{"id":99394,"date":"2026-01-13T23:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/99394\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T23:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:17:08","slug":"gop-candidate-bruce-blakeman-to-unveil-trump-like-hat-blasts-rival-hochuls-state-of-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/99394\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP candidate Bruce Blakeman to unveil Trump-like hat, blasts rival Hochul’s State of the State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman slammed Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s State of the State address<\/a> Tuesday, making it clear he\u2019s running on President Trump\u2019s script \u2014 down to an Empire State version of the MAGA hat.<\/p>\n

The likely Republican gubernatorial candidate is set to debut a red baseball cap that reads \u201cMake NY Happy Again \u2014 Vote Blakeman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman slammed Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s State of the State address on Tuesday. Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n

Blakeman, 70, fresh off being sworn in for his second term <\/a>as county executive Monday night, wasted no time setting his sights on Hochul, who he hopes to unseat in the November elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t mention her record,\u201d the Long Island politician told reporters. \u201cShe only talked about Washington Republicans and Trump as if they\u2019re the reason why we\u2019re so overtaxed, overregulated, crime\u2019s been out of control. And she just she\u2019s living in a different universe than the hard working families in this state.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got no ability to understand their problems and their issues and how to solve them,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way to solve them is not by giving them a free bus ride. It\u2019s by creating good jobs, economic development and prosperity so people have more money in their pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conservative executive became the GOP frontrunner after early favorite US Rep. Elise Stefanik dropped out of the race. President Trump then endorsed Blakeman to take on Hochul.<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul delivered a State of the State address that blamed President Trump for challenges in the state. Angus Mordant for NY Post<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Blakeman challenged the anti-Trump rhetoric that Hochul harped on during most of her State of the State address in Albany earlier in the day, touting her accomplishments in the Empire State while blaming the White House for shortcomings in economic and pro-immigration policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the most overtaxed state in the United States,\u201d he said at a press briefing. \u201cThe most overtaxed and therefore, as the most overtaxed state in the United States. You are hurting middle class families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why hundreds of thousands of people have left the state under your tenure. It\u2019s the reasons why thousands of businesses have left New York State under your tenure.\u201d Blakeman added.<\/p>\n

President Trump is expected to come up often in the race of New York governor \u2014 from both sides of the aisle. AP<\/p>\n

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is the likely GOP challenger to Gov. Kathy Hochul in November. Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you listen to your speech, you would think that you were just elected today, when in fact, you\u2019ve been the governor for over four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul, 67, was lieutenant governor and took over the state\u2019s top job in 2021 after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid sexual harassment allegations. Hochul was elected to her first full term in the 2022 November elections, with her seat up again this year.<\/p>\n

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She spent much of her 50-minute State of the State address criticizing Trump, particularly on the president\u2019s anti-immigration crackdown that has challenged New York\u2019s \u201csanctuary state\u201d status.<\/p>\n

Hochul maintained she has helped boost the state\u2019s struggling economy and brought crime down.<\/p>\n

No Republican has won election as governor in deeply blue New York since 2002, when former Gov. George Pataki won his third and final term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman slammed Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s State of the State address Tuesday, making it clear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1626,153,426,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,13895,43015,58],"class_list":["post-99394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-donald-trump","tag-kathy-hochul","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-state-of-the-state","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99394","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=99394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}