Democrat Tedra Cobb announced her candidacy for Congress last week. This is her second time running to unseat Republican Elise Stefanik to represent New York’s 21st Congressional District.
Vice Chair of St. Lawrence County Democrats, Mike Zagrobelny is excited to see Cobb, who has lived in the north country for 30 years, run again. According to Zagrobelny, “there’s nothing like having a native of the county go for a national office.”
Zagrobelny considers the 21st district a unique one. “There’s academic pockets, then there’s a really strong agricultural history here, as well as a blue collar history,” he said. The district is large, as it includes 10 counties and parts of two others. “A candidate has to try and fit in with all these groups and be able to understand all the challenges,” he said.
Zagrobelny thinks Cobb is a good fit for this district. “Through her experiences, she can really represent all sides of the demographic.” In the 2018 Democratic primaries for NY-21, Cobb won 55.7 percent of the votes, the most of any of the five other candidates. It was an intense race, but Zagrobelny does not expect a similar situation in 2020. “I haven’t heard any divide at all,” he said.Chairman of the St. Lawrence County GOP Thomas Jenison thinks the outcome of the 2020 election will be similar to 2018. “Congresswoman Elise has got a great track record,” he said. “She knows what Tedra’s strengths and weaknesses are.” Jenison also notes that in 2018 Cobb lost in her home county of St. Lawrence, which has more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Jenison was not surprised that Cobb decided to run again or that she announced so early. “She came out early so she could let others know she’s back in the game,” he said. Jenison also noted financial reasons for Cobb’s decision. According to the Watertown Daily Times, Stefanik has nearly nine times as much money as Cobb, with a total of $632,310 as of March 31.
Jenison expects an increase in voter turnout in 2020 because it is a presidential year. He said there were not as many voters as predicted in 2018. “It’ll be a good election,” he stated.
Tyler Kearns ’22 interned on the Cobb campaign last fall and was happy to learn she was running again. “She was much closer than a lot of predictions and polling put her,” he said. “That’s a good indicator.” Kearns also thinks Cobb’s name recognition as a candidate will help her during 2020. “A lot of people are very excited to see her run again.”
Kearns feels it is good Cobb started campaigning so early: “It gives her a lot more time to get a lot more stuff together that she should have had together for the first campaign, like ads, networking opportunities and more publicity.”Michael Rienzo ’22 also interned on the previous Cobb campaign and is optimistic. He thinks fundraising will need to increase this time, despite Cobb raising a record amount of money in her third quarter. “Stefanik started out with a much larger number than us, and we were always playing catch up,” he said. “I think in this next campaign she’s gonna have to find more money somewhere.”
Even though this is Cobb’s second race, Rienzo does not think she will have trouble finding voters and donors. “She has a good solid base,” he said. Rienzo believes 2020 being a presidential election year will help Cobb. “I think people are gonna want to continue to get more seats in the House, they’re gonna try to go blue with the presidency,” he said.
Placido Ramallo ’21, former president of SLU Republicans, thinks Cobb is generally concerned about the district. “I really think she is committed to what she says,” he said. He does see the challenge of Cobb’s next election. “She’s got quite a race ahead of her,” he said. “She’s trying to unseat a popular incumbent.”
Stefanik’s campaign responded to the announcement with an ad criticizing Cobb’s tax policies. The ad also challenged statements Cobb made on how the United States cannot continue to sustain its military spending, and how Cobb discussed a possible ban on assault weapons. Stefanik also tweeted: “I look forward to once again running on my record of delivering results against far-left resistance.”
I sat down with Ms. Cobb to learn more:
Margaret Dener: Why did you decide to run again in 2020?
Tedra Cobb: “Healthcare and momentum. People here still don’t have the healthcare they desperately need. And Elise Stefanik can’t run from the votes that she’s made to take away that healthcare. And that second word, momentum, is really that we built a great campaign. People really understood what we were talking about, and we have been gaining momentum while Stefanik has been losing momentum because of her votes against her constituents.”
Dener: What were the strengths of the 2018 campaign?
Cobb: For strengths there are a few, first and foremost people. We truly ran a grassroots campaign. We ended up with almost 2500 volunteers. We had interns from St. Lawrence University and the other universities here. The other strength has to do with money. I mean, about the kinds of money. In Elise Stefanik’s last quarter, 96 percent of her donations came from outside of the district. Ours were directly the opposite. I’m not taking corporate money.
Dener: What are you going to do differently on your 2020 campaign?
Cobb: “We had a very large primary, and the difference this time is that I’ve announced early. We’ve already got a team and all of those volunteers who are ready and trained and excited to be working, and we have professional staff.”
Dener: Have there been any changes in your stances on major issues changed since 2018?
Cobb: “No, there really aren’t.”
Dener: If elected, what would be your plans to address healthcare and infrastructure here?
Cobb: “My background is in healthcare. I have worked in HIV/AIDS work, starting and running a community health program and serving on the hospice board. If you bring forward a plan, my goal is to listen to you and listen to what your plan is, not to look at you and say ‘I’m not gonna listen because you’re a Democrat, I’m not gonna listen because you’re a Republican,’ that’s the problem with Washington. My goal is to represent the people of this district by listening to the plan and being nonpartisan.”
Dener: How do you plan on reaching more voters in this election?
Cobb: “We had about 2,500 or so volunteers, and my goal is to double that and just get out there and reach more people. It’s a huge district, and we made huge headway because I really love getting out there and meeting with people.”