Anthony Constantino, merch mogul and part-time rapper, has Trump’s blessing—and local GOP opposition.
By
Matt Stieb,
Intelligencer staff writer
Anthony Constantino is not the candidate local Republican Party officials would have picked in New York’s far-upstate 21st District. The owner of the merch-production company Sticker Mule loves Donald Trump — a prerequisite for the House GOP today — but is untested on the campaign trail. Four years ago, Constantino made his pro debut as a welterweight boxer in Mexico City, winning his first fight after entering the sport at the age of 40. “There’s a criticism of people successful in the business world that they get lucky, and there’s more admiration for boxers,” he tells me. “So I was like, Well, if I can be good at this too, maybe it’s not luck.” He’s not as polished as most elder millennials running for Congress, speaking hurriedly and favoring tight ripped jeans in many of his campaign videos. He says that when Roger Stone, an early and unofficial adviser, first saw them, he asked, “Are you trying to fucking lose?”
