{"id":372878,"date":"2026-10-14T12:20:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T12:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372878\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T12:20:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T12:20:28","slug":"hochul-blakeman-square-off-in-only-ny-gov-debate-who-won-and-who-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372878\/","title":{"rendered":"Hochul, Blakeman square off in only NY gov debate: Who won and who lost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman faced off Tuesday night in the only debate<\/a> of their hotly contested gubernatorial election campaign \u2014 trading barbs on affordability, immigration, President Trump, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman debate at NY1 studios in New York on Oct. 13, 2026, ahead of the Nov. 3 election Getty Images<\/p>\n

Polls have consistently shown Hochul leading Blakeman with the Nov. 3 election fewer than three weeks away, but the Nassau County executive is hoping to close the gap<\/a> after the governor held off Lee Zeldin by just 6.5 percentage points four years ago.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know from The Post\u2019s panel of experts about what happened Tuesday night. Comments have been lightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien O.B. Murray,\u00a0Campaign strategist<\/p>\n

Winner: Blakeman.<\/p>\n

\u201cHochul showed why she doesn\u2019t want to debate; she is out of practice. She was a deer in the headlights from the opening statements and back on her heels for the remainder of the debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the amazing performance by Republican Saritha Komatireddy<\/a> in the Attorney General debate Blakeman had to rise to the occasion. He did and this will help his fundraising and energize his base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman criticizes Gov. Kathy Hochul over rising utility bills and New York\u2019s sanctuary policies during their Oct. 13, 2026, debate. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Best moment for Blakeman: \u201cThe beginning. He dominated the first 15 minutes talking immigration and high energy costs in New York State. That\u2019s what most viewers would see before they lost interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Blakeman: \u201cWhen he wanted to continue discussing the high cost of utility bills and cut off the moderator, who was asking Hochul if she would raise income taxes due to pressure from progressive allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best moment for Hochul: \u201cAnytime she mentioned Trump. She was reminding voters of her message that Blakeman is Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Hochul: \u201cAnytime she mentioned Trump. She should have had more to say so viewers would vote for her, not against Blakeman.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defends her record against Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman\u2019s attacks on her during a debate in New York on Oct. 13, 2026. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Liz Benjamin,\u00a0Marathon Strategies operative and ex-Spectrum News political anchor<\/p>\n

Winner: Tie<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither made a fatal error and neither knocked it out of the park. They both had an equal number of cringeworthy moments, verbal stumbles, and snide zingers \u2013 some of which landed, while others did not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman face off in New York\u2019s only scheduled gubernatorial debate on Oct. 13, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Best moment for Blakeman: \u201cHe had her on her back foot with criticisms of how she handled the corrections officers strike. The union has endorsed him, so this makes sense. He also landed some blows by noting she\u2019s on the Cornell board <\/a>amid criticism of how the school\u2019s leadership handled an alleged gang rape that has garnered national attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Blakeman: \u201cThe line \u2018Donald Trump is my friend\u2019 is definitely going to end up in an attack ad somewhere. He tried to temper this by noting that the two differ on some key policy matters \u2013 like abortion \u2013 but the damage was done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best moment for Hochul: \u201cShe smoothly deflected Blakeman\u2019s attempt to tie her to Mayor Mamdani, who doesn\u2019t poll well outside of NYC or with Jewish voters, instead invoking Jewish NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, whom the mayor himself has rejected calls from the left to abandon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Hochul: \u201cAfter the fifth or sixth time she tied him to Trump \u2013 understandably, the president is very unpopular in his birth state \u2013 it started to give credence to Blakeman\u2019s complaint that the president is all she can talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Alyssa Cass, Democratic strategist and partner at Slingshot Strategies<\/p>\n

