Republican gubernatorial candidate visits Greene County

LEEDS―Republican and Conservative party gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman made a campaign stop in Greene County on Monday night, rallying supporters ahead of the November election when he takes on Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul.

“This is a battle for the heart and soul of our state,” Blakeman told the crowd gathered at Anthony’s Banquet Hall in Leeds.

New Yorkers haven’t elected a Republican governor in over two decades and Blakeman, who serves as Nassau County executive, believes he can change that.

His home county on Long Island has about 80,000 more Democrats than Republicans, but Blakeman secured a second term last year by defeating his Democratic challenger, 173,636 to 138,327. One of his main platforms then, and now in the governor’s race, is cutting taxes.

“Kathy Hochul has overtaxed us, we are the most overtaxed state in the United States, our regulations are the highest of any state in the United States. And that is why businesses and people are leaving our state in droves,” Blakeman claimed.

“Your electric bill is 70 percent higher than the national average,” he said, citing data also reported recently by the Energy Information Administration and Empire Center for Public Policy that called for a review of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).

Blakeman pledged to end what he calls the “green energy scam” and renewable energy policies that incorporate fees into utility bills.

“And we are sitting on one of the largest national gas reserves in the world,” Blakeman said, referring to the Marcellus Shale, a natural gas reserve in northern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York.

In New York, there is a moratorium on the type of controversial high-volume fracking needed to extract the gas. But not in Pennsylvania.

“And the sin of it all is that Kathy Hochul is so hypocritical she won’t let us extract the gas but she is buying it from Pennsylvania,” Blakeman said. “They get all the tax revenue; they get all the economic benefits.”

Blakeman also said that if he becomes governor there would be no state income taxes for single earners making under $50,000 or for joint filers bringing in less than under $100,000.

“And you know what, we are not going to go broke. You know why? Because we are spending $8.5 billion on illegal migrants who have been here for 15 minutes. They are not New Yorkers, they are not Americans, they haven’t earned a thing,” he said.

According to the New York City Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget’s Asylum Seeker Funding Tracker, actual asylum seeker care costs from FY 2023 through April 30, 2026, total $9.35 billion. Of that, $6 billion has come from New York City, $3.3 billion from New York State and $237 million from the federal government.

“That ends on day one,” Blakeman said. “We will not be a sanctuary state.”

“In my county, I have the most comprehensive agreement with ICE in the United States,” Blakeman declared, adding that last year “2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records” were removed from Nassau County.

“We didn’t raid one school, one church, one hospital, one daycare center,” he said. “We just worked together with our local police and sheriff and ICE.”

Blakeman blasted Hochul’s criminal justice policies, calling her “the most pro-criminal governor in the United States of America,” while touting Nassau County’s ranking as the “safest community in America” by U.S. News & World Report.

He also decried a recently passed state bill that, if signed by Hochul, would change gendered terms to neutral language across state law, replacing “mother” with “gestating parent” and “father” with “non-gestating parent.”

But early polls still have Hochul beating Blakeman if the election were held now.

Hochul’s lead over Blakeman edged up three points to 49-33%, from 47-34% in March, according to a Siena Poll of 806 New York State registered voters released last month. Some 64% of voters had never heard of Blakeman or don’t have an opinion about him, according to the poll.

“Six months out, voters are largely in their partisan lanes. Three-quarters of Democrats are with Hochul. Three-quarters of Republicans are with Blakeman. And independents tilt toward Blakeman by two points, down from seven points in March,” said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg.

Statewide, there are 13,408,058 registered voters, according to the latest data reported in February by New York State Board of Elections. Democrats in New York State outnumber Republicans, 6,445,605 to 2,994,839.

The divide wasn’t that wide in November of 2002, when George Pataki―New York’s last Republican governor―was re-elected to his third and final term as governor. Then, there were 11,246,362 voters in the state, including 5,255,521 Democrats and 3,132,161 Republicans.

And while the number of total voters and Democrats has grown in 24 years, so have independent ballot casters: from 2,257,070 to 3,410,288.

When Republican Lee Zeldin lost to Hochul in the last governor’s election in 2022, the margin was 53.12 to 46.73 percent. That year, 5.9 million voters came out for the gubernatorial election―an estimated 43% of those registered at the time.

Blakeman was joined in Leeds by lieutenant governor candidate Todd Hood who serves as sheriff of Madison County. Also speaking was attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy, 102nd Assembly District candidate Marc Molinaro, 19th Congressional District candidate Peter Oberacker, 41st Senate District candidate Patrick Sheehan and Assemblyman Chris Tague, who is now seeking the 51st Senate District seat.

“My parents fought so me, my brother and my three sisters could have a better life just like their parents did. Isn’t that the American way? That each generation wants the next to do a little better,” Blakeman said. “Well in New York State we can’t look our kids in the eyes, or our grandchildren, and say that you are going to have a better life in New York State than we do.”