BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 With less than a month until Election Day, the race for New York governor ran through Western New York Monday as Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman made separate appearances in Erie County and sharpened their arguments over affordability and the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
Blakeman used his visit to criticize Hochul\u2019s record on taxes, utility costs and the state\u2019s business climate, arguing New York has become too expensive for families and businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cKathy Hochul wants to talk about anything but her record,\u201d Blakeman said.<\/p>\n
Blakeman said his administration would take a different approach to businesses and work to encourage more economic development in Western New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cI treat businesses as partners, not as enemies. Kathy Hochul treats them as the enemy,\u201d Blakeman said.<\/p>\n
Hours later, Hochul was also in Erie County, where she announced an expansion of the state\u2019s free community college program.<\/p>\n
Asked about Blakeman\u2019s criticism of her record on affordability, Hochul defended her administration\u2019s efforts to lower costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll put my record up to anybody\u2019s any time,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n
The governor pointed to middle-class tax cuts, rebates, childcare initiatives and free community college. She also sought to tie Blakeman to President Donald Trump, arguing the president\u2019s tariff policies are increasing costs for New York businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crushing New York businesses,\u201d Hochul said. \u201cI just left a meeting of business owners. They don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blakeman\u2019s Western New York visit also drew protesters from the Seneca Nation as the Nation and Hochul administration continue negotiations over a new gaming compact.<\/p>\n
The Seneca Nation has said an agreement in principle has been negotiated that would not include a revenue-sharing provision. Hochul, however, said Monday that negotiations remain underway.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently there is no agreement and negotiations are ongoing,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n
Hochul said the state remains committed to helping Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca if the communities are financially affected by changes to the compact. She pointed to previous state assistance provided when Seneca gaming payments stopped.<\/p>\n
The candidates\u2019 separate Erie County appearances come as the gubernatorial campaign enters its final weeks, with both sides increasingly focused on the cost of living and the state\u2019s economic direction.<\/p>\n
Hochul and Blakeman are scheduled to meet face-to-face in a debate next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 With less than a month until Election Day, the race for New York governor ran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113,127050,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,112,108,87,200],"class_list":["post-365650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-buffalo","tag-nai-rhoden","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-news","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-ny-state-of-politics-blog","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365650","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=365650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}