Sticker Mule’s factory floor is busy fulfilling orders. Workers bounce between machines pumping out sheets of custom stickers.
It’s all part of the Amsterdam business that Anthony Constantino founded in 2010 — it’s now an international company that employs over 1,000 people across the globe.
But now Constantino is pursuing a new venture – he’s running as the only Republican candidate for NY-21 to receive President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The Republican primary in New York's 21st Congressional District is shaping up to reflect the tension within the party — Constantino, a political outsider, is facing establishment State Assemblyman Robert Smullen.
While the candidates continue to trade barbs, the political upstart is doing everything in his power to shape himself in the president's image.
If you peek out the first-floor window, you can see the massive “Vote for Trump” sign that set the stage for his eventual congressional candidacy.
“Politically, I didn’t expect to be running for office. I just wanted to fight for the president. And then people asked me to run, I talked to a guy named Roger Stone about it, he encouraged me to do it. This was during the special election. And it’s been going well ever since; I’ve won every poll,” said Constantino.
Previously a private man, Constantino has based most of his public-facing image — that of a rowdy, outsider politician — on Trump.
He’s hitched his campaign to his alignment with the president.
“I was raised by people from President Trump’s generation, so maybe that’s why there’s some similarities there too. But, I think what the president did, in terms of showing his full personality, was very important because we have a problem in politics where people like to be fake, and they want to present that—you have to be perfect to be successful. I want people to learn; I think the president wanted to show people too, you can have fun, you can joke. You don’t have to be this perfect person to be successful and to be effective. The No. 1 thing I want people to evaluate me on is whether I’m effective and whether I get things done for them,” said Constantino.
Just as Sticker Mule’s success came from riding the rising tide of internet-accessible companies, Constantino has utilized online virality to catapult his campaign.
The massive “Vote for Trump” sign he built atop one of his Amsterdam factories in October 2024 overlooking I-90 gained national attention.
Constantino then sent out an email to Sticker Mule customers, urging them to support Trump in the 2024 election, a move he says lost the company plenty of revenue.
But it all preceded Trump endorsing Constantino in April.
Constantino’s policies largely align with the president. He wants to eliminate what Republicans call illegal immigration and has said he’d prioritize making living in the North Country more affordable.
One of his more unique policy priorities seems to be centered on improving the region’s access to the internet.
“The big one is the cell service and internet access for me. As a technologist, as a business person, it is very frustrating that the phones and the cell services isn't working. We actually just signed a deal with the distributor for Starlink, so we're looking at doing a site study with Starlink to see what it would take to bring Starlink here — what it would take in terms of cost. I might personally do a private pilot. We'll see what's going to happen, and then we'll have the numbers when I enter Congress to say this is what it would cost to bring Starlink to the North Country,” said Constantino.
When speaking at campaign events and debates, Constantino has adopted some Trump mannerisms and the president’s signature hand gestures. As a result, some of his supporters give him MAGA-like enthusiasm.
Amsterdam native Robert Perretta was dressed in full Constantino swag while leaving a campaign event in May. He said he had been supporting the campaign prior to Trump’s endorsement and that Constantino’s business has been a boon for the city’s local economy.
“I wish him all the luck in the world, but he’s going to have his hands full. I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Just his views and what he did for Amsterdam. Amsterdam needed some help, I don’t know what this mayor thinks here,” said Perretta.
Recent elections across the country, like May’s Republican primary for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District seat, seem to suggest Constantino’s out-and-out commitment to the president may be the right strategy in New York’s primary.
But Constantino says he’s not just ingratiating himself to the president for the sake of picking up votes.
“You want somebody that enters Congress [as] a friend of the president [and] a friend of the leadership to be able to get things done," Constantino said. "I'm the only one who can say that in this district right now.
"And I think, I'm going to be great friends with the president. I became great friends with Rudy Giuliani, who I hope recovers quickly, and I'm excited to serve."
