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Rep. Claudia Tenney holds off GOP primary challenge by Mario Fratto

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-24) defeated Mario Fratto of Geneva, NY in Tuesday's GOP primary. It was the second time in the last two elections Tenney emerged the victor in their primary fight.
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Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-24) defeated Mario Fratto of Geneva, NY in Tuesday's GOP primary. It was the second time in the last two elections Tenney emerged the victor in their primary fight.

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney easily won her Republican primary on Tuesday against Mario Fratto of Geneva in the 24th Congressional District.

That sprawling district stretches from Western New York to the North Country, and includes all of Cayuga County, Wayne County, Seneca County, Yates County, Ontario County, Livingston County, Wyoming County, Genesee County, and parts of Oswego, Jefferson, Orleans and Niagara County.

As of late Tuesday night, Tenney was leading Fratto, an attorney and businessman from Geneva, by about a 60% to 38% margin, with most of the votes counted.

This was a rematch from 2022, when Tenney also defeated Fratto’s attempt to gain the GOP nomination.

On Tuesday night, he told WXXI News that his campaign did well considering they just didn’t have the resources the incumbent had,

“I think the last reports were that we were being outspent 18 to one,” said Fratto. “You know, there's a lot of big money, we were basically up against everything. She had President Trump on her side, she had every elected Republican official, the committees, every single county chair in 14 counties.”

Both candidates criticized the attacks they faced from their opponent during campaign.

Tenney issued a statement saying that her campaign benefited from leadership on key issues including securing the borders and fighting to protect Second Amendment rights, and said “we will now work tirelessly to deliver President Trump back to the White House.” 

Tenney will face Democrat David Wagenhauser in a strong Republican-leaning district this November.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.