Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino officially launched a bid for New York’s 21st congressional district over the weekend.
New York’s 21st congressional district is currently held by U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) who was tapped by president-elect Donald Trump to serve in his cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Constantino founded Sticker Mule in 2010 in the small town of Amsterdam, New York with an initial $100,000 investment from his co-founder and since then grew the company to employ 1,200 people across 39 countries.
Having never run for public office, Constantino said his political ambitions began just recently after he and the nation witnessed the multiple assassination attempts against Trump.
Constantino’s support for Trump, however, dates back to the 2016 presidential election when he donated $500 to support then-candidate Trump, which Constantino said sparked instant backlash from the left.
Constantino said the hate he and his company received for the donation to Trump’s campaign was “traumatic” and has had an effect on him ever since.
“I was one of the first people to be canceled. I was canceled before they called it cancel culture. The word didn’t exist yet, but I donated $500 to President Trump when he was still candidate Trump. My company got canceled for it in 2016 when it was much smaller at the time, probably only a few hundred people at the time, so it was a traumatic experience,” Constantino explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“I got bombarded with thousands of emails and hate messages all over the internet for about a week of my life – didn’t see it coming. It was very traumatic. I got a front row seat to political hate, particularly political hate coming from the left, and I’ve been mindful of it ever since,” Constantino added.
During the 2024 presidential election cycle, Constantino upped his support for Trump by fighting a legal battle with Amsterdam’s Democratic mayor to display a 100-foot “Vote for Trump” on top of a building owned by Sticker Mule.
Before that, Constantino and his company also launched a political action committee (PAC) in support of Trump which gave away 500,000 packs of pro-Trump stickers.
Constantino also went viral earlier this year for sending a pro-Trump email to his over 5 million Sticker Mule email subscribers.
When it comes to running for public office, Constantino said he is “serious” about running for New York’s 21st congressional seat, proving his commitment with a $2.6 million deposit to fund his own campaign from money he made on investing in Elon Musk’s Tesla stock.
“I did the deposit to show people I’m serious and I like to be entertaining, I like to do interesting things,” Constantino said.
Since launching his bid for Congress, Constantino said he has spoken to Stefanik who seems “very supportive” of his candidacy.
“We had about a 30 minute conversation and she was giving me a lot of insight and she seems very supportive of my situation. She wants to know I’m fully committed, which I am, but she seems very supportive,” Constantino said.
Throughout the coming days and weeks, Constantino said he is focusing on meeting with the individual county chairs to get feedback on his campaign.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “Anthony Constantino” by Anthony Constantino.
