ALBANY — A state board on Tuesday disqualified Republican Bruce Blakeman from receiving public matching funds for his gubernatorial campaign, dealing him a potentially huge blow in his run against Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The state Public Campaign Finance Board ruled, in a 4-3 vote, that the Republican Nassau County executive is ineligible because he filed incorrect paperwork to qualify for the matching funds program, which grants public funds to a candidate if he raises enough in donations from state residents. It is available to gubernatorial candidates for the first time in 2026.
The issue is huge because Blakeman trails Hochul, a Democrat, by about $20 million in the money chase and the matching funds could prove crucial to his campaign.
After a heated exchange, the four Democrats on the board agreed with a staff recommendation that Blakeman was ineligible because he failed to file certification papers that included his lieutenant governor running mate, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, as required.
The deadline for correcting the error was March 2 and the burden was on the campaign to be on top of the requirements, be aware of the mistake and fix it, the staff had said.
The three Republicans on the board accused Democrats of using a “bureaucratic snafu to punish” Blakeman. They warned the vote could be challenged in a lawsuit.
To qualify for matching funds, any candidate for governor must raise a total of $500,000 from at least 5,000 state residents who give $1,050 or less. The first $250 of those contributions are matched 6 to 1 by taxpayer dollars — which could mean millions of dollars to a candidate. The program was enacted in 2023 to help low-donor candidates run against deep-pocketed ones.
The vote came as the latest Siena Research Institute poll shows Blakeman gaining ground on Hochul, with her lead falling to 13 points in a new poll published Tuesday.