On Friday, the two men met with a crowd of more than 300 people at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls, to speak to the crowd and take questions from the audience. The event was moderated by Ken Tingley, a retired editor of the Glens Falls Post-Star. In about an hour and a half, Gendebien and Raskin delivered separate but connected messages. Raskin took the anti-Trump torch, deriding the record of the president and the Republican Party in power these last eight months.

“I’m here as a true-blue, high octane Democrat,” was how Raskin introduced himself.

He mocked Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, for her absence from New York’s 21st Congressional District, referencing Watertown Daily Times reporting that found the congresswoman hasn’t hosted an in-person town hall for her constituents in about six years.

“Some of her constituents reported her to the ‘Bureau of Missing Politicians,'” Raskin joked. “She’s a little upset, I’m learning from my office back in Washington, that I’m up in her district.”

Blake Gendebien, the Democratic nominee to represent the North Country in Congress. (Provided photo)

But between jokes and applause lines about Republican scandals and Trump administration decisions, Raskin painted a stark picture and raised the stakes of this and other congressional races next year.

“My friends, I don’t need to tell you we are in the fight of our lives, and everything is under attack,” he said. “I’m the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and I can tell you that everything in our Constitution, Bill of Rights, is under attack.”

Raskin said he was concerned about the decisions President Donald J. Trump has made since he took office in January, from the international import taxes he’s imposed to decisions to exclude certain media organizations from the White House because of editorial decisions they have made. He also took aim at downballot Republican decisions at the state level, like efforts to enforce the Ten Commandments in public schools or to redraw congressional district maps to favor Republicans.

“Every part of the Bill of Rights is under attack,” he said. “Habeas corpus is under attack. Due process, the two most beautiful words in the English language, under attack. The two words that protect our rights and our freedoms and our liberties against arbitrary state power.”

Raskin said the only solution to these problems is to win back control of Congress — which includes electing Democrats like Gendebien, a St. Lawrence County dairy farmer.

“I can’t think of anybody better to represent this extraordinary and this beautiful district than Blake,” he said. “And so I came up here to say, Blake, I’m going to max out to your campaign today. I’m sending you $2,500.”

Raskin said he is deeply invested in the Gendebien campaign and would work to help him win in 2026. On Saturday, Raskin and Gendebien did a joint town hall in Essex County.

Gendebien spoke second Friday, and his message tracked more closely to hometown issues. He never mentioned Trump by name but did criticize choices out of Washington, like the tariffs and changes to Medicaid coverage that are projected to hurt rural hospitals. He tied it all back to his identity as a rural farmer.

“If you want to talk about driving down costs at the dinner table, in the kitchen, in the living room, wherever your family gathers, send a farmer to Congress,” he said, repeating what’s become a tagline for his campaign.

“If you want to have meaningful, meaningful border security, meaningful immigration reform, send a farmer to Congress,” he added.

Gendebien laid out one keystone piece of legislation he’d work to pass in Congress, what he called a comprehensive agriculture and food processing workforce development bill. That would include a rural housing component, an issue he said is not fully addressed in policy approaches being taken today.

“Houses are incredibly expensive since COVID, because so many families moved up, bought second homes, raised the value of the homes, and it’s almost impossible to afford to live there,” he said, explaining the problems his dairy co-op AgriMark has had in securing a workforce for its rural Vermont cheese plant.

He also said the district could lean on the volume of young men and women leaving the service at Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division who are looking for a place to lay roots. He said the North Country could be that place, but disinvestment in regional health care complicates that.

“We’ve lost almost 20 physicians out of the Syracuse VA,” he said, noting that the uncertainty of basic benefits is likely driving people away from living in the region.

Gendebien pitched an enthusiastic message about his prospects for 2026. The lineup for that race isn’t entirely clear yet. Gendebien is running, and last week another Democrat announced a campaign as well but it’s not clear who the Republican candidate will be.

