‘The Biggest Loser’ trainer Cara Castronuova sues NY GOP in bid for Senate
Cara Castronuova, a former Golden Gloves boxing champ and celebrity fitness trainer on reality show “The Biggest Loser,” filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the New York State Republican Party of having onerous rules that thwart her from qualifying for ballot status to run for the US Senate.
Castronuova, in the complaint filed in Eastern District Court, said the GOP’s requirement that a candidate must obtain 15,000 valid signatures from Republican voters is anti-democratic and unconstitutional.
The state Board of Elections is also listed as a defendant.
Her confidante, John Tabacco, a Republican from Staten Island, is also listed as a plaintiff.
The 15,000 voter signatures must be collected in 13 of the 26 congressional districts over 37 days. The petitions must be filed by April 4.
Castronuova, in the court papers, said she had collected more than 13,500 signatures,
“It is practically impossible for an average citizen to meet the 15,000 signature requirement,” Castronuova and Tabacco said in the suit.
“It is unlikely that even the Party could gather the 15,000 signatures in time given the onerousness of the rules and the expense. They have exempted themselves and their favored candidates from the very rules they set for anyone besides their favored candidate,” the suit says.
The lawsuit references a case in 2000, when a federal judge declared New York Republican ballot access rules unconstitutional, thus allowing presidential candidate John McCain to run in a primary against George W. Bush.
“It’s `deja vu all over again,’” the lawsuit said.
At their party convention in February, Republicans picked former NYPD Detective Mike Sapraicone to run as their candidate in a longshot bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in November.
Sapraicone beat out Castronuova, currently a Newsmax reporter, and entrepreneur Josh Eisen for the party nod.
Both Castronuova and Eisen failed to garner 25% of the weighted delegates’ vote to qualify for ballot status to run in a Republican primary.
The only other way to get on the ballot is to collect 15,000 signatures from registered Republicans.
Meanwhile, her fortunes took another turn south when former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the White House, endorsed Sapraicone.
Castronuova sought to run as a Make America Great Again or MAGA candidate with Trump’s backing.
Jason Weingartner, executive director of the state Republican Party, dismissed Castronuova’s lawsuit as a frivolous “public relations stunt.”
“We do not set these rules. The rules are set by the state Legislature,” Weingartner said.
“Naming us in the lawsuit is clearly a public relations stunt by a candidate who failed to get traction.”
He noted that four candidates who ran for governor in 2022 were able to gather enough signatures to qualify for a primary — Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republicans Andrew Giuliani, Rob Astorino and Harry Wilson.