Winner: Hochul.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlakeman was litigating a case that makes sense for a midterm, just not this one. He seemed stuck in a 2022 time capsule. Hochul was operating in the now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best moment for Blakeman: \u201cHochul answered the energy question by blaming Trump, the Iran war and stalled federal approvals. Blakeman turned that around with his cleanest attack line of the night, saying: \u2018Kathy, Donald Trump didn\u2019t raise utility rates 48 times. You did. Donald Trump didn\u2019t increase our utility bills by 50% since you became governor\u2026 You gave $150 back to people in a rebate in an election year\u2026 when you\u2019ve raised the average bill $4,000 a year.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Blakeman: \u201cAnytime he insisted he had significant policy differences with Trump and named the same two issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best moment for Hochul: \u201cShe make Blakeman look really small and lame when she dismissed his endorsements with an effortless \u2018You\u2019ve got two votes, good for you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

A Bruce Blakeman campaign billboard reading \u201cYou Are Now Leaving NY (Like Everyone Else) Vote Bruce Blakeman\u201d stands along Interstate 287 near Hillburn, NY, on Sept. 19, 2026. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Hochul: \u201cShe dodged whether she\u2019d sign the bill expanding the data center moratorium, and Blakeman jumped on it: \u2018You say what you want to do, and then you don\u2019t do it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Ryan, Republican strategist,\u00a0aide to former Gov. George Pataki<\/p>\n

Winner: Blakeman<\/p>\n

\u201cHochul\u2019s performance was better Tuesday night than it was four years ago when she debated Lee Zeldin. For the most part she did well, though Blakeman managed her to flustered her a couple of times.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt points, the governor showed us her snarky side with swipes at Blakeman which came off as mean-spirited. She seems to have a natural talent for looking straight at the camera while casually twisting the truth.<\/p>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attend a press conference launching the 2-K program at the Highbridge Recreation Center in Manhattan on Sept. 10, 2026. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cBlakeman was confident and well-prepared. He did a great job at hitting Hochul on a litany of vulnerable issues, including repeatedly asking her if she was a board member at Cornell and why she hadn\u2019t called the Gorman family<\/a> after their daughter was murdered by an illegal alien.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe definitely came off as the candidate who supports law enforcement. He knew his issues, how to couch them and how to smoothly pivot when needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best moment for Blakeman: \u201cWhen he spoke about supporting law enforcement and federal and state laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Blakeman: \u201cThe exchange about Nassau County\u2019s auxiliary police force<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best moment for Hochul: \u201cWhen she described the \u2018special deputies\u2019 team as Blakeman\u2019s private militia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst Moment for Hochul: \u201cWhen she was called out for squandering four years without crafting policy for AI data centers, then kicking the can down the road with a moratorium.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul during a televised debate against Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman at NY1 studios in New York on Oct. 13, 2026. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Shawn Donahue,\u00a0 Assistant political science professor, University at Buffalo<\/p>\n

Winner: Tie<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of them came prepared with their lines that they wanted to use and issues they wanted to hit on. They had their good moments and stumbles, but it doesn\u2019t feel like this debate will be that memorable. I don\u2019t think I can say that either person won the debate. If you came in predisposed to vote for Hochul, you probably were cheering her on, and vice versa with Blakeman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best moment for Blakeman: \u201cWhen he tried to separate himself from Trump by pointing out that he was pro-choice on abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Blakeman: \u201cHaving to defend his statements about Trump. Calling him the \u2018best president of my lifetime\u2019 probably does not go over well in New York, though he tried to couch it by saying Eisenhower actually was, but Trump still has two more years to go.<\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman speaks as President Trump looks on during a campaign rally at The Oncenter in Syracuse, NY, on Oct. 10, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Best moment for Hochul: \u201cWhen Blakeman was making several campaign promises as far as lowering costs and she came back with \u2018just like Donald Trump.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst moment for Hochul: \u201cShe was caught off guard a bit by Blakeman noting she was on the Cornell board, and only belatedly recovered by saying she was just an ex officio member.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman faced off Tuesday night in the only debate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1626,4117,426,57,46937,9,24,55,54,56,13895,87,58],"class_list":["post-372878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-debates","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-ny-governor-election-2026","tag-politics","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372878","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=372878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}