Free Republic

BRONX, N.Y. – Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is courting disaffected Democrats as he seeks to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul, betting that frustration over affordability, crime and the party's leftward shift could help him make inroads with traditionally Democratic voters. "They're not Democrats. They're socialists and communists," former Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman told Fox News Digital. "They're just not Democrats, they're not moderates." Kaufman delivered the blistering criticism while rallying alongside Blakeman at the Crosstown Diner in the Bronx, where several voters expressed similar frustrations with Democratic leadership and said they were backing the Republican candidate. "Every...

A Democratic Governors Association-backed Super PAC is pouring more than $4 million into boosting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s re-election bid as she desperately tries to fend off Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman in the tight race. Greater Empire State — which began releasing anti-Blakeman attack ads Saturday — reported receiving $4.34 million in donations between late July and Oct. 2 to hype Hochul, according to its latest state campaign filings. A big chunk of the money came from former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg; the Greater New York Hospital Association Management Corp.; and Leadership for New York, a super PAC run by Jay...

Dems the breaks. Rep. Tom Suozzi will snub a Long Island campaign event with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday because of a scheduling clash — as other down-ballot New York Democrats distance themselves from the unpopular Empire State leader. Suozzi’s campaign told The Post that the five-term Long Island congressman was “fully booked,” and couldn’t make the “Nassau County Young Democrats’ Bus Tour and Canvass Launch.” “Congressman Suozzi’s schedule is set weeks in advance and he is fully booked all weekend,” a spokesperson for the Nassau County pol said Friday. The cold-shoulder comes after two other Democratic candidates in high-profile...

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman vowed Tuesday to end New York’s sanctuary state policies on his first day in office — as Rep. Mike Lawler unleashed a profanity-laced attack on Gov. Kathy Hochul. The Republicans gathered in Chappaqua alongside the family of Sheridan Gorman — the 18-year-old Loyola University student gunned down by an illegal migrant — to demand law enforcement cooperation with ICE after two previously deported men were arrested in separate Hudson Valley cases. “The insanity is over, we’re putting New Yorkers first,” Blakeman declared. “On January 1st, as governor, I will sign an executive order, New York...

Debra Messing has had enough with the state of New York. The "Will & Grace" actress snubbed Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul and instead threw her support behind Republican Bruce Blakeman in the New York governor’s race. The endorsement marked a striking political shift for Messing, who has campaigned for Democratic candidates in the past. She previously backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Cynthia Nixon's 2018 bid for New York governor. Messing has also publicly clashed with President Donald Trump, a supporter of Blakeman. Her past political allegiances appeared to take a back seat as Messing enthusiastically praised Blakeman’s campaign...

Gov. Kathy Hochul leads her Republican opponent Bruce Blakeman by just 4 percentage points, according to a bombshell new poll. Just 47% of those surveyed said they’d back the Democratic incumbent, compared to 43% who supported the Nassau County executive, with 10% of registered voters undecided, the poll, conducted by a pro-Blakeman super PAC found. Only 38% of respondents said they viewed Hochul favorably — and 58% unfavorably — in a survey of 2,000 registered voters conducted by pollster Red Oak Strategic for the “Strong and Safe” super PAC. Meanwhile, only 39% of voters approved of Hochul’s job performance compared...

Once we’re all done setting our hair on fire and wringing our hands about the latest crop of anti-American, Jew-hating, Communist revolutionaries who’ve just grabbed political power, let’s look at the upside. Hardly anybody voted for them. And they give Republicans a golden opportunity — if the party can get its act together, and if conservatives and sensible centrists can be persuaded to get off their couches and actually vote — and vote strategically. No more sitting on the fence.

Nassau County Executive and New York State gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman participated in the Israel Day Parade in New York City on Sunday, expressing support for Israel and voicing concern over rising antisemitism in New York. Speaking to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News at the event, Blakeman said, "It's a source of pride for me to be here to celebrate my Jewish identity, to support the State of Israel, and to support American values, religious freedom." Asked about the absence of mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani from the parade, Blakeman said he was "not at all bothered" by it. "He's an antisemite....

Summary Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) ended her campaign for New York governor on December 20, 2025, weeks after launching it on November 7, despite leading in polls. She also announced she will not seek re-election to her House seat, which expires in January 2027. Sources close to Stefanik attributed the withdrawal to President Trump's refusal to fully endorse her, instead remaining neutral in the GOP primary against Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a longtime friend of Trump. Trump described both candidates as "fantastic people," hosted each separately at the White House, and expressed discomfort with their competition. New York Republican...

