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To say that Kathy Hochul looks vulnerable in the Governor’s office as Election Day 2026 sits off in the distance is akin to saying the Titanic looked less than waterproof as the iceberg suddenly appeared on the horizon. Hochul’s poll numbers are abysmal, her approval rating did not improve after she endorsed Zohran Mamdani when he ran for mayor of New York, and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik’s name has been tossed about as a real threat to Hochul’s grip on the office. Stefanik’s bid to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate next fall seemed a given… but then a funny thing happened earlier this week, as Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman declared he will contest Stefanik for the Republican nomination to run against Hochul in the general election. Blakeman appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning to lay out his case for why he believes he is the better alternative than either Hochul or Stefanik to lead New York State into the 2030’s.
Blakeman told host Larry Mendte that Hochul shouldn’t be so smug because she has a primary date of her own to worry about next June: “Listen, I’d rather be a fan of Donald Trump than a fan of Zohran Mamdani, which seems to be Kathy Hochul’s new pal. She endorsed him, she’s embraced him, and you know what’s really funny, Larry? What’s really funny is she has a primary by her trusted lieutenant, who turned on her because even her lieutenant governor thought that she was doing a terrible job as governor of the state of New York, so I find that very funny, and if she wants to attack the Republicans for having a primary, I think she needs to look in the mirror first.”
Blakeman also brushed off criticism by Stefanik, who many thought would have a clear and easy path to being the Republican choice to confront Hochul in the general election: “I don’t know what her thought process was. It doesn’t bother me in the least, I gotta tell you. Each and every day, I’m going to get up and I’m going to bring my case to the people on how I would be a better governor than Kathy Hochul.”
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