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JAMESTOWN – As Tom Reed’s time in office comes to an end, new and experienced candidates alike are vying to take his seat. Including a candidate Reed has endorsed personally.
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, who currently represents NY-22, is running in the Republican primary for the 23rd district this election season due to redistricting. However, the candidate believes issues our areas face are alike, and does not think it will affect how she would represent the district.
“None of the Republican representatives who are currently running in upstate New York live in the districts. They were all gerrymandered out of their districts by the Democrats,” claims Tenney. “It was intentional. It was calculated, and it was done to sow derision and divisiveness in the Republican party so that we would have tough primaries, or people would question whether you really represent the communities or not.”
A single mother and lawyer from Chenango County, Tenney entered the political ring to help the small business and farming community. In her career, Tenney has also been a New York State Assemblywoman and a member of the 115th U.S. Congress.
She hopes to reestablish the supply chain, as well as utilize her experience in foreign affairs to give the area a voice in Washington.
“We’re dead last in business friendliness, we’re highest taxed, we have the least free state, we have people leaving in record numbers, the highest out migration of any state in the nation,” explains Tenney. “We have a Governor that’s authoritarian, she doesn’t respect parents, she doesn’t respect our care workers. Especially hospital workers.”
Nevertheless, the candidate stressed the importance of bipartisan work, despite her claims that Democrats seek total government control, and unfairly rigged the 2020 Presidential Election.
Tenney also emphasized the role President Biden has played in Ukrainian and Russian conflict.
“We made ourselves energy dependent when we were energy independent. We shut down the Keystone Pipeline, we shut down the ability to continue our energy independence with natural gas versus coal. And natural gas is much cleaner. Under President Trump, when he unleashed the natural gas industry to fill for a lot of the coal plants, our emissions actually went down. Our CO2 was much better, under President Trump,” says Tenney.
Though Tenney doesn’t want to put American boots on the ground in Ukraine, she believes we must defend freedom. Her concern now lies in the weakness of the U.S. through Putin’s eyes, and believes it could encourage other global superpowers like China to encroach on Taiwan, a major U.S. supplier.
“We have to remember Ukraine is not a NATO country, but we can provide lethal aid to Ukrainians without ourselves being on the ground,” assures Tenney. “And we need to do that forthright, or we’re gonna see even more slaughter everyday on our TV which is absolutely heart wrenching for American citizens to watch.”
The fallout of the conflict in the U.S. is being seen through inflation, most critically, gas prices. Though Tenney says the idea of lowering the tax collected on gas could help, it does not solve the solution long term. Investing in gas exploration locally and opening pipelines could help relieve the strain on consumers’ wallets.
Ultimately, Tenney hopes voters will appreciate her transparency and reliability, as well as her willingness to point out corruption, no matter what side of the aisle it lies on.
Our full interview with the Congresswoman is posted on our YouTube page and Channel 716 on Roku.
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