New York Democrat Matt Putorti is challenging House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik in New York’s 21st Congressional District. Stefanik’s campaign team slammed Putorti, who is a lawyer from Whitehall, N.Y., as a “far-left socialist candidate.”

The Hill reports:

“I describe Whitehall as a spaghetti dinner town,” Putorti says in the clip. “If somebody loses a job or there’s not enough health insurance to provide coverage for a life-threatening illness, the community will throw a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to help that person.”

He called Stefanik “a threat to spaghetti dinner towns” and highlighted her stance questioning the validity of the 2020 presidential election results.

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“Voters will immediately learn that New York City Far Left lawyer Matt Putorti supported and donated to radical Socialist Squad Members of Congress who support defunding the police, trillions in new taxes, open borders, and gun bans,” Stefanik’s senior advisor Alex Degrasse said in a statement to WWNYTV. 

Additionally, Stefanik is a talented fundraiser. The New York congresswoman launched Elevate PAC in 2019 in an effort to boost the number of Republican women serving in Congress. After a dismal showing in the 2018 midterms, a record number of GOP women were elected to Congress in 2020.

Putorti faces an uphill battle to oust Stefanik in the Republican-leaning district. So far, he’s the second Democrat to announce his challenge to Stefanik, joining Democrat Ezra Watson.