Beginning our series of interviews with all four candidates primarying for Elise Stefanik’s open seat, here are the details of a recent chat I had with Anthony Constantino, who faces off against fellow Republican Robert Smullen (see separate story) on June 23, edited for space and clarity:
Q: Why do you see the Republican primary as so important in this race?
Constantino: I think the primary is so important to what’s happening in this race. The winner of the primary is going to have a really good shot at winning the general election. So I think the real fight is now, and getting the word out about the primary is kind of the key thing.
Q: Are you planning to run on an independent line in the general election?
Constantino: Yeah, we are getting independent lines, and supposedly that helps in a general. I don’t know exactly what we’re going to call it — “Taxpayers Party” or “Taxpayers Rights Party.” I don’t know. They’re between the two. I like “Taxpayers,” but they said people like “Taxpayers Rights,” whatever, either one.
Q: Talk about your business background and how it relates to your candidacy.
Constantino: I mean, you brought up a good point. I built Sticker Mule in a place where people said you couldn’t build a tech company — a tech/manufacturing company. I did it in a place where people said manufacturing was not being done in America anymore, and they said tech companies were being done in California.
When I first started building Sticker Mule, everybody said, “You’ve got to go to California.” At a minimum, they said you need to go to a major hub, a major city. But we built a substantial tech company in a small town. I think I’m probably one of the only people to do that in America, or one of the few people that did that in America.
And I’m also one of the only people to be the sole owner of the business. Very few people have accomplished that, except for, I think, Donald Trump.
Similar to politics, I didn’t want any investors. I’ve seen — in politics they’re called donors, in business they’re called investors, right? Once people give you money, they want to say what you do.
I didn’t want that situation in business for two reasons, and it’s the same situation in politics. One, investors are a time waste. You have to go out and raise money — now you’re not running your business, you’re raising money. Secondly, listening to them is a time waste. Thirdly, I think investors do corrupt businesses because they focus the business solely on return for the investors, and not on the well-being of the employees and the well-being of the company.
As a sole owner, I had total freedom to focus on the well-being of my employees and the well-being of my customers. If you have investors, you have to focus on the well-being of the investors — they get very upset otherwise.
I think investors are a corrupting influence on business. I get why some companies have to do it, but I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want them to waste my time talking to them, I didn’t want their influence over me. And it’s the same in politics — donors are a massive time waste.
People don’t talk about that enough. Most politicians spend most of their time just raising money. They’re not even working on legislation. They’re not working — they’re raising money. And they use that money to pay their bills. People don’t realize that. They buy their lunches, their dinners, they pay for their parties with that money.
So it’s a major time waste, and there’s a corrupting influence. Now you’re not working for the people, you’re working for your donors. Just like in business.
I’m used to being free to do what I think is right, for better or worse. I’m not right all the time, but at least I’m free to do what I think is right. These other people don’t even have that freedom.
Q: You’re self-funding your campaign. How much are you investing?
Constantino: Entirely. I’m self-funding entirely. We spent about $2.6 million in the special election. I put $5 million in for the primary. So I’ve funded myself about $7.6 million total.
Q: What has your experience been with party organizations in this race?
Constantino: The Conservative Party doesn’t even have a primary — just one person. I call him a gluttonous loser, named Jerry Kassar. He lives in New York City and he just picks the candidates. There’s no input from anybody else. He picks the candidates.
He called me a week after I announced my interest in the seat and tried to kill me if I pursued the seat. You can hear the phone call — I released the phone call. He said there was nothing he couldn’t do to destroy me. I thought it was a very strange phone call.
[Constantino has previously alleged that Kassar threatened him in a recorded call, a characterization Kassar has disputed.]
That was never going to be an option. I’ve got to fight the same battle President Trump fought, which is draining the swamp. Trump talked about the national swamp, but there are local swamps — statewide swamps, township swamps.
There are mini swamps all over the place. I’m dealing with the statewide swamp with the Conservative Party, and a local swamp with the local establishment. These people all know each other.
Roger Stone said it well — these are social clubs. People think the Republican Party works on behalf of the people. It doesn’t. It doesn’t even work on behalf of the party. These are social clubs. These people are just hanging out with their friends on the weekends.
They’re raising money to have parties for each other. That’s what they’re doing. I’ve never had to do that — if I want to throw a party, I just throw a party. They don’t have money, so they raise money and they’re basically dinner clubs, supper clubs, social clubs. And they don’t even work.
Q: How do you plan to get voters out in a low-turnout primary?
Constantino: We’re going to do a major campaign, but the enthusiasm for me is through the roof. It’s been through the roof since the beginning, since I announced my interest in the seat during the special election.
I won every poll. I won the first poll by one point, then by two, then by nine, then by 12, then by 27 points. The enthusiasm is through the roof — every metric.
A really interesting metric is website traffic. I have dramatically more website traffic than the Democrat, who has more than my opponent. My Republican opponent has less traffic than the Democrat, which indicates to me he’s going to lose to the Democrat.
Another metric is Google search interest. People search for me five to 10 times more than my opponent. He has less search interest than the Democrat.
I’ve given out thousands of T-shirts. People want to wear my shirts. People are asking for signs like crazy. All the enthusiasm is with me.
Q: You engage a lot with voters and critics online. Is that intentional?
Constantino: There’s a big problem in politics — people are scared of feedback. They’re also scared to talk. I write all my own posts. I write my comments. I don’t have five people in the comments.
My opponent hasn’t written a single post. We don’t even know if he’s capable of reading and writing. He might not be a very good writer — there are people like that.
Q: Do you believe you would have a stronger relationship with Donald Trump than your opponent?
Constantino: That’s guaranteed. I’ve met the president a number of times. I get along with him. I get along with Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani — a good friend of his. I get along with his campaign manager, Chris LaCivita.
People in the president’s orbit seem to like me. I’ve been a member of Mar-a-Lago for a long time. I had dinner with his son. I get along very well with people in his orbit.
I think it’s very obvious the president would see my opponent is not his type of person. He’s a “never-Trumper.” He never endorsed the president.
Q: What is your message to Republican primary voters?
Constantino: The last poll asked if people wanted an outsider. About 75% said yes. That’s a major issue because people know the establishment is corrupt.
So when the establishment takes issue with me, they’re helping me. It’s an endorsement of me.
But you don’t just want an outsider — you want a highly talented outsider. You don’t want someone who’s never been in politics and just call them an outsider. You want someone who can self-fund, follow their conscience, and has a track record.
If you look at my track record in business, I’ve made life better for people — my employees, my customers, my community. Everywhere I touch, I take care of people. I take care of my friends, my family.
Outside of politics, I’ve done that consistently. I want to do that on a larger scale in Congress — for the district, for the state, even for the country.
I’m not getting into politics to hang out with politicians. That doesn’t excite me at all. I like the voters way more than I like politicians.
Q: How do you see the general election shaping up?
Constantino: I think I’m the strongest candidate. During the special election, polling showed I had the biggest lead over the Democrat of any candidate.
Even Democrats — there are reasonable Democrats — will vote for me because I’m honest. I tell them the truth. I support the president. I’m not going to lie about that.
There are probably 20% of Democrats who will respect that I’m a decent person and that I’ve consistently helped people on both sides of the aisle in my business and my community.
I think I’ll get more independent votes than anyone else, more Democratic votes than anyone else, and obviously Republican votes.
