{"id":373570,"date":"2026-10-15T03:34:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T03:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373570\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T03:34:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T03:34:24","slug":"mamdani-admits-he-didnt-watch-ny-gov-debate-but-accuses-blakeman-of-bigotry-and-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373570\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani admits he didn’t watch NY gov debate \u2014 but accuses Blakeman of ‘bigotry and racism’"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman of \u201cbigotry and racism\u201d Tuesday night despite admitting he didn\u2019t watch Blakeman\u2019s debate with Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> live.<\/p>\n

Mamdani made the statement in comments to reporters Wednesday after Blakeman and Hochul squared off Tuesday night. A reporter asked Mamdani whether he was bothered that Hochul hadn\u2019t responded to Blakeman\u2019s claims that the NYC mayor is an antisemite.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think, you know, it is hard for anyone to keep up with all of the bigotry and racism that Bruce Blakeman exhibits on a regular basis. So, I think that the governor did a good job. And I\u2019ll never fault someone for not being able to catch all of it because that is a fool\u2019s errand when it comes to Bruce Blakeman,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think the governor also made clear, you know, I\u2019ve said that I, I didn\u2019t watch the debate beyond the clip, but I think the governor has made clear time and time again what her vision is. It\u2019s a vision of a more affordable New York,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when it comes to Bruce Blakeman, his vision seems to be making life harder for working people. When the governor and I announced putting our city on a pathway to universal childcare, Bruce Blakeman went on television and said this was rewarding lazy parents who would sit at home and watch \u2018The View.\u2019 When we were speaking about concerns about what HR1 was going to do with regards to healthcare access across the state, Bruce Blakeman went on television and said that he would cut Medicaid in half.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends a press conference alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, state lawmakers and immigration advocates on August 12, 2026. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n

The debate opened with the candidates being asked about the conduct of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which last week drew outrage in New York City after the shooting of a 28-year-old Dominican national<\/a> whom the Department of Homeland Security said refused to comply with lawful orders during a targeted operation in the Bronx. A 5-year-old boy inside Oscar Bergal\u2019s vehicle was unharmed.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on the Bronx ICE shooting:<\/p>\n

\u201cKathy Hochul appealed to ICE to let this criminal out. The question that New Yorkers have to ask is what was this guy doing in New York in the first place? It\u2019s because Kathy Hochul has made us a sanctuary state,\u201d Blakeman said.<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman face off in the only scheduled debate ahead of the November New York gubernatorial election in New York on Oct. 13, 2026. Anna Connors\/Pool The New York Times via AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about it. This guy came into the country illegally. He\u2019s been convicted of a crime. He\u2019s got pending charges for dealing drugs, poison to our children. And he\u2019s a gang banger. This is who Kathy Hochul is defending?\u201d Blakeman continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a cooperative agreement with ICE until Kathy Hochul said we could no longer cooperate with ICE. We got over 2,000 illegal migrants out of my county with criminal records ranging from rape, attempted murder, robbery, burglary, drug dealing, carjacking, gang activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s because we cooperated with ICE, and we didn\u2019t raid one school, one hospital, one daycare center or one church. If you cooperate with federal law enforcement, it makes for a safer community. That\u2019s what I did. Kathy Hochul is taking that ability away from us. That\u2019s why things like this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman speaks during a debate with Gov. Kathy Hochul ahead of the November New York gubernatorial election in New York on Oct. 13, 2026. Anna Connors\/Pool The New York Times via AP<\/p>\n

Hochul called Blakeman\u2019s response<\/a> a \u201cnon-answer\u201d because \u201che refused to condemn what ICE did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, he basically says in the state of New York, he\u2019d be fine if ICE agents shoot into cars, shoot guns into vehicles, not knowing who\u2019s inside and could have killed a 5-year-old child. If that doesn\u2019t shock the conscience of everybody \u2014 and it should shock his conscience as well \u2014 that he says, \u2018That\u2019s OK, that\u2019s how ICE is supposed to do it,’\u201d Hochul added.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what. I oversee over 500 policing agencies in the state of New York. Over half a million arrests every year. That\u2019s not how you conduct yourself. ICE is out of control. It\u2019s out of control in Nassau County.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blakeman pushed back, saying, \u201cIt never would have happened\u201d but for Hochul\u2019s \u201csanctuary policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox News\u2019 Greg Norman contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman of \u201cbigotry and racism\u201d Tuesday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1626,426,57,46937,9,24,55,54,56,13895,136388,58,82],"class_list":["post-373570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bruce-blakeman","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-nyc-ice-shooting-2026","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373570","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=373570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}