There is a gubernatorial election in New York in little more than six months. If you did not know that, you’re in good company. According to the latest Siena Research Institute poll, an astonishing 64% of statewide voters have either never heard of Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman or have no opinion about him. Half a year before Election Day, the Nassau County Executive has effectively earned the title of the missing in action candidate.
Blakeman seems to be operating under the delusion that the path to the governor’s mansion requires nothing more than the occasional press conference and perhaps the memory of Lee Zeldin’s spirited 2022 run. But while Zeldin tirelessly pounded the pavement in every corner of the state, Blakeman has remained comfortable in his Long Island kingdom.
But upstate New York, which is critical for a Republican candidate in order to overcome the massive downstate Democratic numerical advantage (5.8 million compared to 2.8 million), cannot be won via proxy. A candidate must actually show up, build name recognition, and speak directly to voters. Instead, Blakeman has left a huge vacuum where an aggressive campaign should be. And this has also seriously impacted the size of his campaign war chest.
The visibility crisis comes at the worst possible time for the GOP. Incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul is remarkably vulnerable. She has been plagued by a delayed state budget and is hitting her lowest favorability and job approval ratings in nearly a year. Yet because Blakeman is a total stranger to the vast majority of New Yorkers, Hochul’s lead over him actually grew by three points over the past month, expanding to a comfortable 49% to 33% margin. Rather than capitalizing on voter frustration, Blakeman’s absence is throwing Hochul a political lifeline.
A sober look at all of this suggests that the party may have traded away its most formidable weapon when former Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was induced by President Trump and state party leaders to withdraw from the race to prevent a bruising primary battle.
Stefanik would have brought a demonstrated, unparalleled national fundraising apparatus to a state where challenging an incumbent Democrat requires astronomical financial resources. Blakeman clearly lacks that kind of reach. Confronting Hochul’s impressive war chest requires a candidate who can command the national stage, a feat Stefanik mastered through high-profile initiatives like her congressional hearings on campus antisemitism.
Furthermore, in a deep-blue state like New York, a Republican nominee cannot afford a lukewarm base. So Stefanik’s ironclad alliance with the national GOP infrastructure would likely have ensured historic voter turnout in rural, conservative upstate counties, which must be maxed out to offset the heavy Democratic margins in New York City.
Finally, Stefanik possesses the sharp media savvy necessary to control the campaign narrative – which Blakeman plainly does not. Her signature rapid-fire, aggressive rhetoric presents a stark contrast to the lackluster Blakeman.
Bruce Blakeman may have consolidated party lines following Stefanik’s exit, but the GOP missed a critical opportunity. Stefanik’s financial juggernaut, proven statewide appeal and aggressive communication strategy made her the definitive candidate to break the multi-decade Republican drought in Albany.
So what could President Trump have been thinking when he put the skids on Stefanik’s candidacy in favor of Blakeman? That is a story that needs to be told.
In any case, it is well past the time for Blakeman to pack a bag, get on a highway, and show the voters of New York that he is actually running for office. This is not just a matter of electoral politics. Governor Hochul has emerged as an enabler of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. And Mamdani’s agenda, aside from its troubling socialist components, is, as we note elsewhere in the previous editorial, decidedly anti-Jewish.