{"id":435946,"date":"2025-12-09T16:17:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T16:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/435946\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T16:17:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T16:17:22","slug":"its-blakeman-v-stefanik-for-governor-in-ny-gop-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/435946\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Blakeman v. Stefanik for governor in NY GOP primary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman<\/a>, a firebrand Long Island Republican, announced a run for governor of New York on Tuesday, setting up a primary clash with fellow Trump ally U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik.<\/p>\n

Blakeman, labeled \u201c100% MAGA\u201d by President Donald Trump, criticized Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in a social media post and said New Yorkers deserve leadership that works.<\/p>\n

In an appearance Tuesday on the Fox News \u201cFox and Friends\u201d show, Blakeman said Hochul is a \u201cfailure\u201d who needs to be replaced. \u201cI\u2019m running for office to make people more prosperous, to make them safer and to make New Yorkers happy again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blakeman\u2019s candidacy kicks off what is expected to be a heated Republican contest against Stefanik, a conservative from northern New York who Trump nominated for U.N. ambassador<\/a>, only to withdraw it over concerns<\/a> that the slim GOP majority couldn\u2019t afford to lose any more House seats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump has \u2014 so far \u2014 avoided taking sides, telling reporters this week \u201cHe\u2019s great, and she\u2019s great. They\u2019re both great people.\u201d <\/p>\n

Democrats enjoy a strong voter registration advantage in New York, but next year\u2019s race for governor is expected to be one of the nation\u2019s most watched contests. Hochul, a moderate Democrat, is facing a primary challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.<\/p>\n

Blakeman, from his post as the leader of a suburban county just east of New York City, has cast himself as a bulwark against liberal, urban leadership in a part of Long Island that leans conservative and embraced Trump in recent elections.<\/p>\n

He has pushed through a policy that bans transgender athletes<\/a> from using county sports facilities, created a volunteer law enforcement unit that his critics have labeled as a militia<\/a> and directed county detectives<\/a> to work alongside federal authorities in Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown. <\/p>\n

Nassau\u2019s first Jewish county executive, he also signed a local ban on wearing face masks<\/a> in public except for health or religious reasons, a measure that critics complain is aimed at cracking down on pro-Palestine demonstrations. <\/p>\n

Blakeman cruised to victory in his election to a second term in November. And previously, he served in the Hempstead Town Council and held an appointed post as the commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. <\/p>\n

But bigger elective offices have eluded him. Hochul\u2019s campaign issued a statement saying Blakeman \u201chas lost just about every race he\u2019s touched \u2014 county legislator, comptroller, Congress, even U.S. Senate. There\u2019s a reason: just like Donald Trump, he takes money out of New Yorkers\u2019 pockets and squeezes working families at every turn.\u201d <\/p>\n

Both Blakeman and Stefanik now frame themselves as candidates who could appeal to moderate Democrats as well as Republicans, even though both have adopted the brash political rhetoric of Trump, who remains unpopular in New York.<\/p>\n

Former Gov. George Pataki was the state\u2019s last Republican governor, leaving office about two decades ago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a firebrand Long Island Republican, announced a run for governor of New York…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":435947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,86287,22807,69,90,22808,57,175791,2055,5371,181121,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,89,61,322,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-435946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-antonio-delgado","10":"tag-bruce-blakeman","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-elise-stefanik","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-george-pataki","16":"tag-government-and-politics","17":"tag-kathy-hochul","18":"tag-local-news-for-apple","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-city","21":"tag-newyork","22":"tag-newyorkcity","23":"tag-ny","24":"tag-nyc","25":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","26":"tag-u-s-news","27":"tag-u-s-republican-party","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-united-states-of-america","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115690513895642313","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}