Republican House Hopeful Pledges $174K Salary to Wounded Marine

The race for New York's upstate 21st Congressional District has Republican businessman Anthony Constantino facing off against Democrat and dairy farmer Blake Gendebien, with this a heavily GOP-favored race; this is the district once held by Republican Elise Stefanik until she made the move to not seek reelection in 2026, instead deciding to run a short-lived campaign for Governor.

Now, Republican Anthony Constantino is favored to win this seat, running as much as eight points ahead of his Democrat opponent. Now, in the closing weeks of the self-funded campaign, Constantino has made a surprising announcement: He will donate his entire salary as a House member to the family of a wounded Marine veteran. A Washington Reporter exclusive brings that news.

Ahead of the midterm elections, a Republican candidate running in a district that President Donald Trump carried by double digits is planning to donate his entire congressional salary to the family of a wounded Marine veteran.

Anthony Constantino, who is favored to keep Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R., N.Y.) seat in GOP hands, will donate his entire $174,000 congressional salary to the family of wounded Marine veteran Sgt. Eddie Ryan, he exclusively told the Washington Reporter.

In an earlier interview with the Reporter, Constantino explained how he is leaning on his success in business, running Sticker Mule, to entirely self-fund his campaign for Congress. Now, with his pledge to donate his entire congressional salary to Ryan, who was shot twice in the head during the Iraq War, Constantino is continuing to eschew campaign and governing norms.

This isn't Constantino's first example of personal generosity:

In addition to donating his salary, should he win in November, to Ryan, Constantino has also designed and funded the restoration of Veterans Park in Amsterdam, contributing up to $150,000 to it. He has also donated over $1 million to the St. Mary’s Institute in Amsterdam, allowing 100 children to attend tuition-free through scholarships and school improvements.

When holidays roll around New York, Constantino is also ever-present in his community. He recently donated $25,000 to help reopen Amsterdam’s Royal Pantry and sustain food distribution for local families; Constantino also helped distribute 2,000 frozen turkeys during the holidays and donated 1,000 bottles of hot sauce to a local food pantry.

Now that's philanthropy for you.

This, honestly, is the kind of person we need more of in Congress, the kind of people we need in this 2026 midterm: Anthony Constantino has already established himself as a successful businessman, with the knowledge of what it's like to build a business up from the ground, to produce a product that people will want to buy, to produce value, to create jobs and the economic activity that goes with that. We could use more people that have sweated over their balance sheets, people who have made payrolls, and we might note that it's not terribly unusual for a small businessman to go with little or no pay to make sure his payroll is covered. 

And, most of all, we can use people who, when they have achieved a certain level of success, give it back to their community; not because some government bureaucrat forced him to, but because he chose to. 

Anthony Constantino is heavily favored to win this House seat, and we wish him every success.

We might note a similar example: President Trump, who has donated every penny of his presidential salary to various causes.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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