The emerging battle for District 24

With more than a year left until the next congressional election, three Democrats already have stepped forward to attempt what no one has done so far: unseat incumbent Republican Claudia Tenney in the 24th Congressional District whose lines were redrawn in 2022.

“We need to get ready for the fight of our lives,” says Alissa Ellman, a veteran and a Democratic candidate from Lockport. “But this isn’t the first time I’ve been to war.”

Ellman, along with Diana Kastenbaum, former CEO of Pinnacle Manufacturing and a Batavia resident, and Steven Holden, a veteran who ran for the 24th District seat in 2022, will vie to run against Tenney, who has closely aligned herself with President Donald Trump, in the 2026 election.

The Democratic candidates are focused on issues such as health care, agricultural workers, and education, with a united desire to unseat the Republican incumbent.

“I’ve met both Steve and Alissa, and I respect them both. There is such service and sacrifice for their community in their stories,” Kastenbaum says. “So, we won’t be tearing each other down, I guarantee it. We all need to be tearing down Tenney instead.”

Tenney, who did not respond in time for this story’s publication, has defended her record to date. Most recently, she released a number of plans for the agricultural industry, energy and the environment, Second Amendment protection, border security, and supporting “American and family values.“

Due to redistricting, District 24 now spans a wide-ranging geography. So far, it has proved to be a Republican stronghold, with analysts from the Cook Political Report and FiveThirtyEight rating the district as “solid Republican.” Twice, Tenney has won with more than two-thirds of the vote.

Does a Democrat challenging the GOP congresswoman in 2026 have a chance?

All three hopefuls believe they do.

Shifting boundaries

District 24 is geographically immense, covering an area of over 7,200 square miles. It has been nicknamed by some as “the Lake District” since it wraps across all of Lake Ontario, outside of Monroe County.

In its current form, the district’s northern-most point is near the St. Lawrence River and Alexandria Bay. It bends southward to include Watertown, Oswego, and half of the Finger Lakes region, before twisting back northwest to include Letchworth State Park, Geneseo, and Batavia. The district continues west until it reaches the Canadian border at the Niagara River and Lewiston. This is the first time these counties have been grouped in a congressional seat.

“It’s hard to get around (all of District 24), but oh my God, the scenery. It’s so gorgeous,” Kastenbaum says. “We are so blessed at how beautiful and historical our land is.”

Census data estimates District 24 to have a population of 776,971 people and 371,340 housing units. Its population is, on average, older than the rest of New York, with 21.3 percent of the population 65 years or older, compared with 18.6 percent across the state.

Residents on average earn less than the rest of the state with a median household income of $69,878. (The median income is $73,132 in District 25, which includes all of Monroe and parts of Ontario county, and $82,095 statewide.)

Ethnically, the Lake District is overwhelmingly white, with 87.7 percent of the population classified as non-Hispanic white. Slightly more than 4 percent is Hispanic, 2.5 percent is Black, with the remainder being American Indian, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or multiple races.

“What unites us isn’t geography. Its values: hard work, faith, community, and fairness,” says Holden. “Whether you’re in Wayne County or Wyoming County, Steuben or Seneca, people here want the same things: to live with dignity; raise their families in safe communities, with access to quality education, health care, and other services; and know that if they work hard, they’ll be okay.”

On the issues

The three Democratic candidates believe that Tenney has not given the area the opportunities Holden mentions.

Kastenbaum wants to strengthen support for small businesses, health care, and educational institutions in the district and claw back the cuts made at the federal level. She sees this not as a radical idea, but as a pragmatic one.

“I’m a Democrat, but some people think I’m a progressive, which they see as a very bad thing. And then progressives think I’m too moderate for them. I don’t think they take the time to get to know a person,” she says. “I act with common sense. And I don’t want billionaires to keep passing on the costs of their cuts to us, the common people.”

Kastenbaum, who now serves as a trustee for a number of community college organizations, believes her experience in those fields makes her best suited to tackling the issues faced by District 24 residents.

Within the district’s boundaries there are about 10 colleges and universities, with seven of them part of the SUNY system, underscoring the reliance on public education. Kastenbaum believes that federal education cuts are impacting the region outside of higher education as well.

“Oakfield-Alabama Central School District, the budget went up twice and the people voted it down both times,” she says. “People are going to get tired of making up the difference from any federal funding that may be cut, and you can’t expect the state to do everything.”

