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A republican A county official in the New York City suburbs has announced he is running for office. GovernorSetting up a primary clash with fellow Trump ally U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik,
Bruce Blakeman, who has positioned himself as a defender against urban liberal policies democratCriticized the government. Kathy Hochul as a “failure” in an appearance on Fox News.
“I’m running for office to make people more prosperous, make them safer, and make New Yorkers happy again,” Blakeman said. Nassau County executive.
Blakeman’s candidacy is expected to be a heated Republican contest for the presidency against Stefanik, a conservative from Northern New York. donald trump He was selected to be Ambassador to the United Nations, but had to withdraw the nomination due to concerns that the small GOP majority could not afford to lose any more House seats.
Trump has so far avoided taking sides, telling reporters this week, “He’s great and she’s great. They’re both great people.”
Stefanik’s campaign presented Blakeman as a weak candidate with a record of “supporting corrupt far-left Democrats.”
Its statement called him “an early Christmas gift for Kathy Hochul as she works to destroy the Republicans’ best chance to win.”
Democrats have a strong voter registration advantage in New York, but next year’s gubernatorial race is expected to be one of the most watched contests in the country. Hochul, a moderate Democrat, faces a primary challenge from his own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.
Registered Democrats also outnumber Republicans in Nassau County, where 1.4 million people live just to the east. new york cityBut voters in the county supported Trump much less than Democrat Kamala Harris in the last presidential election,
As county executive, Blakeman has pushed a policy that bans transgender athletes from using county sports facilities, created a volunteer law enforcement unit that his critics have labeled a militia and directed county detectives to work with federal authorities in Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Nassau’s first Jewish county executive, he also signed a local ban on wearing face masks in public except for health or religious reasons, which critics complain is aimed at cracking down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Blakeman won election to his second term in November. Previously, he served on the Hempstead Town Council and held an appointed position as Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
But big alternative offices have stayed away from them. Hochul’s campaign released a statement saying that Blakeman “has lost nearly every race he has touched – county legislator, comptroller, Congress, even U.S. Senate. There’s a reason for that: Like Donald Trump, he takes money out of the pockets of New Yorkers and squeezes working families at every turn.”
Both Blakeman and Stefanik are now presenting themselves as candidates who could appeal to moderate Democrats as well as Republicans, even though both have adopted Trump’s hardline political rhetoric, which is unpopular in New York.
He has also drawn contradictions between himself and Zohran Mamdani, as well as adopting some of the New York City mayor-elect’s messages about affordability as a campaign issue.
Former Governor George Pataki was the state’s last Republican governor, leaving office nearly two decades ago.