Cara Castronuova is the Republican candidate, running to represent New Yorkers in the New York State Assembly for District 22. A celebrity fitness trainer, athlete, media personality and activist Castronuova is seeking to unseat Democrat incumbent Michaelle Solages, a member of the Working Families Party who has been serving the district since 2013.
In conversation with Vision Times, Castronuova said that “New York is at a crossroads” and that she had “no choice” but to run for office adding that “It’s a fight for New York State, because New York was once the best state, it still is, but it’s very much in danger right now, it’s very much in danger.”
She is perhaps best known for being featured as a head trainer on NBC’s hit television series “The Biggest Loser” where she helped propel the show to its highest ratings ever. She is also an American champion boxer who has won two Golden Gloves championships in Madison Square Garden.
Currently, Castronuova is an investigative journalist who writes for the Gateway Pundit and contributes to Newsmax’s show, “Wiseguys with John Tabacco” on a weekly basis.
A highly trained martial artist, she appears regularly as a boxing reporter, color commentator and analyst on various media. She holds a master’s certification issued by the International Sports Science Association and is a certified boxing coach with the New York State Athletic Commission.
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Castronuova, like many, was once a Democrat, telling Vision Times that she was raised to be a Democrat but that the Trump presidency “opened her eyes” and she switched.
“Well, I was a Democrat, and I changed a long time ago,” she said, adding that, “People are always telling you that Republicans are racist. Now people tell me that I’m racist, it’s crazy.”
Castronuva is the daughter of an immigrant. Her mother was a Chinese immigrant from the Philippines who worked as an architect and her father was a United States Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran with an Italian American heritage.
“So, five years I’ve been a Republican and I just vote down the red line because I think that they are on the better side of history,” she said, adding that, “I don’t think I could trust Democrats ever again because they told so many lies to us.”
A staunch opponent of mandates
“I want to try to help write new legislation to protect people from vaccine mandates, which I think are so evil and so wrong,” Castronuva told Vision Times. “Mask mandates too, because that just leads to more mandates,” she added.
She said she wants to begin building a family in New York and sympathized with parents facing vaccine mandates in order for their children to attend school. “If I want my kids to go to school, they have to have mandatory vaccinations” she said adding that, “If I had a three or four-year-old I would move because I would not want them to be in New York City schools.”
In addition she said the environment in New York State right now is tense due to the mandates and rhetoric surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s very scary when the government is telling you to close your business; when the government is able to tell you you have to get a vaccine or you’ll get fired from your job or you can’t go to a restaurant if you’re not vaccinated.”
“If I get elected, one of the things I really want to do is help write legislation that will protect New Yorkers, especially from things that really hurt us during the pandemic; legislation to protect seniors in nursing homes, to protect people from mask mandates … to protect people from vaccine mandates, and also to help New York with crime and bail reform.”
On the issue of bail reform Castronuva said that New York’s bail reform laws, that went into effect in 2020, need to be repealed.
“I know that a lot of Chinese people are concerned about crime, there has been a lot of violence towards the Chinese people,” she said adding that, “ I think that’s getting misconstrued by the media. Nobody is really talking about who the perpetrators are … which I think is unfortunate,” adding that repealing bail reform laws will assist the Asian community and hold criminals accountable for their crimes.
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On illegal immigration
She expressed frustration over the immigration crisis which she called a “very complicated issue” and sympathized with states like Texas whose Governor, Greg Abbott, has resorted to sending busloads of illegal immigrants to New York City, and other sanctuary cities across the country, in an apparent attempt to demonstrate the stress his state is under.
“I feel bad for Texas because they are the ones getting all the immigrants and now they are showing New York what they are going through,” she said.
According to data, published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, this fiscal year, authorities had over 2.2 million encounters with people attempting to cross into the U.S. illegally and had encounters with over 13 thousand unaccompanied minors, at the southern border, in the month of July 2022 alone.
Some 67 percent of all southwest land border encounters so far this fiscal year were with single adults and 52 percent of them were allowed to remain in the U.S. and 48 percent were expelled from the country under Title 42.
“It’s frustrating, especially for me, my family. My mom is Chinese; she came here legally and it was very difficult to get citizenship for my grandparents,” Castronuva said.
Fighting for the underdog
Castronuova is no stranger to serving her community having founded the “Knockout Obesity Foundation,” a charity dedicated to helping youth who struggle with obesity and need help in obtaining a healthy lifestyle.
She is also the co-founder of Citizens Against Political Persecution, an advocacy group fighting solely for the constitutional rights of the political prisoners of January 6th.
Jon Mellis, who was arrested by the FBI in February of 2021 for his involvement in the January 6th protests calls Castronuova his “hero.”
“Because of her, America has not forgotten me. God bless Cara. She is my hero,” he said according to the Gateway Pundit.
“Besides fighting to save my state and my country, I will use the platform to continue to fight for justice and for regular American people that have been forgotten,” she told the Gateway Pundit adding that, “I will fight to give a voice to the voiceless. If anyone knows how to fight for people, it is me. I don’t give up, I don’t surrender, I do what’s right. No matter what the cost I will always do what’s right,” she said.
On August 31, Castronuova held a fundraising event that was attended by Mayor Rudy Guiliani, Ashli Babbitt’s mother Micki Wittoeft and Newsmax Host John Tabacco.
Always thinking of the underdog she implored people to help her “freedom activist friends,” who lost their livelihoods due to vaccine mandates, to purchase tickets to the event.
“Many of my freedom activist friends are not working because they refused the shot and were terminated. I feel bad asking them to pay. It would be great if people could donate towards their tickets and they can come to the event,” she told the Gateway Pundit adding that,” They are my people and I will always fight for them here in New York.”
In March of 2020, right when highly questionable lockdowns were being implemented across the United States, she was the first to organize a “Re-Open New York” rally that even attracted the attention of President Donald Trump.
The 2022 New York State Assembly election will be held on Nov. 8 and will elect representatives from all 150 districts across the state.
