EXCLUSIVE: Elise Stefanik's primary opponent's lengthy history of endorsing and working for Democrats complicates his new "vanity run"
Bruce Blakeman announced that he is running for Governor of New York, but a closer look at his record might give GOP voters cause for concern. Here's why.
Republicans have been clearing the way for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) to be the next governor of New York State for months, as President Donald Trump endorses multiple Republicans weighing statewide bids for reelection.
Although most cleared the way for Stefanik, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who has lost multiple primaries and general elections for statewide office in New York, recently entered the GOP primary against Stefanik.
However, Blakeman faces both daunting odds and questions about his lengthy track record of working with and for Democrats on Long Island. In one example, a 2017 letter unearthed by the Washington Reporter shows that Blakeman’s home county GOP chair expressed his disappointment with Blakeman’s “betrayal” of the party.
In the letter sent out from the Nassau County Republican Committee, chairman Joseph Mondello wrote that he is “disappointed in any elected official from our party who would let personal feelings take priority over Republican principles, especially someone who has been given so much support by the party.”
Mondello noted that “since 1993, Bruce Blakeman has been nominated and supported by our party as he became Town of Hempstead Councilman, Nassau County Legislator, Presiding Officer of the Nassau County Legislature and then a Town of Hempstead Councilman again. The Nassau County Republican Party was also with him when he unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for United States Senator, State Comptroller, and for Congress.”
“Believing yourself to be above an organization that has given you such support is an affront to our party and a betrayal of all that has been done for him,” Mondello continued. “It is not what our party is about.”
Mondello’s criticisms came as Blakeman endorsed Laura Gillen, a Democrat, in her bid for county supervisor. Following her win, she made him her deputy. In 2024, Gillen defeated Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R., N.Y.).
A senior Republican operative with no ties to either campaign told the Reporter that “Elise will win the primary handily because she has a strong record of being tough-on-crime and lowering the outrageously high costs in New York. But a vanity run from this Blakeman guy is still annoying and takes away focus that should be aimed at Hochul’s litany of failures.”