ALBANY \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The issue is huge because Blakeman\u00a0trails Hochul, a Democrat, by about $20 million in the money chase and the matching funds could prove crucial to his campaign.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, as required.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0dollars \u2014 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.<\/p>\n