Meet the mysterious candidate having a big impact on top NY congressional race
NYACK, N.Y. (PIX11) -- The race for New York's 17th Congressional District is one of the most closely watched and competitive congressional races in the country -- but almost nothing is known about one of the candidates running.
A third-party candidate running is now pushing back against accusations he's an undercover Republican "plant" trying to spoil the chances for Democrats to flip an important U.S. House seat.
Anthony Frascone is a plain-spoken 70-year-old contractor who is the Working Families Party (WFP) nominee in NY-17. He spoke exclusively with PIX11 News.
NY-17 covers northern Westchester, along with all of Rockland and Putnam counties.
"I won the primary fair and square, and then a lot of people said, 'Where did he come from? He’s a plant?'" Frascone said sitting on a park bench in Nyack.
But the Working Families Party now says Frascone is a “fake” candidate — calling him a former Republican who was slipped into the low-turnout open primary to spoil the chances of Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones.
"I’m real. My votes were real," Frascone said when asked directly about the accusation.
The progressive WFP often aligns with the Democratic nominee. Jones is trying to unseat first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler.
Frascone said he has been a WFP member for 12 years and had no idea it was so focused on left-leaning social issues. He said he ran because he is worried about the cost of living. He said no one put him up to run to steal support from Jones.
"I was not approached by any Republican from any campaign," Frascone said. "I’m here. I put my hat in and I won fair and square."
After a lawsuit to remove Frascone from the ballot failed, the WFP posted a video of party leaders confronting Frascone — calling him out for not even running a proper campaign.
It is true Frascone does not even have a campaign page -- and PIX11 passed no yard signs for him on the way to the park for the interview.
Frascone said his lack of a campaign is because he doesn’t have the financial backing.
"After I won, I said, 'Why do I have to campaign or reach out for money. I already won the position,'" he said. "The people who voted for me will vote for me again, and we’ll see where that goes, that’s it. That’s the end of the story."
PIX11's exclusive polling of NY-17 over the last month has shown Frascone is attracting some support, anywhere between 1-3%, which could easily make all the difference in a highly competitive race.