{"id":2250,"date":"2026-06-12T10:03:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=2250"},"modified":"2026-06-12T10:03:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:03:50","slug":"can-the-man-behind-a-giant-pro-trump-sign-ride-the-presidents-praise-to-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=2250","title":{"rendered":"Can the man behind a giant pro-Trump sign ride the president\u2019s praise to Congress?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Republican political candidates routinely highlight their devotion to President Donald Trump. But in upstate New York, Anthony Constantino is taking it to another level.<\/p>\n

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Constantino, a political newcomer and candidate in the June 23 Republican primary to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik, boasts a giant \u201cVote for Trump\u201d sign atop his successful sticker business in the city of Amsterdam. He recorded a hip-hop album titled \u201cThank you President Trump.” He even gifted Trump a big bronze statue of Trump himself last year at his West Palm Beach golf course.<\/p>\n

Constantino’s antics have not earned him fans among local party officials, who overwhelmingly support his opponent, state Assembly Member Robert Smullen, in the 21st Congressional District race. But Constantino has won over one powerful Republican who still has the power to sway primaries: Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnthony is strongly supported by many of the most Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in our Movement, including Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone!\u201d Trump wrote in an endorsement of Constantino.<\/p>\n

The president added: \u201cThe sign is still there!\u201d<\/p>\n

Constantino’s battle against Smullen, a former U.S. Marine Corps colonel, is shaping up to be another test of Trump’s pull at the ballot box, pitting the brash MAGA disciple against a more traditional conservative in the solid-red district.<\/p>\n

Constantino has relentlessly attacked Smullen, calling him a \u201cTrump hater\u201d and giving him a derisive nickname out of the Trump playbook \u2014 \u201cSlimebob.\u201d He also doesn’t miss a chance to feud with the state’s Republican leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New York GOP is a failing establishment, it\u2019s a losing establishment,\u201d Constantino said in an interview. \u201cThey reject outsiders. This happened with Donald Trump. The Republican Party tried to keep Donald Trump out, as well, because they knew he was going to reform things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smullen has cast himself as the adult in the room, stressing his experience in the state Legislature, his military service, and his own ties to Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I directly represent the vast majority of the people in this district, their values, what they think about issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The district is ‘not your country club Republican party\u2019<\/p>\n

The largely rural district sprawls across most of New York\u2019s northern tip and includes the Adirondack Mountains, the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum, dairy farms and dozens of small cities, towns and villages.<\/p>\n

It’s solid GOP territory \u2014 Stefanik won her last race by 24 points \u2014 with registered Republicans outnumbering Democrats 215,000 to 134,000. Voters there skew older and white, with many prison guards, police officers, farmers and devoutly religious people, according to Jack McGuire, an associate professor of politics at the State University of New York at Potsdam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not your country club Republican party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stefanik shocked the New York political world when she announced late last year that she was suspending her campaign for governor and would not seek reelection to the House.<\/p>\n

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Her decision came after she didn’t get full-throated support from Trump in the governor’s race, and it followed an episode where Trump withdrew her nomination to be his ambassador to the United Nations over concerns about Republicans’ threadbare majority in the House.<\/p>\n

Local Republicans first began angling for the seat after she was tapped to head to the United Nations, only to begin circling again when she launched her run for governor.<\/p>\n

A clash of candidates and styles<\/p>\n

Smullen, who represents parts of the district in the state Assembly, is running a traditional campaign, chatting up voters at volunteer firehouses and community events.<\/p>\n

He highlights a 24-year military career that included three tours of Afghanistan and combat experience, along with his more than seven years in the state Legislature. His 2018 appointment by Trump to serve in the White House Fellows program, along with attending both of Trump’s inaugurations, was a go-to line when Constantino moved to cast himself as the Trump candidate during a recent debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that I have never been a supporter of President Donald Trump is a lie, it really is,\u201d Smullen said during the debate. \u201cAnd what’s happening here is that if you say it long enough and if you say it hard enough then it’s going to be true. But it’s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local GOP officials and committees are backing Smullen, as is the chair of the state Republicans. He also has the support of the state Conservative Party, which guarantees him a line in the general election even if he loses the GOP primary.<\/p>\n

Matt Capano, who owns a hardware store in Gloversville, a small city in the district, said he knew Smullen as his local state lawmaker and had to \u201cgive him a lot of credit\u201d because of his experience.<\/p>\n

Constantino \u2014 who found success with his company Sticker Mule \u2014 is more of a showman. His style has forced his buttoned-up opponent to let loose. Smullen’s campaign launched an anti-Constantino website that excoriates him for, among many other things, his past registration as a Democrat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the conservative Republican in this race,\u201d Smullen said at the debate.<\/p>\n

Constantino responded that he registered as a Democrat to vote for a childhood friend who was running for political office while calling himself a \u201clifelong conservative.”<\/p>\n

It didn’t take long for him to steer the conversation back toward the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve always had his back through the whole thing,\u201d he said of Trump. \u201cIn fact, in 2020, when he nicely exited the White House and a terrible person named Joe Biden entered, I went and I supported the president quietly by buying a Mar-a-Lago membership.”<\/p>\n

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GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Republican political candidates routinely highlight their devotion to President Donald Trump. 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