VoterLens
Penn State University—Bachelor's in Agricultural Business and Management
Data last updated 10/21/2026
Blake Gendebien is a second-generation dairy farmer and small business owner from the North Country. He owns Twin Mill Farms, co-founded A Wholesome Glow and the Jules of Life Foundation, served on the Lisbon Central School Board, and served as Vice Chair of the Cooperative Board of Agri-Mark.
Committee Assignments: No committee assignments available.
Blake Gendebien’s healthcare platform centers on protecting rural healthcare access in NY-21 by opposing cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, supporting rural hospitals, expanding telehealth and transportation, and lowering prescription drug costs. He also supports reproductive healthcare access, including abortion rights, contraception, and reproductive health education.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Gendebien says he will never vote to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, framing these programs as essential for seniors, families, and rural healthcare providers.
SourceGendebien said rural hospitals in NY-21 are threatened by Medicaid cuts and called for restoring Medicaid funding, rolling back cuts, and bringing back Affordable Care Act premium subsidies.
SourceGendebien supports growing telehealth services and investing in transportation options so rural patients can reach needed care.
SourceGendebien identifies lowering prescription drug costs as critical to making healthcare more affordable for families and seniors.
SourceGendebien says he supports protecting a woman’s right to choose, opposes total abortion bans, and supports access to safe, affordable contraception and age-appropriate reproductive health education.
SourceBlake Gendebien emphasizes lowering household and farm costs, rebuilding cross-border trade, and creating rural job opportunities through workforce training, fair trade, and legal labor channels. His Economy & Jobs platform is rooted in agriculture, small business, veterans' employment, unions, and bringing manufacturing and economic opportunity back to NY-21.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Gendebien says his campaign is focused on lowering gasoline, fuel, fertilizer, and other living costs for North Country families, farmers, seniors, and veterans.
SourceGendebien supports repairing commercial relationships with Ontario and Quebec, arguing that cross-border trade helps drive the North Country economy and can reduce food and business costs.
SourceGendebien's campaign says a stronger rural economy requires programs for young farmers and entrepreneurs, including expanded vocational, trade school, BOCES, and Agricultural Studies Academy opportunities.
SourceGendebien supports expanding job training programs, supporting veteran-owned businesses, and strengthening hiring initiatives so veterans can obtain good-paying jobs and build successful careers.
SourceGendebien says he wants fair trade rather than taxpayer aid for farmers, opposes trade policies that drive up costs, and supports putting pressure on China while bringing jobs and manufacturing back to the North Country.
SourceBlake Gendebien frames immigration as a broken system that needs both border security and practical legal-workforce reforms. His stated approach combines securing the northern border, deporting violent undocumented criminals with due process, expanding immigration-system capacity, and creating/streamlining legal worker pathways for agriculture and other labor-short industries.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Gendebien said the northern border should be secured as part of "common-sense immigration reform" that also improves legal pathways and protects national security.
SourceGendebien supports deporting violent criminals who are in the country illegally, while emphasizing that removals should include due process.
SourceGendebien supports a non-seasonal guest worker program to help farms, food processors, transportation facilities, and grocery stores address labor shortages and lower food costs.
SourceGendebien says the legal immigration process should be streamlined by hiring more immigration judges so claims can be processed faster.
SourceAt town halls, Gendebien called for more funding and resources for the immigration system and argued immigrant labor is important to the dairy economy and food prices.
SourceBlake Gendebien accepts that climate change is real and significantly driven by fossil-fuel use, framing the issue through agriculture, rural affordability, Adirondack protection, hydropower, and clean-energy investment. He supports holding polluters accountable and climate-related public-health action, while emphasizing that climate costs should not be passed on to farmers and rural families.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Gendebien said he supports the core principle of making major oil and gas companies absorb the costs of climate damage, while warning that the bill must be structured so costs are not passed through to farmers and rural families.
SourceGendebien said he opposes this bill because it would limit the ability of states and communities to hold major energy companies accountable in court for documented climate harms.
SourceGendebien opposed using federal funding threats to override New York's fracking policy choices and said energy solutions should fit the North Country, including regional hydroelectric power.
SourceGendebien said he supports a resolution recognizing climate change as a growing public-health threat requiring coordinated action, citing extreme heat, air quality, flooding, severe weather, and strains on rural health systems.
SourceIn Senate testimony before becoming a congressional candidate, Gendebien supported conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and climate-smart practices including feed and manure management to help dairy farms improve sustainability.
SourceBlake Gendebien emphasizes support for public education, full funding for local districts, and opposition to vouchers or charter programs that divert resources from public schools. He also supports rural career and technical education, school meals, student nutrition, and education-related supports such as teacher retention and mental health services in schools.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Gendebien said he would not let Washington shortchange public schools and called for full funding rather than vouchers or charter programs that take money away from students with the greatest needs.
SourceAt a Herkimer town hall, Gendebien said the school lunch program had been important to his family and that he would support maintaining school meals for kids.
SourceAt a Croghan town hall, Gendebien highlighted BOCES as important for the district’s future and said maintaining support for those programs and facilities should not be divisive.