Like Kastenbaum, Ellman believes that a college education program could be a revitalizing force for the region and should work hand in hand with workforce development.

Compared to the rest of New York, there are more people employed in the manufacturing and construction fields in District 24 as well, meaning measures such as the Trump-enacted tariffs will have a larger effect on businesses. Kastenbaum says she knows this well after running a tool-and-die company for many years.

She also points to her experience running for Batavia City Council and the District 27 congressional seat as an important asset. (She did not win those races.)

Farming community

Holden faced Tenney in 2022 in an unsuccessful bid. He says he learned much from the race and is more prepared for a rematch in 2026, given his familiarity with the district.

A veteran with over 20 years in the U.S. Army and from a family of farmers, he believes small-town communities have been left behind, and current federal policies will do even more to widen that gap. His focus for the district would be expanding rural broadband, health care funding, agricultural infrastructure, and workforce training.

“We’re watching small towns hollow out, hospitals closing, schools underfunded, farms vanishing, and our kids moving away for opportunity,” says Holden. “The system is rigged against rural communities.”

According to a report profiling the agricultural industry released by the state comptroller’s office in November, District 24’s geography is the most worked land in the state.

The Finger Lakes was the largest region in all measurements, accounting for 5,578 farms (18 percent of the statewide total), 1.4 million acres of farmland (21 percent), and $2.3 billion (29 percent) in agricultural sales in 2022. Cayuga, Wyoming, Wayne, Livingston, Genesee, and Ontario made up six of the top 10 of New York counties ranked by commodity sales that year. Over half of the total land in Genesee, Wyoming, Yates, Orleans, and Cayuga is farmland.

The report notes a wide diversity of products and herds in the Finger Lakes area, including maple syrup; grains, oilseeds, dry beans and dry peas; vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes; fruits, tree nuts and berries; sheep, goats, wool, mohair and goat milk; hogs and pigs; cattle and calves, as well as wine.

The North County and Western New York regions, which are partly in the district, also accounted for a sizable proportion of the state’s agricultural production, particularly in poultry, eggs, and cow milk.

A larger proportion of employment comes from the industries of agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining in District 24 compared with the rest of the state: 3.1 percent of workers in it are a part of that workforce compared with 0.3 percent in District 25 and 0.6 percent statewide.

Seasonal farmwork is also reliant on migrant workers, many of whom are from outside the country. Only 3.1 percent of the population in the Lake District is foreign-born, compared to 7.6 percent in District 25 and 21.3 percent across all of New York. However, of those foreign-born people, 44.1 percent are estimated to be non-naturalized citizens. That is higher than the respective 34 percent and 40 percent figures in that same category for District 25 and New York.

The non-naturalized category refers to a wide range of individuals, those who have a legal status to live and work in the U.S. and those who do not. Aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids this year, such as one on the Asia Food Market in Henrietta, have put farmworkers and their employers on the alert and wary of potential fallout.

“Usually (local farmers) are Republican or vote Republican. But they’re concerned,” says Kastenbaum. “They have seen ICE (go) into the smaller farms and take away workers. They haven’t really touched the bigger farms yet, but (those farms are) concerned about it. It would devastate them, and I can see they’re nervous about it.

“Farmers have always been wanting to fight for H2-A (temporary agricultural workers) visas to be year-round and not seasonal,” she continues. “That’s one of the first things I would want to do in Congress if I were there.”

While Tenney sought passage of a bill that would alter H2-A visas to be year-round, Kastenbaum was unimpressed at the congresswoman’s efforts to push for it. She was also critical of measures that would take food, health care, and housing costs from worker payments.

A political newcomer

Of the three candidates, Ellman is the newest to politics. She also thinks she’s not a stereotypical Democrat.

Ellman is a military veteran. She says she believes in traditionally conservative issues such as gun rights and fiscal responsibility.

“I am a lifelong Democrat, but I don’t always agree with everything (the party) does. I would like to see reasonable solutions, not just anti-Trump,” says Ellman. “I’m sick of Democrats being a party of millionaires too.”

She was thrust into the spotlight when speaking out after being laid off from her Department of Veteran Affairs job due to Department of Government Efficiency-related cuts earlier this year. She spoke about the issue in Washington, D.C., at Trump’s joint address to Congress as Sen. Chuck Schumer’s guest.

