Like Derrick, Elise Stefanik started her political career by running to represent New York’s 21st District in the U.S. House of Representatives. But she now has two years in Congress to her credit, and she has used the time well, finding her way both around Washington and the district, getting to know constituents and taking their concerns to the nation’s capital.

Two years ago, a race between Derrick and Stefanik could have been a close contest and a difficult call. But experience gives her the edge now, as she has shown herself to be a positive, hard-working public servant.

Stefanik is a loyal Republican, but not a partisan zealot. She wants to get things done and says she has found the frequent fighting over budget appropriations, among other things, frustrating.

“Governing by deadline is not the best way to do our work,” she said, referring to the chronic inability of the current Congress to agree on a budget and its frequent embrace of temporary spending measures.

She has affirmed (finally) the reality of climate change and endorses an “all of the above” energy policy.

That has been a catch-all term used for years by Republicans and Democrats, including President Obama, to support a mix of fossil-fuel and alternative energy production. The test comes when choosing where to put federal resources, and we hope, over time, she and the rest of Congress will move away from fossil fuels.

She wants to close tax loopholes that often favor the wealthy and allow corporations awash in cash to pay low tax rates. We wish her luck.

She backs Donald Trump for president because he is her party’s nominee, a position we would normally accept with a shrug but this year find regrettable because he is such an extraordinarily bad candidate – unfit in temperament and experience to lead the country.

But it’s unfair to make a congressional race in upstate New York a referendum on Donald Trump, as Mike Derrick has tried to do. Each candidate for Congress must make their own case for election, and Stefanik has done that by working hard, and compromising when necessary, to represent her district.

Asked to name her top three issues, she mentioned tax reform, rural broadband access and greater federal government transparency. Getting broadband into the hundreds of rural communities in her district is important, and it’s an issue Derrick emphasized, too. On transparency, she has led the way by posting her votes and her schedules on Facebook, releasing her tax returns and making herself available to constituents and to the press in her district.

We were impressed this time, as we were two years ago, by Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello’s ability to articulate and defend an alternative vision of this country and its role in the world, one that contradicts tenets of both major parties. He advocates withdrawal from foreign conflicts, for example, and an end to what he describes as our “wars of empire.” He wants substantive action on climate change, such as halting subsidies of large livestock agricultural operations, because research has shown that is one of the root causes of climate change.

An irony of this race is the most natural politician of the three candidates – the one most comfortable with the give and take of the campaign trail – is Matt Funiciello, the one farthest from the mainstream.

Although we like Mr. Funiciello’s vision of a Congress that includes alternative voices like his in the national political discussion, and we were impressed by Mr. Derrick’s growth in stature and assurance, we were convinced by Ms. Stefanik’s knowledge of the district and ability to advocate for her constituents.

The key role of a member of congress is to serve as a voice for the people he or she represents, and Elise Stefanik will do that best. We urge a vote for her on Nov. 8.

Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Publisher Terry Coomes, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle, Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran and citizen representative Stuart Ginsburg.