{"id":183068,"date":"2026-04-02T03:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183068\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T03:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:00:17","slug":"blakeman-stops-by-city-hall-to-tout-affordability-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183068\/","title":{"rendered":"Blakeman stops by City Hall to tout affordability"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day after the New York City Democratic Socialists of America Tax The Rich rally<\/a>, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman touted his affordability agenda in contrast to Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s plans on Monday. He insisted that there is contrast, though both Hochul and Blakeman say they\u2019re against raising taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blakeman held a press conference on the steps of New York City Hall with GOP attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy and comptroller candidate Joseph Hernandez. The three said that if they are elected into office, that would give them the power to address the state\u2019s affordability crisis and stop a plan advanced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to raise taxes. Mamdani has been pressuring Hochul to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and on corporations to fund the city\u2019s budget gap. Barring that, he said property taxes were a last-resort option.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here today to protect the taxpayers. We are here to make this state more affordable, and we are here to stand with all New Yorkers saying, \u2018enough is enough,\u2019 no more taxes,\u201d Blakeman said.<\/p>\n

Blakeman\u2019s stance parallels that of Hochul, who led Blakeman by double digits in an early March Siena College poll<\/a>. The governor has reiterated that she will not tax the rich despite Mamdani\u2019s push for her to do so. Despite her opposition to Mamdani\u2019s idea to raise taxes, Blakeman said he doubted that she will stand her ground, referencing her shift on Manhattan\u2019s congestion pricing program. Hochul \u201cpaused\u201d the program just weeks before it was supposed to begin in 2024, restarting it after the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t trust Kathy Hochul. Look what she did with congestion pricing. She said, we’re going to put a pause on congestion pricing. She endorses Mamdani. Mamdani endorses her. Next thing you know, we have congestion pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Hochul\u2019s campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki highlighted Blakeman\u2019s ties to the president. \u201cWhile Bruce Blakeman can\u2019t stop touting Trump\u2019s illegal tariffs that make everything from groceries to clothing more expensive, Governor Hochul has lowered costs for New Yorkers at every opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about Blakeman\u2019s City Hall appearance Monday morning, Mamdani was dismissive. \u201cWe are talking about a man who espouses so much of what has diminished New Yorkers\u2019 faith in politics across the city and across the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He pointed out ICE\u2019s presence in Nassau County, where Blakeman is the county executive, and that his tax proposal wouldn\u2019t impact the middle class, saying that is a mischaracterization.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a surprise to me that he\u2019s coming all the way to City Hall to talk about affordability, because we\u2019re one of the only places that is taking affordability seriously. In Nassau County, his focus is on how to round up as many people as possible and send them as far away as he can,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The day after the New York City Democratic Socialists of America Tax The Rich rally, Republican gubernatorial candidate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1414,3066,9,24,49,2327,63,122,124,123,2780],"class_list":{"0":"post-183068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-campaigns-elections","9":"tag-heard-around-town","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-state","13":"tag-news-politics","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-queens","16":"tag-queens-headlines","17":"tag-queens-news","18":"tag-taxes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}