Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman on Tuesday announced he is running for governor of New York, joining a Republican primary that already includes Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Blakeman released a campaign video early Tuesday morning highlighting his record and casting himself the candidate who can “put New York first.”
“Four years ago, we made promises,” Blakeman said in the video. “We said we wouldn’t be a sanctuary county. We said we would take the masks off the kids. We said we wouldn’t raise taxes. We haven’t raised taxes one penny. We are the safest county in America.”
In the video, Blakeman credited his administration with hiring more police officers, “locking up thugs,” cooperating with federal immigration authorities and mandating that “boys play with boys and girls play with girls” in school sports.
“New York is desperate for change,” his campaign video said. “We need a strong Republican, one who will take the fight to Hochul and her liberal policies.”
Blakeman becomes the second major Republican to enter the 2026 race, after Stefanik, North Country congresswoman who declared her candidacy in November and was immediately endorsed by state GOP Chairman Ed Cox.
Trump was asked Monday in Washington, D.C., about whether he would weigh in on the GOP primary and instead praised both candidates.
“He’s great and she’s great,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”
On Monday, Stefanik’s campaign quickly criticized Blakeman’s potential bid.
“Even those in Nassau County who are closest to Bruce Blakeman will tell you that everyone knows he has no shot and is putting his raging ego first and New Yorkers last as he blows up the best opportunity in a generation to Save New York,” Bernadette Breslin, a spokesperson for Stefanik, said in a statement.
When asked about a potential Republican primary earlier Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said to let those candidates “out-MAGA each other.”
“Let them go at it. Let’s see how they out-MAGA each other in the primary. It doesn’t matter which Trump cheerleader decides to run against me. The narrative is the same. I am going to keep governing and showing what we’re doing to deliver for people, that affordability is not a phrase that is denigrated the way Donald Trump seems to not even understand what affordability is. We’re actually doing something about it,” she said.
Hochul is running for a second full term and faces at least one Democratic primary challenger, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.
A Siena University poll released in November showed Hochul with a 20-point lead over Stefanik in a hypothetical matchup, 52-32%. The survey also found 42% of voters prepared to reelect Hochul, while 48% preferred “someone else,” including a majority who said they would like to see a Republican governor.
Blakeman, who led Nassau during the COVID-19 pandemic and served as a Port Authority commissioner during the Sept. 11, 2001, recovery, argued in his video that his tenure in a county “bigger than eight states” proves he is ready for statewide leadership.