congress in January 2027, replacing Rep. Elise Stefanik, who did not seek reelection.