Anthony Constantino, founder and CEO of custom printing company Sticker Mule, is self-funding his campaign for New York's 21st Congressional District after clinching the Republican nomination to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik, the New York Post reported.
Primary win
Constantino, based in Amsterdam, New York, defeated state Assemblyman Robert Smullen in the June 23 Republican primary, earning nearly 60 percent of the vote, according to WXXI News and WAMC. The win came with Donald Trump's endorsement, even as the New York State Republican Committee had backed Smullen. AP called the race for Constantino, marking a win for Trump-backed candidates in the primary.
Smullen will still appear on the November ballot on the Conservative Party line, though he has not confirmed whether he will actively campaign, WAMC reported. Constantino will face Democrat Blake Gendebien, a Lisbon dairy farmer, in the general election for the seat Stefanik has held for more than a decade, per WXXI News.
Stefanik, who is running for New York governor and had stayed neutral in the primary, congratulated Constantino on social media platform X after his win, WAMC reported.
Self-funding the campaign
Constantino told the New York Post he is self-financing his entire multimillion-dollar campaign. "I want to be self-funding to be an independent-minded person, able to do everything that's right," he told the outlet, adding that the approach lets him focus on issues such as reshoring American manufacturing.
Separately, Constantino had told the Rome Sentinel in November that he had already put $5 million of his own money into his campaign account when he launched his bid, and said he would spend whatever it took to win.
Losses after backing Trump
Constantino told the New York Post that an internal audit showed Sticker Mule lost as much as $50 million in revenue after he publicly endorsed Trump in 2024, and that the company lost roughly 250,000 customers along with a hit to its advertising and search performance.
According to his account to the outlet, the backlash traces back to 2016, when he bought MAGA-themed Christmas ornaments for his mother's elderly neighbors in Florida. The purchase was classified as a campaign donation and publicized by a left-wing influencer, which he said triggered mass criticism of the company, including thousands of hostile emails.
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Constantino told the New York Post that the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump prompted him to send an email endorsing the former president to his company's mailing list. "Donald Trump got shot. And at that point, I just said, like, 'All right, you know, enough's enough,'" he said, adding that he no longer wanted to hide his support for Trump.
Manufacturing focus
Constantino, who grew up in a Rust Belt manufacturing town, told the New York Post that Sticker Mule, which makes stickers, labels, packaging and apparel from its New York facilities, was built partly as a response to the decline of domestic manufacturing. He said the company demonstrates that quality goods can be produced locally and shipped quickly, in contrast to sourcing from China on cost grounds.
He also told the outlet that automation at his company had not come at the expense of jobs. "I'm constantly automating. But my growth was so good that I could automate and grow employment and raise wages at the same time," he said.
