To Fill Stefanik’s Seat, Democrats Tap Farmer Who Hires Migrants Because Citizens Have ‘Domestic Abuse Problems, Alcohol Problems’

 The choice comes as Hochul weighs delaying the election.

As Congresswoman Elise Stefanik prepares to sail through Senate confirmation to be America’s next ambassador at the United Nations, Governor Hochul is reportedly prepared to delay the special election to fill the seat in Ms. Stefanik’s deep-red, upstate New York district, which could hinder President Trump’s agenda in the House.

While Ms. Hochul weighs delaying the race, Democrats have tapped as their nominee a farmer who once complained that native-born farm employees had too many domestic violence and alcohol problems to be able to do their jobs compared to migrants, and that ‘local kids’ don’t have ‘a practical independence’ or ‘ability to think.’

Democrats are reportedly preparing their unprecedented special election delay, which would be a stark contrast from Ms. Hochul’s past actions to quickly fill blue seats in Congress. Consider the special election less than one year ago for New York’s third district, which was vacated by Congressman George Santos after he was expelled from Congress on December 1, 2023. Just four days later, Ms. Hochul proclaimed that a special election for the seat would be held on February 13, 2024 — 74 days after it was left empty. 

Current state law dictates that governors must schedule congressional special elections for between 70 and 80 days from when the vacancy occurs. Democrats in the state legislature are considering changing that to delay the special election, according to the Capitol Press Room. 

If introduced and adopted, the reported legislation would push the New York 21st district special election back to June 24 — which is 139 days from now. New York Republicans in Congress have already sent a letter to the governor demanding that she abide by current law and schedule the special election as soon as the seat becomes vacant. 

Even as Democrats weigh the option to delay, they have settled on their candidate for the 21st district — a dairy farmer from Lisbon, New York, named Blake Gendebien. Mr. Gendebien has pitched himself as an advocate for local farmers and better education, though new comments resurfaced from a 2013 interview highlight his opinions of the upstate New York workforce.

In the interview, conducted by Hannah Harvester of the Occupational Folklife Project, Mr. Gendebien said he could not hire many upstate New Yorkers because they didn’t work hard as their migrant counterparts, as those native-born Americans in the region had too many domestic violence charges or were too dependent on alcohol, leading them to skip work because of court dates or because they were too hungover. He also says there are too many native-born potential employees who have children out of wedlock to be responsible at work. 

“It’s hard to find one local person that does not have domestic abuse problems, alcohol problems, wage garnishments. So when you hire these local guys, all of a sudden you’re bombarded with with social program stuff,” Mr. Gendebien says in the interview. 

He then refers to a hypothetical would-be American employee named “Brian” to highlight problems with his fellow New Yorkers. 

“So, court will call you: ‘Is Brian showing up to work? What is Brian making? He has a child with this girl, he has a child with this girl. He has a court date. He needs to appear on this day,’” Mr. Gendebien says in this hypothetical scenario. “So, you have all these plans and these guys need to leave for court all the time because there are custody battles and child support battles and they want you, to like, and say [they] don’t make this much, and, it’s just awful. And they show up late, they show up — they drank too much. There is just no labor force out there.”

At another point in the discussion, Mr. Genedebien claims that the “local kids” have no “practical independence” or “ability to think.” He says he and his father speak Spanish to deal with the more practical workforce. 

“Here, I speak Spanish … dad speaks Spanish so we can explain things to do, and they’re very capable, incredibly capable, incredibly practical knowledge … A thing that local kids around here don’t have,” Mr. Gendebien says. “They don’t have a practical independence and ability to think and a knowledge like [migrant employees] do.”

“It’s too bad these other farms aren’t getting that out of them, mainly because of the language barrier,” he further lamented. 

In another defense of his migrant employees, Me. Gendebien told the story of a man named “Carlos” who was randomly picked up by a border patrol agent searching for non-citizen workers. Mr. Gendebien says in the interview that young, “gung-ho” immigration agents from the southwestern part of the United States will “profile by skin color.” The Democratic nominee also later said he paid $10,000 to bail Carlos out of the local jail for the weekend because he had to get to New York City for a ten-year wedding anniversary celebration with his wife. 

In another clip from the interview, Ms. Gendebien says the local corrections officers don’t find “self-worth” in their day jobs, so they will take vacation days to come work at his farm to find that kind of meaning. 

The chairman of the New York Republican Party, Ed Cox, said in a statement to the New York Sun that Mr. Gendebien’s “far left” record will make it easy for the GOP to hold this seat, whenever the special election may be. 

“Democrats didn’t do their homework when they selected Blake Gendebien and his catastrophic statements. Republicans will easily hold this seat in the upcoming special election, because the North Country is unquestionably Trump Country,” Mr. Cox said. 

Mr. Genedebien’s campaign received and viewed a message from the Sun, but they did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. 

https://www.nysun.com/article/to-fill-stefaniks-seat-democrats-tap-farmer-who-hired-migrants-because-its-hard-to-find-native-born-citizens-who-dont-abuse-women-alcohol