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Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to define her Republican opponent to voters before he gets a chance to do so.
For weeks, Hochul’s campaign has blasted out emails and text messages to the media and supporters on a near-daily basis highlighting Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s ties to President Donald Trump. They refer to the likely Republican gubernatorial nominee as a Trump “lackey” or a “MAGA crony” and pledge to “keep Trump and Blakeman’s extremist agenda out of New York.”
Last week, the Hochul-controlled state Democratic Party kicked it up a notch, launching an online attack ad that accuses Blakeman of “sucking up” to Trump while featuring a video of the two Republicans gleefully dapping each other up.
The strategy is simple. Trump is unpopular in New York, Blakeman has struggled to raise campaign cash and polling suggests voters have been slow to learn about him. Hochul and Democrats are hoping they can get a certain image of Blakeman to stick with the electorate before he has the time — or more importantly, money — to counteract it.
“I think it's important, given that we have a race, that the voters in the state of New York understand who our opponent is,” state Democratic Chair Jay Jacobs said. “And I don't think you need to wait until after Labor Day to begin telling them.”
A Siena University poll late last month found 61% of registered New York voters weren’t familiar with or had no opinion of Blakeman, who has been running for governor since December. By contrast, Hochul — who has been governor since 2021 — was unknown to 12% of voters.
Blakeman, meanwhile, has been trying to define Hochul, too. He launched a television ad of his own late last month that blames Hochul for a spike in utility bills while claiming New York “can’t afford another four years of Kathy Hochul.” He pledges in the ads to cut electric bills in half.
Republican nominee for governor Bruce Blakeman.
Madison Spanodemos, a Blakeman spokesperson, said the campaign intends to keep rolling out “hard-hitting ads that make clear Kathy Hochul is responsible for New York’s affordability crisis.” And in a statement, Blakeman said it’s “no surprise Hochul is resorting to attacks instead of answering for the affordability crisis created on her watch.”
But whether Blakeman will be able to raise the huge amounts of campaign cash needed to get his message out in a state with the country’s largest media market — and its expensive ad rates — remains uncertain.
Blakeman’s campaign had $1.6 million as of earlier this month, buoyed by more than $1.1 million in transfers from the Nassau County GOP since January. He has registered for the state’s public matching fund program, which could unlock up to $3.5 million for his campaign if he meets certain fundraising thresholds. But Democrats have questioned whether a paperwork snafu could keep him from qualifying for the funds.
There’s also the possibility Republican donors could fund a super PAC supporting Blakeman, much like they did for GOP nominee Lee Zeldin in 2022.
Hochul, on the other hand, has established herself as a political fundraising force since becoming governor in 2021. That’s evident in her campaign coffers: It had $20.2 million in the bank as of January, while the state Democratic Committee had another $13 million on hand.
Bill O’Reilly, a Republican strategist based in Westchester County, said Blakeman is right to focus on issues of unaffordability in New York — and particularly utility bills, which spiked as rates soared over the winter.
But O’Reilly said it will take “significant campaign dollars to educate the public on who’s responsible” — which, in his and Blakeman’s view, is Democrats. Hochul, on the other hand, is “flush with cash” and has an easier task, he said.
“Her basic message is Trump, Trump, Trump, MAGA, MAGA, MAGA,” he said. “We'll see which message gets through as the election nears.”
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