{"id":390834,"date":"2026-11-02T13:08:28","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T13:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/390834\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T13:08:28","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T13:08:28","slug":"gov-hochul-bruce-blakeman-make-closing-arguments-before-election-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/390834\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Hochul, Bruce Blakeman make closing arguments before Election Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">HARLEM, New York City (WABC) &#8212; Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman are spending the final full day before Election Day focused on turnout, making a series of campaign stops aimed at energizing supporters and driving voters to the polls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The candidates&#8217; final push comes after a strong early voting period. More than 690,000 ballots were cast in New York City through nine days of early voting, while statewide early voting surpassed 1.7 million votes. According to campaign officials, early voting was up 75% statewide and 65% in New York City compared with four years ago.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR zFTjo hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/20007498_110226-wabc-early-voting-tally-img.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Hochul began Monday campaigning at subway stations in Harlem, targeting Democratic voters in New York City. She is expected to close out the campaign with a &#8220;New York Fights Back&#8221; Election Eve rally in Williamsburg alongside House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Attorney General Letitia James, lieutenant governor nominee Adrienne Adams and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, launched a statewide tour in Bethpage before stops in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton. He is scheduled to end the day in Manhattan as Republicans look to capitalize on Election Day turnout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">MORE: <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/vote2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vote 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Both campaigns are concentrating their efforts in vote-rich areas, with turnout expected to play a major role in determining the outcome. While Democrats have led Republicans in early voting across New York, Republicans traditionally are more likely to cast ballots on Election Day itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">*<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/newsletters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Get Eyewitness News Delivered<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/apps\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Download our connected TV app<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">More local news<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/7ny.tv\/submitnewstip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Send us a news tip<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts on the go<\/a>          <\/p>\n<p>Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below.    If attaching a video or photo, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/image-video-solicitation-and-rights-terms-of-use\/5101040\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">terms of use apply.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARLEM, New York City (WABC) &#8212; Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman are spending the final&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[141516,9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-390834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-141516","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390834","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=390834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}