Ellman was eventually offered her job back in April. However, it was stipulated that, should she return, Ellman must end her criticism of any government action due to her federal employee status.

“I felt pretty manipulated by that. Honestly, it really upset me, it infuriated me,” Ellman says of the offer. “My character isn’t for sale. What I value isn’t for sale to these people, and I don’t know what they thought they were going to accomplish with that.”

As someone who has long-term health issues likely related to the burn pits of Afghanistan, Ellman says she is extremely aware of the importance of reliable health care. She believes that the current administration’s actions will hurt medical coverage across District 24, particularly for people who are vulnerable, disabled, or impoverished.

“It’s so disheartening to hear the government refer to us as ‘fraudsters’ or that we are abusers of the system, when we are the people who make the system work,” she says, both of those reliant on Medicare and fellow VA workers who were laid off. “I was very disappointed with the leadership I saw.”

Ellman held her campaign announcement just outside Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport, which closed in 2023 after years of financial turmoil. (Catholic Health opened the new Lockport Memorial Hospital in 2023, which now services the area.)

There are about 16 hospitals and health centers still open across the district, many of which need government support to continue running, Ellman says. Wyoming County General Hospital, for example, was recently granted $14.8 million by the state government for capital improvements.

For Ellman, the administration’s actions are typified by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a spending bill that forms the core of Trump’s second-term agenda. She sees it as both reducing needed services and programs, and cutting taxes for the wealthy.

“It was one thing when they talked up the One Big Beautiful Bill and told people the country was going to collapse if they didn’t reduce debt,” Ellman says. “But when you say that and turn around and give more tax breaks to billionaires and billion-dollar companies on the backs of the middle class, you’re stealing from us. And I don’t want to call it anything else.”

“(Tenney) voted for the Big Beautiful Bill, which gutted support for veterans, farmers, and working families. She supports baseless conspiracy theories and prioritizes partisan stunts over local needs,” adds Holden. “Claudia Tenney has made it clear she’s more interested in loyalty to Donald Trump than in representing the people of this district.”

Where Tenney stands

When Tenney voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill, she trumpeted its tax credit expansion for the domestic semiconductor manufacturing fields.

“Preserving and increasing the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit in the One Big Beautiful Bill sends a clear message that the United States is committed to long-term technological leadership and competitiveness,” Tenney said at the time. “This will level the playing field for American companies, create good-paying jobs, and ensure that Micron and other major employers continue to invest and grow here in New York.”

The three Democratic candidates have criticized recent activity by Tenney such as her April tour of the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo in El Salvador, a maximum security prison used by the Trump administration to hold immigrants forcibly removed from the country. They have also mocked a bill she proposed in February to make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday.

Tenney released an agricultural plan last month that she says will support local growers.

“My Agriculture Plan delivers real solutions unlocking the potential of our rural communities, counteracting hostile foreign interference in our agriculture sector, and providing farmers and producers with the certainty and opportunities they need to thrive,” Tenney said when announcing the plan. “From dairy and apples to maple syrup, vineyards and other specialty crops, our producers feed America and sustain thousands of local jobs.”

The plan contains 12 bills and actions focused on agriculture, which include a federal grape survey collection, incentives for seniors to buy local at farmers’ markets, and upgrading the spotted lanternfly at the Agriculture Department as an invasive species for study and elimination.

It also has bills that will increase the overtime thresholds for agricultural workers from 40 to 60 hours a week, allow unflavored and flavored whole milk to be offered in school cafeterias, and prevent sales of American agribusinesses and farmland to Chinese Communist Party-affiliated individuals and entities.

Tenney first won a congressional seat in 2016 in District 22, a Central New York district that extended as far north as Lake Ontario, near Oswego, and as far south as Binghamton, at the border with Pennsylvania. She lost her reelection bid in 2018 but won again in 2020 amid claims of Democratic voter fraud, a theory Trump publicly supported.

Due to redistricting, Tenney moved into District 24 in 2022. Her longtime residence in Utica fell outside the new boundaries, so she rented a home in Canandaigua before moving to the village of Cleveland on Oneida Lake in Oswego County in 2023.

Representatives are not required to live in the district they represent. Holden lives in the town of Camillus, which falls outside the district.

(The most recent cycle of redistricting was controversial in New York, with Gov. Kathy Hochul signing the boundaries to be used in the next elections just this February. However, the newest map will not impact District 24’s area.)

