Bruce Blakeman’s campaign for governor of New York rests on a straightforward argument: The state has become too expensive, too dangerous, and too out of touch with common-sense values.
As Nassau County executive, Blakeman is trying to turn his experience governing Long Island’s most populous county into a statewide victory. His opponent, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, has defended her record on public safety, economic development, and support for religious communities while criticizing Blakeman’s close relationship with President Donald Trump. The contest has become a debate not only over policy but also over the direction of New York’s political culture.
For Jewish New Yorkers, the election is a chance to examine what each candidate proposes to do about the issues that affect their families, institutions, and communities.
From Long Island to Statewide Politics
Blakeman is a lifelong Long Island resident, born in Oceanside and raised in Valley Stream. An attorney by training, he graduated from Arizona State University and California Western Law School before building a career in public service and politics. He served on the Hempstead Town Council and the Nassau County Legislature and as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In November 2021, he was elected Nassau County executive, the first Jewish person to hold the office.
Throughout his career, Blakeman has paired local government experience with a longstanding emphasis on public safety, fiscal restraint, and opposition to policies he considers overly permissive toward criminal offenders. His administration points to police recruitment, investment in law enforcement, and efforts to contain spending as its central accomplishments. According to Nassau County’s official account, it eliminated $150 million in planned tax increases inherited from Blakeman’s predecessor, implemented fiscal restraints, and earned credit-rating upgrades. The county also reports that it added police officers and invested in law-enforcement infrastructure.
Before Blakeman was even sworn in as county executive, he hosted local rabbis and Jewish communal leaders to hang a mezuzah at his new office. For him, it was more than a ceremony. He says his faith is where he draws his strength, and he still thinks back to a serious talk his grandfather had with him in the kitchen when he was nine years old, a memory he says guides him in the job.
He attends Shabbat morning services at the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, a Modern Orthodox synagogue. At home, he and his wife, Segal Magori Blakeman, who is Israeli-American, keep a kosher kitchen, and he credits her with deepening his observance. He doesn’t claim to have fully arrived: He has called himself “AOB,” or “Almost Orthodox Blakeman.”
Blakeman has also cultivated ties with Jewish organizations and political leaders. His administration organized a large pro-Israel rally and established a bipartisan task force on antisemitism on Long Island. Those initiatives now anchor his broader argument that Nassau County offers a model for protecting Jewish communities throughout New York.
Public Safety and Cost of Living
Public safety and affordability are the two most prominent themes of Blakeman’s campaign. He has criticized Hochul’s approach to criminal justice, arguing that state policies have made it harder to hold offenders accountable, and has challenged her on taxes, utility costs, and the broader expenses of living in New York. At the candidates’ October 13 debate, the two clashed over criminal justice, immigration, energy prices, and the state’s economic direction.
For Jewish families, these concerns often reach beyond the issues dominating statewide campaign advertisements. Many Orthodox households face substantial costs for housing, food, transportation, and Jewish day-school tuition. In neighborhoods where families depend on nearby synagogues, yeshivas, and kosher businesses, the cost of living can influence whether younger generations stay in New York or move elsewhere.
Blakeman’s emphasis on tax relief may resonate with families worried about their financial future. Its practical effect, however, will depend on the details: which taxes he would reduce, how much households would save, how he would pay for the changes, and whether a Democratic-controlled legislature would approve his plans.
Public safety matters just as much. Families want to feel secure traveling to synagogue, attending communal events, and sending their children to school, and Blakeman argues that stronger policing and consistent enforcement are essential to that goal.
“My approach to law enforcement is no-nonsense: Enforce the law, fund the police, and back the police. The whole culture, tone, and tenor of the criminal justice system will be different with me as governor, and we will no longer be a sanctuary state,” Blakeman said in a meeting with the editorial board of The Jewish Press.
The question is how his proposals would translate into measurable improvements, particularly in New York City, where crime patterns, police operations, and public transportation differ from those in Nassau County.
Fighting Antisemitism
Blakeman has made combating antisemitism a central part of his political identity. Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel and the ensuing war, Jewish communities across the United States have faced heightened concerns about threats, harassment, and hostility connected to debates over Israel. Jewish New Yorkers have also confronted questions about security at synagogues, schools, and communal institutions.
For many in the Orthodox community, those concerns are part of daily life. Leon Goldenberg, a board member of Agudath Israel of America and a Brooklyn business owner, put it bluntly. “Antisemitism is the number one issue for our community,” he said. “[In] the Orthodox community, where we are wearing yarmulkes and hats, everyone is looking behind their back when they go outside their own community. There is a fear factor in our children too. And I have one question: Is your church locked? No. My shul is. Why?”
In his meeting with The Jewish Press, Blakeman also described the stakes in personal terms. “I’m not doing this because I want to be governor – I’m doing this because I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to my kids and my grandkids if I don’t do it,” he said. “This is a carbon copy – or a mirror image – of 1938, whether people want to see it or not.”
He argues that his approach in Nassau County shows how government can respond through law enforcement and restrictions meant to prevent disorder. He has defended policies addressing protester face coverings and stressed the importance of holding people accountable when demonstrations cross legal boundaries. His campaign presents these measures as part of a broader commitment to protecting Jewish residents, while critics of some of his policies have raised concerns about civil liberties and the effect of restrictions on lawful expression.
Both considerations matter. A governor must protect religious communities from threats and violence while respecting constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and peaceful assembly. Blakeman would have several avenues for doing so, including coordination among law-enforcement agencies, support for security funding, enforcement of existing civil-rights protections, and engagement with Jewish communal organizations. What voters still need to know is which specific measures he would implement, how much funding they would require, and how his administration would measure their effectiveness.