SourceGendebien’s issues page calls for expanding vocational and trade school opportunities, including BOCES programs and the Agricultural Studies Academy, so young people can gain post-high-school skills.
SourceAfter a Potsdam roundtable with local teachers, Gendebien said rural schools need more resources and linked public education to mental health services, universal kindergarten, free meals, and federal support such as public service loan forgiveness for new teachers.
SourceBlake Gendebien frames public safety around border security paired with due process and immigration-law enforcement accountability. He supports more Border Patrol staffing, local law-enforcement funding, anti-trafficking and anti-drug measures, deportation of violent undocumented criminals, and reforms such as identifiable ICE agents, body cameras, and expanded rural EMS capacity.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Gendebien says he would push to hire more Border Patrol agents to keep ports of entry well-staffed in New York’s border district.
SourceGendebien supports increasing funding for local law enforcement, fighting human trafficking, stopping illegal drugs and criminals at the border, and deporting criminals who entered the country illegally.
SourceGendebien says the country should secure the border and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crimes, while observing due process and constitutional limits.
SourceGendebien said he would not vote to withhold federal funding for ICE, but supports changing ICE leadership and requiring law enforcement accountability, including identifiable officers and body cameras.
SourceGendebien says rural communities need to consider making EMS an essential service and rewarding volunteer fire-department responders who handle emergency medical calls.
SourceU.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/cd49557a-ffe2-33e2-baa4-13cf24f355db/Testimony_Gendebien_05.02.2023.pdfFetched: biography, location
FEC API
https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/H6NY21199/totals/Fetched: totalRaised, totalSpent, cashOnHand
Federal Election Commission
https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6NY21199/?cycle=2026Fetched: campaignFinance
OpenSecrets search results
https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=Blake%20GendebienFetched: campaignFinance
WPTZ
https://www.mynbc5.com/article/clinton-county-democratic-committee-endorses-blake-gendebien/70486676Fetched: endorsements
National Security Leaders for America
https://nsl4a2026endorsements.substack.com/p/blake-gendebien-dFetched: endorsements
St. Lawrence County Democratic Committee
https://www.stlcdemocrats.com/post/slc-dems-endorse-gendebien-for-ny21-congressFetched: endorsements
Blake Gendebien for Congress - Issues
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/issues/Fetched: issuePositions
WWNY
https://www.wwnytv.com/2026/06/15/gendebien-emphasizes-rural-healthcare-border-security-21st-district-democratic-primary/Fetched: issuePositions
Blake Gendebien for Congress - Victory Speech
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/news/watch-blake-gendebien-delivers-victory-speech-after-winning-democratic-nomination-in-ny-21/Fetched: issuePositions
North Country Public Radio
https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/54076/20261013/ny-21-democrat-blake-gendebien-on-immigration-healthcare-and-his-moderate-approachFetched: issuePositions
Blake Gendebien for Congress - The Issues
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/issues/Fetched: issuePositions
WWNY TV
https://www.wwnytv.com/2026/06/15/gendebien-emphasizes-rural-healthcare-border-security-21st-district-democratic-primary/Fetched: issuePositions
WXXI News
https://www.wxxinews.org/2026-06-10/ny-21-candidate-profile-democrat-blake-gendebienFetched: issuePositions
WCAX
https://www.wcax.com/2026/06/05/candidates-compete-replace-rep-elise-stefanik-new-yorks-21st-district/Fetched: issuePositions
TALK! 100.7 FM
https://wutqfm.com/ny-21-candidate-blake-gendebien-talks-affordability-immigration-policy-iran-in-campaign-for-congress/Fetched: issuePositions
Blake Gendebien for Congress
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/news/release-4-28-25-2/Fetched: issuePositions
Protect the Adirondacks
https://www.protectadks.org/federal-and-state-candidates-answer-questions-on-environmental-matters-in-adirondack-park/Fetched: issuePositions
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/download/testimony_gendebien_05022023pdfFetched: issuePositions
Blake Gendebien for Congress - NYSUT Endorsement
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/news/nysut-endorses-blake-gendebien-for-congress-in-new-yorks-21st-district/Fetched: issuePositions
Blake Gendebien for Congress - Herkimer Town Hall
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/news/release-4-3-25/Fetched: issuePositions
Blake Gendebien for Congress - Croghan Town Hall
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/news/release-5-5-25/Fetched: issuePositions
Blake Gendebien for Congress - Potsdam Teacher Roundtable
https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/news/nysut-endorsed-candidate-gendebien-hosts-potsdam-roundtable-with-local-teachers/Fetched: issuePositions
WCAX/WWNY - Gendebien emphasizes rural healthcare, border security
https://www.wcax.com/2026/06/15/gendebien-emphasizes-rural-healthcare-border-security-21st-district-democratic-primary/Fetched: issuePositions
CNHI - Amoriell, Gendebien debate in Congressional race
https://www.cnhi.com/rss_feed/amoriell-gendebien-debate-in-congressional-race/Fetched: issuePositions
iVoterGuide - Blake Gendebien candidate profile
https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/94901/race/33829/election/1487Fetched: issuePositions