Anthony Constantino won his race for Congress on election night. Before the night was over, he used his victory speech to single out a television reporter in the crowd, led his supporters in a chant of “Kick him out,” and had security escort the journalist out of the building. Days later, he posted the video of it himself.
The scene played out on Tuesday night at the Amsterdam, New York headquarters of Sticker Mule, the company Constantino leads. The local station WWNY, known as 7 News, was carrying his speech live in its 11 p.m. newscast and aired about 15 minutes of it. According to the station’s own account, carried nationally by Gray News, Constantino thanked President Donald Trump for having his back, then turned on the journalists in the room.
He called 7 News reporter Garrett Domblewski and anchor Jeff Cole profane names, and used the same language about a reporter from another organization. He accused the station’s journalists of bias and said Domblewski had deleted two of his interviews. He then ordered the reporter to leave and led the crowd in chanting, “Kick him out. Kick him out.” Five or six security guards escorted Domblewski out while the crowd chanted against the “evil media.” Domblewski continued reporting live from the parking lot.
Constantino’s side of the story is in his own words and in his own actions. His complaint, stated from the podium, was that the station had mistreated him and his campaign. And rather than distance himself from the episode, he posted video of the removal himself, which WWNY reported on November 6. The station said he criticized journalists with profanities in the remarks around it.
The race itself was close. The Associated Press called New York’s 21st District for Constantino on November 6, with 140,428 votes to 135,187 for Democrat Blake Gendebien, who conceded the same day. Constantino succeeds Representative Elise Stefanik, and he will enter Congress in January in the minority, after Democrats won control of both chambers.
Local television reporters covering a candidate’s own election night party, with the speech going out live, is about as routine as American campaign coverage gets. What was not routine is what the winning candidate chose to do with that moment, and that he chose to share it again himself.
Transparency note: The account of the speech and the removal comes from WWNY, the station whose reporter was removed, carried by Gray News, and matches recordings of the event that Constantino and others shared. His accusations against the station are his own and are reported as such. The vote figures are the Associated Press count.