Israel Support
Support for Israel is also a prominent part of Blakeman’s public messaging. He has criticized politicians whose statements or policies he considers hostile to Israel and has emphasized his own commitment to the Jewish state’s security, a message reinforced by his appearances before Jewish organizations and his administration’s pro-Israel initiatives. The issue has taken on added weight in New York’s political debate as disagreements over Israel, Zionism, and the war in Gaza have intensified.
Blakeman has also used Hochul’s relationship with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to challenge the governor’s judgment and political alliances. At a private meeting with hasidic leaders in October, he raised concerns about whether city leadership would adequately protect Jewish neighborhoods during potential unrest. Political opponents criticized his remarks as irresponsible, fear-based rhetoric. The controversy illustrates how intense the debate has become over who can best protect Jewish communities.
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School professor emeritus, made the case for Blakeman in starker terms. “The best reason Jews and others who love America should vote for Blakeman is Hochul,” he told The Jewish Press. “She is a Mamdani-El-Sayed Democrat. That party under its current leadership endangers America in general and Jews in particular.”
For Jewish voters, though, support for Israel is only one consideration among several. Voters may share concerns about antisemitism and Israel’s security while disagreeing about taxation, abortion, immigration, education, or the role of government. A meaningful evaluation of Blakeman’s candidacy therefore means looking past his statements of support for Israel to the policies he would pursue as governor and how they would affect New York’s Jewish population.
Yeshivas & Affordability
Tuition at day schools and yeshivas can place a heavy financial burden on families, and parents also care deeply about school security, access to legally required educational services, and the ability of religious institutions to operate in keeping with their missions. Blakeman’s emphasis on parental rights and his opposition to certain state education policies may appeal to voters concerned about government regulation of religious schools.
Whatever concerns are specific to Jewish voters, the issue driving the race is one nearly every New Yorker shares: According to a poll released by Quinnipiac University on September 23, the cost of living is the most important issue for 28% of likely voters. The economy follows at 21%, and health care comes next at 11%. Both candidates have built their campaigns around these priorities.
Energy has become the sharpest flashpoint, because it ties directly to rising electricity rates. Hochul advocates a mixed energy strategy and a moratorium on new data centers. Blakeman blames clean-energy mandates for the increases and proposes a return to fracking.
Immigration is a different kind of issue, with a narrower but more intense constituency. It is the top concern for 20% of Republican voters, and it centers on whether the state should cooperate with federal ICE enforcement, a question on which the candidates sharply disagree.
Taxes may be the most direct test of each candidate’s pitch, and the issue carries particular weight among upstate and suburban voters. Blakeman proposes eliminating the income tax for individuals earning under $50,000. Hochul counters by pointing to her record of passing tax cuts for middle-income New Yorkers.
The Challenge of Winning Statewide
Despite his profile on Long Island and his support among conservative voters, Blakeman faces a state with a substantial Democratic registration advantage. His campaign must appeal to Republicans while also drawing independents, suburban voters, and Democrats dissatisfied with the incumbent. His positions on taxes and public safety may help define that appeal, but his association with Trump could complicate efforts to reach voters who oppose the president.
Hochul has repeatedly tied Blakeman to President Trump, noting that Trump himself called him “100% MAGA” – and her campaign has portrayed him as a puppet of the president. She has applied that argument to affordability, blaming Republicans in Washington, including Trump, for rising costs, and cited tariffs, the conflict with Iran, and what she describes as politically motivated efforts to withhold federal disaster aid. She points to her record of passing tax cuts for middle-income New Yorkers as her answer to the squeeze on household budgets. On immigration, she called federal enforcement “out of control” and stressed her opponent’s broad support for it.
Blakeman answers that the problem lies in Albany, not Washington. He blames Hochul for the state’s high taxes and for repeated utility-rate increases, and he says she brings up Trump because she does not want to discuss her own record. He offers his own remedies: eliminating the income tax for individuals earning under $50,000, and, on energy, blaming clean-energy mandates and proposing a return to fracking. On immigration, he argues that Hochul’s sanctuary policies have made the state less safe. At the October 13 debate, during which Trump was mentioned at least 42 times, he sought to show he is not beholden to the president and at times distanced himself from Trump.
The outcome will depend on turnout, the candidates’ ability to persuade undecided voters, regional voting patterns, and the extent to which voters prioritize state issues over national political divisions.
Rabbi Dr. Hank Sheinkopf, one of New York’s leading political consultants, told The Jewish Press that it is crucial at this stage for the Blakeman campaign to generate direct voter contact to increase its chances of victory – street campaigning, door-knocking, phone banks. He also sees a need, and a strong rationale, for Jewish community support. “Jewish voters must feel fully invested,” he said. “Those who understand what the Democrat[ic] Socialists of America represents have only one choice. And that’s not the Democrats.”
Blakeman made clear in his editorial board interview that he sees turnout as central to the effort, saying, “You should put it on the front page of your newspaper every week: that it is a disgrace not to vote when your property rights, your religious rights, and your freedom are at stake.”
The campaign is a test of whether Blakeman can broaden his appeal beyond his core supporters. Jewish voters across the state should also be asked directly what they want most from their next governor – whether that’s action on antisemitism, a clear stance on Israel, affordable housing, or continued support for yeshiva education.
What’s ultimately at stake goes beyond the question of whether a Jewish Republican can win New York. Blakeman’s candidacy is a moment of reckoning for the state: How seriously will its leaders take the concerns of Jewish communities, and what specific, concrete commitments will candidates make to address them?
See next week’s JP, for an exclusive interview with Blakeman.
jewishpress.com/bruce-blakeman-can-a-jewish-republican-become-ny-governor/
