Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman launched his campaign for governor on Tuesday, setting up a Republican primary battle against Rep. Elise Stefanik.
The Nassau County leader framed himself as Republicans’ best chance to defeat Gov. Hochul in the 2026 election. The last Republican to win the governor’s office was George Pataki in 2002.
“We want to put New York first,” Blakeman said in his campaign launch video. “We want to make it more affordable; we want to make New York safer, and we want to make people in New York happy again.”
Blakeman, 70, and Stefanik, 41, will compete for the endorsement of President Trump, who refused to choose a fighter when asked Monday.
“He’s great, and she’s great. They’re both great people,” Trump told reporters.
While Trump’s endorsement would be key to winning the Republican primary, aligning with the president — who is widely unpopular in deep-blue New York — could hamstring Blakeman or Stefanik in a general election against Hochul.
For her part, Hochul wasted no time tying Blakeman to Trump after his announcement.
“Just like Donald Trump, he takes money out of New Yorkers’ pockets and squeezes working families at every turn,” the governor said.
While running Nassau County, Blakeman has made headlines for cooperating with Trump on immigration crackdowns and banning transgender girls and women from participating on women’s sports teams in the county.
Blakeman has tried and failed to run for statewide office in the past — something both Hochul and Stefanik pointed out Tuesday — but won reelection in Nassau County in November when Republicans were crushed in other elections in the tri-state area.
He must make up time and money on Stefanik. While the upstate representative only announced her candidacy last month, she had been plotting the campaign for much longer, and she has $12 million on hand compared to Blakeman’s $1 million, according to campaign filings.