During her tenure in office, Tenney supported Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, opposed vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, voted in favor of prohibiting Medicaid-related property taxes, and sponsored a bill that would make giving gender-affirming care to transgender minors a felony.

Voter imbalance

With two elections since redistricting, District 24 voters have chosen Tenney each time.

She won in 2022 against Holden with a commanding 65.7 percent of the vote. The results were nearly identical in 2024 when she again won the district with 65.6 percent of the vote against David Wagenhauser, a moderate Democrat from Waterloo.

She won those races while also being challenged in Republican primary races by Mario Fratto, a granite manufacturing and installation businessman.

Enrollment data from state Board of Elections shows that the balance of power in the current areas of District 24, which were already tilted toward Republicans, has grown even more weighted toward that side. There have been gains in Republican voters, but the imbalance is driven even more so by declining Democratic Party enrollment.

From 2008 to 2025, the number of active enrolled Republican voters has grown by 5,217, from 216,504 to 221,721. This increase has been the largest in Ontario, Steuben, and Genesee counties.

Further boosting one party’s dominance, the Conservative Party, which aligns most with Republican policies and candidates, has grown the most out of any third party in the area. In the same time span, active Conservative voters have increased by 2,776, from 9,771 to 12,547.

In comparison, the number of active enrolled Democratic voters has fallen by 12,594, from 137,217 to 124,623, over the last 13 years. Losses in Genesee, Wyoming, and Niagara counties were responsible for the most significant amount of Democratic decline in the district.

Tenney also has amassed a sizable campaign war chest. Reports from the Federal Election Commission indicate she had raised $1.18 million as of June 30. 

Hopeful for change

Even so, Kastenbaum has seen hope in 2025 through simple conversations with her neighbors in the Batavia area, where she has lived for decades. She says she is used to speaking respectfully with people who do not agree on politics.

In the beginning of Trump’s second term, she sees a shift in sentiment. The economic impact of tariffs, immigration, and health care policies has made a number of her neighbors, many of whom are lifelong Republicans, concerned.

“I’ve seen more openness with them wanting to talk to me,” says Kastenbaum. “People really wanted to know about their bread-and-butter issues, their kitchen-table issues. That’s what I want to concentrate on because that’s what will negatively affect people in our rural district.”

It’s a shift she has seen, especially after helping to organize a series of town hall meetings across the district through the group Concerned Citizens of NY24. The meetings were designed to be a nonpartisan public forum where individuals could ask questions of experts on a panel or express their emotions about the future.

The first, held in March in the town of Geneva, had over 400 attendees, many more than Kastenbaum and other organizers were expecting. Another, held at the Genesee ARC GLOW Community Center in Batavia, had 285 people crowd into the 300-seat-maximum space. Other events were held or supported by Concerned Citizens of NY24 in Lockport, Hemlock, Oswego, and Waterloo.

The meetings brought up a variety of concerns, which Kastenbaum says were consistently about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, agriculture, small businesses, veteran care, and education. (Tenney was invited to the events, but gave no response to the invitation.)

A retired city manager came up to Kastenbaum after the event in Batavia to congratulate her on the turnout, and Kastenbaum asked him about his observations on the political breakdown of attendees.

“He said, ‘Diana, I know the Republicans, it was half and half.’ So, that was good, that was a success for us,” Kastenbaum recalls. “That’s what made me think there was an opening here.”

“We’re building a coalition of Democrats, independents, veterans, farmers, and even fed-up Republicans who know Claudia Tenney isn’t working for them anymore,” agrees Holden, who describes the groups he is cultivating and has attended similar events in the area.

“A lot of those MAGA Republicans, they’re desperate for change. Because this current system isn’t working for them either,” Ellman adds. “No wonder people are angry and willing to vote for snake oil salesmen. They are looking at the return on investment in their communities and seeing a big fat zero.”

Ellman sees this election race as more than simply winning a congressional seat. Her campaign is working to update the Democratic Party infrastructure in District 24, getting more digital and organizing outreach to communities.

“We have more than one goal. Oftentimes, you can lay the road for the next campaign as well. We have that mindset running this campaign,” she says. “We’re looking for long-term success.”

“This isn’t about turning the whole district blue overnight,” agrees Holden, who plans to build on his 2022 effort. “It’s about earning trust, one conversation at a time.”

Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.

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