Democrat Tedra Cobb is making her first big public campaign swing ahead of the 2020 election, now a year away. Her campaign has been energized, in part, by the impeachment debate with more than $1 million donated to her campaign over the last week. The Democrat is looking more experienced and confident in her second run against Stefanik.

On her first 2020 campaign swing, Cobb says NY21 "is my home"

Tedra Cobb, a former county legislator from Canton, comes into the American Legion hall in Plattsburgh grinning. After greeting the cheering crowd, Cobb settles into her stump speech:

"New York 21 isn't just some area on a map for me, it's my home," she says. Much of her speech is familiar from 2018. Again and again, Cobb makes the point that she’s local, she’s lived here, raised a family here.

In her last race against Stefanik, Cobb did manage to cut deep into the Republican’s margin, but Cobb still lost by fourteen points.

David Sommerstein covered that campaign and was with Cobb when she conceded defeat a little more than a year ago.

"At times Cobb struggled to articulate clear policy positions and she wrestled with specifcis on gun control," Sommerstein reported.

More experienced, Cobb pivots to attack

The question this year is will Cobb’s campaign be different and this event in Plattsburgh does feel sharper, more focused. After her folksy introduction, Cobb pivots to attack Stefanik on Social Security, on Medicare, and on the Affordable Care Act.

"She takes money from the worst corporate actors out there," Cobb says. "The pharmaceutical companies that have profited from the opioid crisis, corporate polluters and insurance companies that want to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

Cobb also blasted Stefanik for focusing too much of her attention on partisan matters, working to recruit candidates for the GOP nationwide, emerging as one of President Donald Trump’s leading defenders in Washington.

Cobb promises her focus will be here in the district:

I trust voters will see they have a clear choice "We the people of New York's 21st congressional district aren't Stefanik's priority and we see it in everything she does. That is the biggest difference between us. Congresswoman Stefanik is a Washington insider, but for the past thirty years I have been here with you."

Working the crowd and speaking with reporters after, Cobb looks more experienced, more relaxed. She actually looks like she’s having fun, which wasn’t always the case last year.

Impeachment backlash fuels Cobb campaign

Cobb says she’s not sure how she’ll spend the million dollars donated in a single weekend. But she now has the opportunity to advertise, hire more staff, and build a more robust campaign infrastructure across the sprawling district.

"This was a really quick surge," she says. "You're asking a really strategic question. So how about I take a little time and think strategically."

st district is deeply rural and tilts Republican. Local races earlier this month showed that the GOP is a powerhouse in the region, with a strong established get out the vote organization. Elise Stefanik is a strong campaigner and President Trump remains popular here.

But now Stefanik faces a well-funded, more experienced opponent going into what may be one of the most unpredictable political seasons in American history. Stefanik is now firmly linked with Trump, a controversial and unpredictable politician whose behavior Stefanik herself has often condemned.

Cobb says she thinks many moderate Republicans and independents will at least give her a look. "The opportunity for the next year is to hoof it around this district and to meet more and more people. And at the end of the day, I trust voters will see they have a clear choice."

Unlike 2018, Cobb so far doesn’t face a Democratic primary challenger or Green Party opponent. If that holds, the rematch in 2020 could be a much more focused debate, less a scrum, more a one-on-one political fight.