Nassau County leader sues Tish James after AG claimed ban on trans athletes in girls sports is ‘illegal’. By Carl Campanile Published March 6, 2024.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a top ally of President Donald Trump's on Capitol Hill, announced she is running for governor to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul next year. Stefanik made the announcement in a video her campaign posted on YouTube early Friday morning. She released a statement saying: "Kathy Hochul is the Worst Governor in America. Under Kathy Hochul's failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery prices crushing hardworking families. Hochul has created a crime crisis with failed bail reform...

As New York City embraced the left-wing politics of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, voters just across the city line in Nassau County reaffirmed a starkly different vision and re-elected a President Donald Trump-backed leader. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman secured a second term Tuesday night, extending his tenure as the county’s first Jewish executive. Blakeman, a close ally of Trump who's worked to combat antisemitism and other crime and bolster cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), won reelection as neighboring New York City turned to a self-described Democratic socialist. Mamdani, notably, has refused to denounce the slogan "globalize the...

Sword-wielding MS-13 thugs who have been terrorizing Long Islanders for years have been rounded up as part of a sweeping Nassau County crackdown of nearly 40 of the notorious gang’s street soldiers — on attempted murder, weapons and illicit drug charges. Included in the massive bust were five college-aged thugs — accused of being part of the deadly MS-13’s Hempstead Locos Salvatruchas branch — who were allegedly responsible for a machete and knife attack that wounded six during a soccer game in broad daylight at the town’s Kennedy Memorial Park last October. The attack was so gruesome that one victim...

Nearly 100 volunteers and rescue personnel showed up on Long Island Saturday to continue the frantic search for a missing political candidate who inexplicably vanished last month. Splitting off into pairs, the volunteers set out at 7 a.m. to canvas and comb through Long Beach, where Petros Krommidas, 29, was last seen on April 23 when he went for a training swim, cops and family said. Soon after he went missing, police found the Krommidas’ locked car by the Allegria Hotel, just near the beach he had regularly visited to train for a triathlon, his family added. Krommidas – a...

Just hours after The Post revealed that burglars broke into Nassau University Medical Center Chairman Matthew Bruderman’s home and stole documents tied to a federal corruption probe, the county’s top official abruptly fired him. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — who once appeared to be aligned with Bruderman’s claims that the hospital was robbed of more than $1 billion by state and prior county leaders since 2006 — pulled the plug on his three-year tenure late Thursday. The county exec, who helped launch the federal investigation by meeting with FBI Director Kash Patel on Long Island in early April, declined...

MINEOLA, NY — After five months of legal wrangling, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has signed a trans athlete ban into law. Prior to putting his signature on the bill, Blakeman said he was there to "celebrate what I believe is landmark legislation that will protect the integrity of women's sports, the fairness of women's sports and the safety of women's sports." Blakeman initially put forth an executive order in February banning trans athletes from competing at county facilities. However, Attorney General Letitia James would take Blakeman to court for taking the controversial action. Nassau County Democratic Minority Leader Delia...

The Republican leader of a suburb bordering New York City has Democrats up in arms over a plan to deputize private citizens for emergency situations. County Executive Bruce Blakeman has continued to irk opponents on the issues of crime and women's rights as he seeks to wrestle control of the state capital and give his constituents a greater say in local policy. I don't think you can depend on Albany or Washington, D.C., because they're more interested in giving away billions of dollars to migrants who are unvetted and bringing them to our communities than they are in protecting our...

Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner is backing a New York county's effort to ban transgender athletes from competing against biological women, arguing that doing so will protect competition in female sports. "You have to compete in the biological sex that you were born. This is critical to protecting the integrity of competition in women's sports," Jenner, a Fox News contributor, said in Mineola, New York, on Monday. "My fear is that if this woke agenda that's out there… the DEI world that's out there, if this continues, it'll ruin women's sports over the next 10, 20 years. Let's stop it...

MINEOLA, N.Y. -- Help for Ukraine is coming in all forms, including refugee and medical supplies.But on Thursday, an unusual collection was launched on Long Island. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is asking legal gun owners to donate firearms, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported."We could get a million guns to the people of the Ukraine," Blakeman said.Citing French resistance during World War II, Blakeman is asking Americans to arm Ukrainians with donated long guns.

This week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a new statewide mask mandate that will take effect on Monday, Dec. 13, citing a rise in case numbers. The mandate requires face masks to be worn in all indoor public places that don’t have a vaccine requirement. “A violation of any provision of this measure is subject to a maximum fine of $1,000 for each violation,” Hochul said in a statement. She also added that “local health departments are being asked to enforce these requirements.” But local governments were essentially blindsided by the announcement, and several counties with Republican executives are...