Stefanik was planning to leave the district to become a Trump administration official earlier this year, and a job offer could come again. She has teased a potential run for governor of New York as well, but as of now the only office she’s filed to run for is reelection to Congress.

Gendebien said the path to success for him in this race is consistency and discipline.

“We’re going to be disciplined, we’re going to be unprovoked, and we are going to win,” he said.

The question portion of the event came last. Attendees were asked to write their questions on slips of paper that were taken by a campaign staff member and reviewed backstage. Out of what looked like at least 100 questions, Gendebien and Raskin took eight questions from the crowd. Moderator Tingley also asked three of his own questions.

Tingley asked Raskin if Trump is a threat to democracy. Raskin said yes, because the president does not respect constitutional limitations on his office. He offered one solution of securing statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, to add more enfranchised voters.

“The only solution to the ills of democracy is more democracy,” Raskin said. “What we’re suffering from today isn’t democracy, it’s the obstacles and impediments to it.”

The next question was for Gendebien.

“Considering the ugliness of politics today and the inevitable attacks that Rep. Stefanik and the Republicans in general are known for, why would you possibly want to run for Congress and subject yourself and your family to this type of abuse?” Tingley asked.

Gendebien said that he’s been unhappy with Stefanik’s brand of politics, where she often levels personal and broad-sided attacks on political opponents, for years. But he said he is ready for it.

“I am impenetrable, I will not allow her to get under my skin,” he said. “I do not govern by the thickness of my skin, I will fight hard to bring grace and humility and honesty and decency to this district.”

Tingley’s last question was for Raskin — if he worries about his and his family’s safety after being a prominent and consistent critic of Trump.

“I don’t know how to answer the question,” Raskin replied. “I mean, people in my family have been tough and they’ve been brave, and we really count on the goodness and the virtue of the American people, and I believe in it with all my heart.”

The questions from the crowd ranged on a series of national issues — if the Texas redistricting plan that aims to add five Republican seats can be blocked, how Congress could move to protect vaccine access or release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and how to bring young people into politics.

Some questions addressed issues the two men had already addressed in their speeches, how Gendebien plans to protect rural interests and what he plans to do in Congress “beyond resisting Trump.”

In an interview after the event, Gendebien said this was a bigger than average event. Too many people showed up to fit into the theater and some had to be turned away. Dozens of people were seated in an overflow section with no view of the stage. This was Gendebien’s 14th town hall since February when he was competing for an anticipated special election.

“The average town hall size has been at least 100 people, we had as many as 250 at the theater in Plattsburgh,” he said. “The general vibe is positive.”

He said he has generally kept the questions unlimited and unfiltered, and then sticks around to meet with constituents.

And Gendebien answered one question he hadn’t been asked by the voters in attendance. Does he support efforts by Gov. Kathy Hochul to redraw New York’s congressional maps in response to that Texas remapping plan?

“I absolutely hate redistricting,” he said, referring to partisan gerrymandering. “I think if there’s no choice and you’ve got to fight fire with fire, then you have to join the game. But if I had my choice, nobody would redistrict.”

When reached for comment, Stefanik adviser and spokesperson Alex DeGrasse said the move to bring Raskin to the district was a desperate ploy.

“This is a desperate distraction from the fact that North Country Democrats now have a vicious Congressional primary. The latest radical Democrat hauled into our district is election denier Jamie Raskin who recruited psychologists to help Democrats cope with President Trump’s landslide victory and is now campaigning alongside local far left Democrat Blake Gendebien, a sad joke of a candidate,” DeGrasse said.

DeGrasse said the visit would ultimately help Stefanik in the firmly Republican district that has handily reelected her for a decade.

“We thank Raskin for his visit — Elise’s popularity in the North Country will continue to skyrocket,” he said. “And Democrats will continue to implode. And let’s be honest — this is all because Kathy Hochul has abysmal approval ratings in upstate NY and is petrified of New York voters.”