The Republican racing to fill Elise Stefanik’s seat hired a convicted forger to collect ballot signatures, but claims he had no idea who the man was

Anthony Constantino, a Republican running for Rep. Elise Stefanik’s congressional seat, has fired a signature collector after finding out the man was a convicted forger. Constantino, who also runs The Sticker Mule printing company, told Playbook that he had to bring in paid canvassers to collect signatures door-to-door because the local GOP had not endorsed him in his race against GOP Assemblyman Robert Smullen.

According to Politico, the man Constantino hired was Christopher Bernstein. In 2014, Bernstein was arrested for allegedly forging signatures on another candidate’s ballot petition. Before that, in 2012, he pleaded guilty to “possession of a forged instrument,” which involved a fake drug prescription.

Constantino said that he has a paid “petition manager” who handles hiring the signature gatherers, and that he had no idea who Bernstein was when he was brought on. A video reviewed by Playbook shows Bernstein collecting signatures in Fort Edward, Washington County, for Constantino without ever mentioning Constantino’s name. 

Once Constantino found out about Bernstein’s background, he fired him right away. He released a statement saying, “We were not aware of this person’s background and have decided to terminate them effective immediately. All petitions they acquired have been set aside and will be reviewed by my legal team. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

He also put out a post on X, writing: “A guy on my campaign made a mistake while gathering petitions years ago and was arrested for it. We didn’t know about his arrest when we hired him and, upon learning, we promptly terminated him with severance as I feel bad for any front line worker who loses their job.”

The seat Constantino is running for opened up after Elise Stefanik announced in December that she was dropping out of the New York gubernatorial race and would not seek re-election for her House seat.  Stefanik posted a statement on social media, saying that while she would have “overwhelmingly won this primary,” it was not a good use of time or resources to spend the first half of next year in an “unnecessary and protracted Republican primary” in a challenging state like New York. 

STATEMENT ON SLIMEBOB ATTACKING FRONTLINE PETITIONER

A guy on my campaign made a mistake while gathering petitions years ago and was arrested for it. We didn’t know about his arrest when we hired him and, upon learning, we promptly terminated him with severance as I feel bad for… pic.twitter.com/DgNR8A9zXL

— Anthony Constantino (@constantino) March 13, 2026

This race is just one example of how Trump’s influence is reshaping Republican primaries across the country. President Trump had originally picked Stefanik to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. However, he later pulled that nomination to protect the narrow Republican majority in the House. Meanwhile, divisions within the GOP continue to grow, as seen when two Republican lawmakers broke ranks on war powers and stunned their own party.

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