Joseph Zambon
Claudia Tenney (R-NY24) meets Mario Fratto in the June 25, 2024 Republican primary. Tenney beat Fratto in the Republican primary two years ago by 13.7%. This was a much closer margin than either candidate thought it would be.
According to Jerry Zremski of the Buffalo News, this is a “rematch between two Trump Republicans who think the worst of each other and aren’t shy about saying so.”
Tenney and Fratto have been engaged in a vicious primary fight, with Fratto running to Tenney’s right. On election night for the 2022 Republican primary, Tenney said, “I’m not going to run a nice campaign next time.”
She’s not. According to Fratto, “The night of the election [the 2022 Republican primary], I called her to congratulate her“. She said during the call, “If you run again, I’m going to release all these audio recordings I have of you…and remember when we met at that fundraiser, oh yeah, I had my recorder on…”
Tenney is a three-term incumbent who also served for several years in the New York State Assembly. Her opponent in the June 25th Republican Primary, Mario Fratto, is less well known.
According to his website, Fratto is against (1) wokeness, (2) men competing in women’s sports, (3) unnecessary spending, (4) Critical Race Theory, (5) mask and vaccine mandates; (6) government infringements on Americans’ religious beliefs; (7) funding to abortion providers; and (8) gun control policies like Red Flag laws.
He is for (1) term limits, (2) ending American dependence on communist China, (3) requiring individuals to have a Voter ID to register to vote, (4) energy independence, and (5) true medical freedom (whatever that is).
His positions look like a cut-and-paste from other conservative websites. He has something for everyone! The title of his YouTube videos “Claudia Tenney Welcomes Illegal Invaders” (sounds like she’s throwing parties for them in her home), “Claudia Tenney’s Betrayal of Donald Trump” (even though her latest TV campaign has voiceover from Trump’s strongly endorsing Tenney), “RINO Claudia Tenney Turns on TRUMP, Embraces Nikki Haley!“, “RINOS Claudia Tenney, Lindsey Graham and Maria Salazar want AMNESTY for illegals!“, “RINO Claudia Tenney Voted for Taxpayer Funded Sex Changes for Transgenders in Military” There are a lot of RINOs in Fratto world!
Fratto claims Tenney is “a Uniparty Establishment career politician,” echoing a Marjorie Taylor Greene trope. In one of his YouTube videos, he says (1:19), “…she supported amnesty for illegals taxpayer, funded sex change operations, amending the Constitution for transgender rights and red flag laws to take our guns. Claudia even voted for warrantless spying on American citizens…”
Those sound bad! Claudia, say it isn’t so!!
Below, I compare and contrast the candidates and their campaigns.
| Claudia Tenney | Mario Fratto | |
| Who are they? | Incumbent, three term Congresswoman | Republican primary candidate against Tenney for the second time. |
| Never served in the military. | Never served in the military. | |
| Lawyer, graduated from University of Cincinati law school. | Lawyer, graduated from University of Southern California law school. | |
| Worked as an attorney and in the family business, Mid York Press. | Worked as an attorney and in the family business, Geneva Granite. | |
| Election denier | Election denier | |
| Tenney claims that she moved into the district from her longtime home in New Hartford, NY which is about 38 miles outside the NY-24 district. | Longtime resident of Geneva, NY which is in the center of the “U” shaped NY-24 district. Claims Tenney is not from the district. | |
| 2022 Primary | Won 2022 primary against Fatto. | Lost 2022 primary against Tenney by 4480 votes – 13.7% – out of 30,780 cast. |
| Accusations and Counter Accusations | Campaign ad and NYS GOP flyers make out-of-context claim that Fratto lied about joining the military | In that YouTube video, Fratto said he wanted to join the army after 9/11 but his father refused to give him the consent he needed to enlist. |
| In this primary, she claims Fratto is too far left. In the 2022 primary, she claimed Fratto was too far right. At that time she said, “He’s been kind of clinging to these real far-right, what I call ‘clickbait’ people on Twitter.” | Claims Tenney is a RINO – Republican-In-Name-Only | |
| Has spent $1.56 million on the campaign so far. Outspending Fratto 18:1. | ||
| Supported by the New York State Republican Party. State GOP has sent out mailers attacking Fratto | Claims the large amount spent on this primary and the attack mailers show that Tenney and the NYS GOP are afraid of his candidacy, “I think they’re in trouble” | |
| NYS GOP lied that Fratto “received nearly a dozen violations from the FEC” | The Federal Election Commission dismissed accusations by a Tenney associate of Fratto campaign violations. | |
| Claims Tenney doesn’t defend the borders from immigrants – “Tenney welcomes these invaders into our country”…“Claudia Tenney voted for amnesty for illegal aliens and to block deportations” | ||
| Endorsements (not all) | Endorsed by former president and convicted felon Donald Trump | Endorsed by former dentist and censored Representative Paul Gosar, Arizona Republican, member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus |
| Second Amendment | Supporter of Second Amendment. She wants to repeal the SAFE Act (which is a state not federal law). | Supporter of Second Amendment. He wants to repeal the SAFE Act. He supports nationwide constitutional carry. Opposes gun control policies like Red Flag laws. |
| Term Limits | Supports term limits. Claims Tenney reneged on her pledge to support term limits. | |
| Vaccines | Against vaccine mandates | Against mask and vaccine mandates. Says Tenney is funded by Big Pharma |
| Veterans | Introduced the Department of Veterans Affairs Bonus Transparency Act, which would increase oversight of bonuses at the VA. | “…veterans should be our priority for healthcare” |