{"id":360038,"date":"2026-09-29T19:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360038\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:46:23","slug":"exclusive-blakeman-taunts-hochul-with-massapequa-chiefs-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360038\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Blakeman taunts Hochul with Massapequa Chiefs name –"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman taunted Gov. Kathy Hochul over her administration\u2019s fight to cancel the Massapequa Chiefs team name <\/a>\u2013 as high school seniors trolled the Empire State\u2019s ban on Native American imagery.<\/p>\n

Blakeman promised to protect the name chiefs in the face of a state ban on Native American imagery<\/a> as he visited the Massapequa High School merch stand during the Long Island school\u2019s football team game against Garden City at Hofstra University on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Kathy Hochul, you see what this says? It says Chiefs,\u201d Blakeman said, holding up a Massapequa sweatshirt for a Post reporter shooting video of the callout.<\/p>\n

Bruce Blakeman poses with Massapequa Chiefs gear at the school\u2019s game of the century vs. Garden City at Hofstra University. Nassau County<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a Chief, always a Chief. You tried to take that away from Massapequa \u2013 no way,\u201d added the Republican, who is now serving as the Nassau County executive.<\/p>\n

High school seniors have also joined in on trolling the Empire State over its ban, with defiant Class of 2027 T-shirts that include a Chiefs logo and the phrase \u201c2till 7he Chiefs!\u201d<\/p>\n

Massapequa has been fighting the Hochul administration<\/a> since a 2023 Board of Regents mandate forced state public schools to ditch Native American names and imagery or face cuts in funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Massapequa Union Free School District estimates rebranding its sports teams would cost about $1 million \u2013 while school officials argue that the team name \u201cchiefs\u201d is an innocuous term used in courts, firehouses and police stations \u2014 and even within New York State government.<\/p>\n

The Massapequa community is still fighting to keep its Chiefs team name. Pictured are football stars turned hometown heroes Giovanni Tarasi, Ryan Chabus, and Dylan Milio. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n

The Massapequa High School Chiefs are pictured in Long Island, New York. Courtesy of Kerry Wachter<\/p>\n

The legal battle has sparked the community, drawn the attention of President Trump and inspired students to paint a massive \u201cOnce A Chief Always A Chief\u201d mural <\/a>on a wall adjacent to campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne year they thought they were the last of the Chiefs, and I think it was just throwing back to, well, we\u2019re still the Chiefs,\u201d said Massapequa Board of Education President Kerry Wachter, who also attended the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not willing to give up their identity, their history, who we are. It\u2019s just as much to them as to us and to alumni,\u201d she added as she took in the game, an instant classic where the Chiefs beat Garden City 21-14 and ended the Trojans nation leading 68-game win streak<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Massapequa students are seen at the game against Garden City, some wearing their senior t-shirts.<\/p>\n

A 2023 Board of Regents mandate is forcing New York schools to drop Native American imagery or get funds cut. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Wachter said several alumni at the showdown, which drew nearly 6,000 buzzing fans, were saying \u201cthank you for standing up for us\u201d by pushing back against the state.<\/p>\n

Trump, who had posed with a Chiefs sweatshirt in the Oval Office in 2025, has continually backed keeping the chiefs.<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year, the president deployed federal Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Massapequa<\/a> for a tour of the high school \u2014 where she announced a civil rights investigation into New York\u2019s policy during her visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Massapequa High School students painting Chiefs mural on the side of a local building on May 15, 2026. James Messerschmidt for NY Post<\/p>\n

The Native American Guardians Association has been another major advocate for the Massapequa Chiefs. The group\u2019s attorney, Chap Petersen, called the state\u2019s position the \u201cdumbest law of all time\u201d<\/a> in January and said his clients were ready to take their related lawsuit to the Supreme Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that is known throughout our community,\u201d Wachter added.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re just not giving it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blakeman faces an uphill battle against Hochul<\/a> in deeply blue New York, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2-to-1.<\/p>\n

Hochul is seeking a second full-term after the former lieutenant governor ascended to the state\u2019s top elected office in 2021 when her former running mate, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, resigned in the face of sexual harassment accusations that he fiercely denied.<\/p>\n

Election Day is Nov. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman taunted Gov. Kathy Hochul over her administration\u2019s fight to cancel the Massapequa Chiefs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1626,153,68,2640,426,5392,776,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,13895,87,6926],"class_list":["post-360038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-donald-trump","tag-exclusive","tag-high-school-football","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-linda-mcmahon","tag-long-island","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-ny-governor-election-2026","tag-politics","tag-state-education-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360038","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=360038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}