Will Challenge Stefanik in GOP Primary
By Hank Russell
One month after being re-elected Nassau County executive, Bruce Blakeman has announced that he will run for governor on the Republican ticket. He will face against U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-Plattsburgh) for the chance to be the GOP nominee.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, Blakeman defeated Democrat Seth Koslow, the Nassau County legislator, winning a second term.
According to his biography, Blakeman was elected in 2021. He previously served as Hempstead Town councilman, presiding officer of the county Legislature and was appointed commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the aftermath of 9/11. He also serves as the executive director of the New York Police Chiefs Benevolent Association, a member of the Crime Stoppers Board, New York COPS Foundation, and deputy counsel to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Foundation.
Blakeman launched a video announcing his run. “I’m running for office to make people more prosperous, to make them safer and to make New Yorkers happy again,” PBS quoted Blakeman as saying.
LILP also reported that Stefanik announced her run shortly after Election Day. Stefanik, who was elected to Congress in 2014, is currently the Chairwoman of House Republican Leadership and serves as the highest-ranking woman in Congress as House Republican Conference Chair, where she was the youngest woman in history to serve in top elected House leadership. according to her biography.
Blakeman’s candidacy wold be “an early Christmas present to Kathy Hochul as he works to blow Republicans’ best chance to win,” stated the Stefanik campaign.
President Donald Trump, who has allies in both Stefanik and Blakeman, didn’t pick a side, saying, “He’s great, and she’s great. They’re both great people,” according to PBS.
LILP reached out to the Nassau Democratic Committee for a comment on Blakeman’s campaign.
“Bruce Blakeman is showing Nassau County exactly who he really is: someone who never viewed this job as a duty to our residents, but as a stepping stone for his own political ambition,” Chairman Jay Jacobs said in a statement. “While under Bruce, families here are dealing with rising crime, crumbling roads, higher costs at the grocery store, and a growing culture of corruption.”
Jacobs said Blakeman is “focused on feeding his ego and auditioning for his next job. He told voters one thing during his campaign and now he’s doing another. Abandoning Nassau County on the taxpayers’ dime is a betrayal of the people who trusted him to lead.”
LILP also reached out to the Nassau GOP Committee, but did not respond as of press time.