Alexander Portelli Makes NY-19 Ballot
By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
ALBANY
Alexander Portelli, the upstart Republican Congressional candidate, has successfully made the NY-19 primary ballot after a New York State Board of Elections state hearing and commissioner vote. It forces a June primary with state Senator Peter Oberacker, the winner of which will face Democratic Representative Josh Riley.
Olivia Clemente of Valatie, New York filed objections to Portelli’s signatures earlier this month, claiming numerous flaws and alleging fraud. Portelli denies the allegations.
Initial NYSBOE review recommended invalidating the petition, though with a far smaller number of invalid signatures than Clemente alleged. A Friday, April 24 NYSBOE staff hearing, however, reversed the recommendation against validating Portelli’s petition signatures. The NYSBOE is a ministerial agency and does not adjudicate allegations of fraud.
The afternoon of Tuesday, April 28, NYSEBOE commissioners formalized that decision and others in a brief meeting. Portelli will appear on the ballot.
In an interview after the staff hearing, Portelli panned the attempt to prevent him from appearing on the ballot as “lawfare.” He said public service is “grueling” and that the ordeal has prompted him to add ballot reform to his platform.
“It should be easy enough that the most disenfranchised person should be able to run, and they shouldn’t feel intimidated or feel they need an election lawyer just to partake in the process,” he said.
Core planks of Portelli’s platform have also included abolishing income tax for those earning under $1 million per year, ending all foreign aid, and “kicking out” NYSEG and National Grid. The Cherry Valley resident has presented himself as a populist alternative taking on the establishment of both parties. When he was 19, Portelli was convicted of two drug charges. Upon being paroled four years later in 2013, he briefly ran as a Libertarian to be Albany’s mayor.
According to NYSBOE, the staff hearing officer was Thomas Connolly, deputy executive director for the body. The hearing clerk was Brendan Lovullo, the other deputy executive director.
Portelli hired an election lawyer, Gary Donoyan, to represent him in the staff hearing last Friday. His father, John Portelli, also represented him. Initial NYSBOE staff recommendations following Clemente’s objections left Portelli with just shy of the 1,250 signatures required to make the ballot. The Portelli campaign was able to restore enough to put them just above the threshold at the hearing.
Clemente, who was not present and who previously worked on Republican campaigns, was represented by two lawyers: Jon Graves and David Previte of Hinman Straub. The attorneys have a history of working for New York State Republicans, particularly in the State Senate.
None of the three responded to AllOtsego’s e-mailed questions.
The unexpected primary battle could split some Republican voters, taking attention and resources away from the Oberacker campaign which is widely assumed to be the favorite in the race. Oberacker has secured the endorsement of President Donald Trump and many other national and local Republican leaders. The Oberacker campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
But the campaign of Democratic Representative Josh Riley, who will slide to the general election without facing a primary, criticized both Portelli and Oberacker, respectively.
“Republican voters will have to choose between either a far-right MAGA loyalist and convicted felon or an Albany Swamp Creature who takes corporate PAC money, votes to raise utility rates, and supports a regime-change war that’s spiking gas and fertilizer prices,” the Riley campaign said in a statement to AllOtsego. “Good luck.”
An earlier version of this then-developing story appeared in the April 30, 2026 print edition of “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta.”
