# Alexander Portelli 36-year-old Cherry Valley resident, USMC veteran, farmer, and small-business owner running as an **anti-establishment insurgent** in the 2026 Republican primary for [[NY-19-2026]]. Running against Trump- and Speaker-endorsed NY State Senator [[Peter Oberacker]] and Democratic incumbent [[Josh Riley]] in the general. **Ballot-access crisis (as of 2026-04-23)**: Objector Olivia Clemente (former NY Assembly Republican Campaign Committee operations director) filed a signature challenge on **2026-04-14** alleging Portelli claimed to witness multiple petition signatures on the same day in geographically distant locations — calling this "fraud on the part of the candidate." NYSBOE staff has already invalidated **387 signatures** of the 1,120 challenged; Portelli needs to clear 1,250 to appear on the June 23 ballot. **Final NYSBOE certification deadline: 2026-04-29.** Portelli has publicly denied the allegations. In an April 12, 2026 video he said: *"people trying to stop this movement are not Democrats. It's my own party."* ## 2026 cycle - **Primary date**: 2026-06-23 — **if he qualifies** - **Ballot-access deadline**: 2026-04-29 — the binary resolution moment - The signature objector is credentialed with the state GOP apparatus, signaling the establishment is doing the primary-clearing work for Oberacker - If Portelli survives certification, the primary becomes a **Trump-loyalist (Oberacker) vs. MAGA-outsider (Portelli)** test — an unusual configuration where both candidates claim the MAGA lane - If Portelli falls off the ballot, Oberacker walks unopposed to the general ## Background - Cherry Valley, Otsego County resident (rural Southern Tier/Mohawk Valley) - USMC veteran (service era / deployment detail — NEEDS VERIFICATION) - Farmer; small-business owner - First-time federal-office candidate ## Ideological positioning - MAGA-outsider / anti-establishment insurgent - Frames the primary as "my own party" trying to stop him — the populist-grievance frame used when Trump has already endorsed a rival - A specific sub-type of 2026 GOP candidate: the Trump-aligned insurgent running *against* a Trump-endorsed candidate in the same primary - Agrarian / rural small-business persona differentiates him from Oberacker's state-legislator profile ## Related - [[NY-19-2026]] — 2026 race file - [[Peter Oberacker]] — Trump-endorsed R primary rival - [[Josh Riley]] — Democratic incumbent (stub TBD) ## Sources - [Ballotpedia — Alexander Portelli](https://ballotpedia.org/Alexander_Portelli) - [All Otsego — Portelli signature challenge](https://www.allotsego.com/portellis-ny-19-candidacy-at-risk-after-boe-petition-review/)