Elise Stefanik's Democratic challenger registered to vote in district just 2 weeks before entering race
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House Republican Conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik’s, newest Democraticchallenger for her New York congressional seat registered to vote in the district he hopes to represent just two weeks before entering the race.
Stefanik — who took the number three GOP spot in the House from Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. earlier this year — may be going up against Democrat Matt Putorti in New York's 21st Congressional District next November. He is not only an attorney barredin New York City, but he registered to vote in the district he is seeking to represent just two weeks before announcing his run.
Alex DeGrasse, the spokesman for Stefanik’s campaign, told Fox News on Thursday that voters in the upstate New York district know "exactly" the kind of person Putorti is.
"Voters in Upstate New York are smart. They will see this candidate for exactly who he is: A Far-Left New York City lawyer who supports Socialist squad policies like defunding the police, trillions in new taxes, and banning guns," DeGrasse said in a statement. "North Country Republicans, Democrats, and Independents will never vote for this radical Socialist candidate."
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According to Federal Election Commission records, Putorti has backed the campaigns of far-left candidates who have supported defunding the police, including Reps. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., — a member of the pseudo-caucus known as "The Squad" — and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y.
DeGrasse's statement noted that voters will be made aware that Putorti donated to radical Socialist Squad Members of Congress who support defunding the police, trillions in new taxes, open borders, and gun bans."
The New York congresswoman’s campaign said in a statementon Monday that Putorti was the "second radical Far-Left Socialist Democrat candidate" to aim for Stefanik’s seat. Ezra Watson, a semiconductor equipment engineer at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, announced his bid for the Democratic nomination in April.
"The Stefanik campaign will continue to make sure voters know the choice next November between real results for the North Country versus another Far-Left Socialist who will be a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and Andrew Cuomo’s failed policies," DeGrasse said.
The Putorti campaign responded to the Stefanik campaign’s release in a Monday statement, where they claimed that the congresswoman was distorting Putorti and his campaign.
"It says a lot that Elise Stefanik is so terrified of a challenger that she immediately resorted to outright distortions of who Matt is and why he is running," Putorti's campaign said.
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Stefanik's newest challenger also raised $100,000 in less than 24 hours after a retweet from far-left comedian Chelsea Handler, who praised anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan last year for his "powerful" rhetoric on race.
Putorti’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
