“Claudia Tenney will always stand up for law-abiding gun owners,” Ms. Renna said when asked about the mass-shooter observation.
“Claudia is no stranger to vicious smear campaigns and her words being taken out of context by Washington liberals and the media,” she added. “Despite their malicious, false attacks, Claudia beat them in 2016 while being outspent by millions and she’ll beat them again.”
Mr. Brindisi is expected to appeal to some conservative voters, given his A rating from the National Rifle Association and his record of butting heads with his party’s leadership in Albany.
The candidates are similarly matched in campaign dollars, too, with Ms. Tenney pulling in $1.4 million in receipts and Mr. Brindisi $1.2 million.
Some Republican voters in the district said that, like Mr. Trump, Ms. Tenney should be judged on her record, not her words. They praised her votes in support of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, as well as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, President Trump’s signature legislative achievement.
Mostly, they say, Ms. Tenney shared their philosophy of limited government and championed the rollback of regulations. “People in this area like autonomy,” explained Ms. Crockett, a self-described libertarian and mother of three who moved here from Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
“There’s no zoning in this town, as you can see, and we like it that way,” she added. “Our neighbors’ chickens and pigs run across our yards and eat our bugs, but then they give us their maple syrup.”
