The 'Moderate' Democrat Running For Stefanik's Seat Just Teamed Up With A Lawmaker Who Wants To Abolish ICE

According to The Post Millennial, Gendebien, who has tried to market himself as a centrist alternative, is now politically tied to Lasher, a figure openly aligned with the far-lefts anti-law-enforcement agenda. Gendebien is facing Republican Anthony Constantino, who has warned voters that the Democrats alliances tell a very different story than his campaign rhetoric.

Constantino shared the fundraiser flyer publicly to alert constituents that a vote for Gendebien is effectively a vote for the radical wing of the Democrat Party, not a pragmatic moderate. He wrote on Instagram, "Days before the election, NY-21 Democrat Blake Gendebien is once again going to New York City for a fundraiser with LEFTIST hosts who want to DEFUND THE POLICE. He is already blatantly selling us out to line his own pockets. Corrupt!"

October 21, 2026

Lashers record underscores Constantinos warning, particularly his defense of Oscar Bergal, a criminal illegal immigrant shot and injured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during an arrest operation. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Bergal was accelerating his vehicle and had crashed into federal vehicles at the time of the shooting, a scenario that would alarm any community concerned with public safety.

Lasher, elected to the New York State Assembly in 2024, appeared in Foley Square to denounce ICE and demand leniency for Bergal in a video posted to social media. "I'm here down in Foley Square with so many New Yorkers who are appalled and horrified by the shooting of Oscar [Bergal] by ICE agents last night in Marble Hill. We're here to call for Oscar's immediate release, the release of all evidence and footage of the shooting, a full and independent investigation by the New York State Attorney General of this incident and getting ICE out of New York and abolishing ICE once and for all," he said.

Despite this explicit call to abolish ICE once and for all and to release an illegal immigrant with a criminal record, Gendebien appeared entirely at ease partnering with Lasher to raise campaign cash. For voters in New Yorks 21st District, that partnership raises serious questions about what kind of agenda Gendebien would support in Congress under President Trumps second administration.

Federal officials have laid out a starkly different picture of Bergal than the one painted by Lasher and his allies. On October 8, an ICE officer shot Bergal, a 28-year-old Dominican national, during an arrest attempt in Marble Hill, Manhattan, after DHS identified him as the target of a Homeland Security Investigations probe with alleged ties to the Trinitarios gang and connections to another shooting.

Bergal refused lawful orders to exit his vehicle. He then accelerated his vehicle smashing into two of our ICE vehicles. He then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate his vehicle toward other officers, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Executive Associate Director Marcos Charles said at the time, noting that Bergal was later treated at a local medical center. That account highlights the life-or-death decisions federal officers face while enforcing immigration law and protecting communities from violent offenders.

Yet, even as law enforcement details a dangerous confrontation, Democrats like Lasher focus on dismantling ICE and shielding criminal non-citizens, and Gendebien has chosen to align himself with that wing of the party while still claiming the moderate label. Per 7 News, a Siena Research Institute poll shows Gendebien leading Constantino 46 to 42 percent among likely voters, suggesting that the central question for the district is whether residents want a representative who stands with law enforcement and border security, or one who quietly embraces the radical anti-ICE agenda now shaping Democrat politics in New York.