Claudia Tenney

Tenney was a co-owner of Mid-York Press, a commercial printing company started by her mother's family in 1946.

Mid-York Press is in Sherburne, in Chenango County.

Tenney maintained a private law practice in Clinton.

Before owning her own firm, she was a partner at the Utica-area law firm of Groben, Gilroy, Oster and Saunders.

Claudia L. Tenney (born February 4, 1961) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 24th congressional district since 2023.

She acted as intermediary between ABC Sports and the Yugoslavian government leading up to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

In January 2001, Tenney began co-hosting Common Cents, a radio and television program that aired weekly across Oneida and most of Herkimer County.

In 2002, New York State Assemblyman David R. Townsend Jr. won reelection and asked Tenney to become his legal counsel and Chief of Staff.

Though she was going through a divorce at the time, she agreed to take the positions part-time so she could continue operating her law practice and her family-owned newspaper.

In 2009, Tenney ran for Oneida County Surrogate Court Judge as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Louis Gigliotti.

She received 45% of the vote to Gigliotti's 55%.

In February 2010, she began co-hosting "First Look" on WIBX 950 Radio.

After Townsend launched a campaign for Oneida County Sheriff in 2010, Tenney decided to run for his Assembly seat.

She defeated Oneida County Legislator George Joseph in the September Republican primary and was unopposed in the November general election, becoming the first woman to represent the district.

By the time the judge overseeing the recount ruled in Tenney's favor, the 117th United States Congress had been in session for a month.

Tenney was born and raised in New Hartford, New York.

Her parents were Cynthia and New York State Supreme Court Justice John R. Tenney.

She attended New Hartford High School, where she played basketball and curling and competed in horseback riding.

She has a B.A. from Colgate University and a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Early in her career, Tenney was the only American employed by the Consulate General of Yugoslavia.

Tenney represented the 115th Assembly District from 2011 to 2013 and the 101st Assembly District from 2013 to 2017.

In 2011, Tenney voted against the Marriage Equality Act.

WRVO, a National Public Radio affiliate in Oswego, fact-checked NYPIRG's claim and found that she had a 95% attendance record from 2011 to 2016 and had missed 6% of the votes taken during that period.

In 2012, Tenney was one of 18 cosponsors of the Internet Protection Act, a bill intended to fight online bullying, which did not pass.

Also in 2012, the Conservative Party of New York State gave her an award for being the state's most conservative legislator.

She voted against the 2013 gun control law known as the NY SAFE Act, which she called an "assault on upstaters."

According to Syracuse.com, "Tenney was a vocal critic of a revenue-sharing deal the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona signed with New York state in 2013, in which the Oneida Indian National won exclusive rights to run casinos in a 10-county region of Central New York."

Tenney voted against the 2013 state constitutional amendment that authorized full-fledged casinos on non-Indian lands.

In 2014, she challenged incumbent U.S. Representative Richard L. Hanna in the Republican primary and lost.

In 2014, the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) claimed Tenney had missed 480 votes, the third-highest number of any Assembly member.

Later, a Super PAC "with ties to the Oneida Indian nation" opposed her 2014 and 2016 congressional bids.

In 2014, Tenney ran for the Republican nomination for New York's 22nd congressional district, losing the June 24 primary to incumbent Republican Richard L. Hanna by six points, 47–53%.

Tenney ran to the right of Hanna.

Tenney was elected to Congress in 2016 after Hanna retired.

Tenney again sought election to Congress from the 22nd District in the 2016 elections.

Hanna retired weeks later, denying that the prospect of a primary rematch with Tenney was a factor.

Previously, she represented the 22nd district from 2017 to 2019 and from 2021 to 2023, and sat in the New York State Assembly from 2011 to 2016.

A member of the Republican Party, Tenney is an outspoken supporter of former president Donald Trump.

In 2018, Tenney's unsuccessful race against Democrat Anthony Brindisi attracted national attention due to its competitiveness and controversial public statements Tenney had made earlier that year.

Tenney's rematch against Brindisi in 2020 was even closer, leading to a lengthy recount.