Anthony Constantino is running for the open seat in New York's 21st Congressional District, and he is doing it on two lines: the Republican line and Taxpayer Rights. Democrat Blake Gendebien is also in the race for the district, which covers a wide stretch of New York and is one of the few congressional contests where the ballot lineup itself is the story at the moment.
That matters now because the New York State Board of Elections showed 0% of election districts reporting, or 0 of 645, when the race was tracked. For voters in New York's 21st Congressional District, the only hard number on election night was the size of the district itself: 15 counties across the North Country and the Mohawk Valley. The seat is open in 2026, so the contest is not about unseating an incumbent but about filling a vacancy that leaves both parties reaching for the same voters.
Constantino's extra line gives the race a wrinkle that is easy to miss if you stop at party labels. He is the Republican candidate, but Taxpayer Rights places his name in a second lane on the ballot, a reminder that New York elections can give candidates more than one path onto the same voter’s ballot. That does not change the basic math of the contest, but it does change how his candidacy is presented to voters seeing his name for the first time.
The wider picture is still simple enough. Blake Gendebien and Constantino are the only named contenders in the reporting that was available, and the first count had not yet started to tell a winner's story. Absentee, affidavit and military ballots counted after election night are not included in the initial reporting, which means the number on the board is only the opening snapshot, not the final one.
What happens next is the part voters need to watch. As election districts keep reporting, the 0% figure will give way to the first county-by-county returns in a district that runs across 15 counties and spans two regions with very different political habits. Until those numbers arrive, the only clear takeaway is that Anthony Constantino has put himself on the ballot in more than one way, and the open NY-21 seat is still waiting for the count to speak.
