Nassau County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman said his cell phone was “blowing up” late Tuesday and into Wednesday with texts and calls from Democrats across the state.
According to Blakeman, Democrats are crestfallen that a trio of anti-Israel socialist candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept Tuesday’s primary races. Blakeman, who trails Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in polls, said the socialist sweep would boost his campaign and predicted he would win in November.
“Democrats and independents are coming my way,” Blakeman told Mid-Hudson News in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Just remember, all of these primaries were close. It is not like the Mamdani candidates blew the others away in a landslide. Those people who lost know how crazy Zohran Mamdani and the lunatic left are, and they are going to support me. They are not going to support Kathy Hochul, who is in bed with him.”
Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki fired back, calling Blakeman “Donald Trump’s puppet.” Radulovacki said that Blakeman “raised taxes on Long Islanders, lets ICE run rampant, and stands back and watches while New Yorkers’ healthcare comes under attack from D.C.”
“While Governor Hochul puts money back in families’ pockets, from free school meals to cutting the cost of car insurance, and always stands up for New York against Trump’s attacks,” Radulovacki added.
The last time a Republican was elected governor of New York was 2002, when George Pataki won re-election to a third term. Hochul defeated Lee Zeldin by just over six percentage points in 2022, a margin that surprised many by how close it was. According to Blakeman, he is ahead of Zeldin, now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), at this point in the 2026 race.
The latest Siena poll in May showed that despite a dip in her approval rating, Hochul led Blakeman 49% to 33%. A poll released by the Blakeman campaign and conducted by McLaughlin & Associates showed Blakeman trailing Hochul 52% to 43%, with 5% of voters undecided. Eight hundred likely state voters were polled.
Blakeman has promised that, if elected, he would immediately reduce utility costs for residents and cut property taxes. He said utility costs in the state are 70 percent higher than the national average and property are the highest in the country.
“First of all, Kathy Hochul has spent over $8.5 billion on illegal migrants, so that ends on day one when I become Governor,” Blakeman said. “We are not going to spend money on people who don’t live here. We are going to spend money on New Yorkers and have the biggest middle-class tax cut in the history of the state.”
Blakeman, who campaigned in Ulster County earlier this week, said he feels like “a winner.”
“Everywhere that I go in New York State, people are miserable,” he added. “This state has become the most unaffordable state in the United States. People are very upset with the policies of Kathy Hochul, and they want a Governor who makes them happy. Therefore, I feel like I win and I feel very confident.”