Young, Rich and Relocating Yet Again in Hunt for Political Office

Two years ago, Sean Eldridge and his husband, the Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, bought a $5 million estate in Garrison, about 50 miles north of New York City. It offered 80 acres of rolling fields and a farmhouse once owned by a Vanderbilt. It would also allow Mr. Eldridge, 26, to run for the local Congressional seat if he chose to.

But that seat appeared unattainable, and soon the couple’s gaze shifted north, to the neighboring district on the other side of the Hudson River. In January, they bought a $2 million modern home here overlooking a reservoir, laying the groundwork for Mr. Eldridge’s campaign for their new local Congressional seat, New York’s 19th.

Word of Mr. Eldridge’s political plans has delighted the friends who make up his social circle: Donors to his exploratory committee include George Soros, the billionaire financier, and Sean Parker, the tech entrepreneur behind Napster and Spotify.

But his ambitions have puzzled some residents among the farmers, mill workers and small-business owners who populate this district, which rises through the Catskills and rolls north through cornfields and apple orchards to the Vermont border.

Amy Shields, a mother of three children who lives a few miles from Mr. Eldridge, cannot get over the fact that he has just moved into town and is already planning a run for Congress.

“It’s a little bit presumptuous,” Ms. Shields said. “In a community like this you like to know who your neighbors are. Having ties to your neighbors is important. How can he expect to represent people he doesn’t know?”

Mr. Eldridge and Mr. Hughes are among the most politically active of a new generation of entrepreneurs who gained their fortunes in Silicon Valley. Mr. Hughes, who left Facebook with about $500 million, oversaw online organizing for President Obama’s 2008 campaign and has since bought The New Republic. The two men helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his push for same-sex marriage.

But Congressional campaigns, especially in upstate New York, can be very personal contests, built on longstanding relationships and local perceptions. And it may be hard to dislodge the incumbent, Representative Chris Gibson, a well-liked Republican and veteran of the Iraq war who lives in a modest home around the corner from where he grew up.

In an interview, Mr. Gibson, 49, politely deflected questions about Mr. Eldridge. But he hinted at the kind of campaign he might run, noting that his constituents included lifelong friends and relatives. “There are some things money can’t buy,” he said.

Mr. Eldridge’s arrival is being taken seriously by Republicans in Washington, who worry that his sizable checkbook makes him a threat, given the time he has to lay the foundation for his candidacy before the election next year.

Mr. Eldridge is not a newcomer to tough campaigns — though he has never been a candidate. In 2011, he left law school to join Freedom to Marry, a group that pushed lawmakers in the New York Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage.

In an interview, he dismissed any suggestion that his move to the 19th District was motivated by politics. “The Hudson Valley is my home,” he said. “It’s where I work. It’s where I got married.”

Mr. Eldridge said he and his husband, who also own a loft in SoHo in Manhattan, were settling into their new upstate home. He described a routine that includes grocery shopping and dining in Woodstock, the artsy enclave nearby. “We’re very involved in the community,” he said.

Mr. Eldridge’s supporters note that for all the trappings of wealth he now possesses, Mr. Eldridge grew up in a middle-class community in Ohio, where both of his parents were doctors; they say he has a genuine understanding of people of modest means.

And while the 19th District has vast stretches of rural, conservative communities, it is also home to more Democratic-leaning places, like New Paltz and Monticello, that could give his candidacy a lift.

“He clearly has a bright future,” said Mike Hein, a Democrat who is the Ulster County executive.

Still, as Mr. Eldridge has sought to ingratiate himself with local residents, some awkward moments have resulted.