Republican Mike Sapraicone, who hopes to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, visited Binghamton last week to meet with local Republicans and supporters.
Sapraicone, a retired New York City detective and owner of a private security firm, toured the area with members of the Broome County Republican Committee. He visited a local dairy farm and met elected officials and law enforcement.
“I'm hearing more about agriculture concerns, farming concerns, industry leaving,” Sapraicone said. “I think those are important things, I think the opportunity for their children and our children to do better here and stay here. You're losing so many people. And what do we do? How do we bring industry back?”
Sapraicone said the major issues he’s heard from upstate voters come down to public safety, high taxes and concerns over illegal immigration.
He said his campaign can compete with Gillibrand by putting boots on the ground to reach voters.
“[Gillibrand] may come up here and deliver a big check. But she's not walking the community. She's not meeting people,” Sapraicone said. “It's important to get out there and listen to people and try to understand, and it's about time politicians start to understand their constituents.”
Gillibrand has been a U.S. senator in New York since 2009. A Republican hasn’t been elected to the office since the 1990s.
“[Sapraicone] knows the struggle of rising crime, and how bad policy impacts what happens on the ground and public safety,” Broome Republican Committee Chairman Benji Federman said. “He understands how high taxes and red tape can burden businesses and drive jobs out of our state. And I want to make this very clear, we're going to draw a very strong, stark contrast between Kirsten Gillibrand and Mike Sapraicone.”
Sapraicone won 84 percent of the vote during the state Republicans’ designating convention, which was held in Binghamton in February. He beat out fellow Republican candidates Josh Eisen and Cara Castronuova, who each got around 8 percent of the vote. Both candidates have filed petitions to run in the primary against Sapraicone.
Sapraicone said his campaign may challenge their ballot access, but that he’s ready for a primary if all three are on the ballot in June.
Gillibrand’s office did not respond to requests for comment.