Bruce Blakeman, the Republican challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul for New York's top office, is leaning hard into a pitch aimed at an unlikely audience: lifelong Democrats who say they are fed up with their own party. The Nassau County Executive has been crisscrossing the state promising to cut taxes, slash utility bills and make neighborhoods safer, framing the race as a chance for frustrated voters in deep-blue territory to break ranks.
Blakeman is a Republican New York gubernatorial candidate seeking to unseat the Democratic governor, and he has been courting disaffected Democrats by invoking affordability, crime and what he describes as the party's leftward shift, according to Fox News. “I will cut taxes. I will cut utility bills. And I will make for safer communities,” Blakeman said, according to the outlet. He has pointed to his record in Nassau County, saying he has “not raised taxes a penny in five years” and cut taxes there by $150 million.
Part of that outreach played out at the Crosstown Diner in the Bronx, where former Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman rallied alongside Blakeman. Kaufman, who has accused the Democratic Socialists of America of gaining increasing influence over the Democratic Party, warned that Democrats are becoming hostile to moderate voices and said Hochul “repeatedly turns to the hard left and is controlled by it,” per the same Fox News account.
Bronx Voters Air Grievances
Fox News Digital reported that Bronx voters at the event expressed frustration with Democratic leadership and support for Blakeman. One woman named Lisa, from Throggs Neck, said the Democratic Party has become “the Democratic Socialist or Communist Party.” Another Bronx man said socialists had described owners of single-family or four-family homes as “land-hoarding” and that Hochul failed to defend homeowners, while a registered Democrat in the Bronx said he votes based on how policies affect himself, his community and the middle class, the station reported.
Blakeman told Fox News Digital that Democrats who meet him on the trail often describe lifelong voting histories with the party but say they now plan to vote for him. He argued that frustration with Hochul's leadership has created an opening for Republicans in a traditionally Democratic state, pointing to Lee Zeldin's 2022 run, when the Republican came within 6.4 percentage points of beating the Democratic nominee, according to Politico.
Utility Bills Take Center Stage
Blakeman's pitch on energy costs has become a centerpiece of his campaign, though the two sides tell different stories about the numbers. Blakeman has claimed Hochul raised utility rates 48 times, while Kaufman, campaigning with him, put the figure at 42 increases and blamed Hochul for blocking gas-line construction and closing utility plants — two different tallies offered without independent verification in available reporting.
Separately, Gothamist reports that a New York City apartment dweller's average monthly electric bill rose from $76 in 2019 to $113 last year, while the average monthly heating bill climbed from $137 to $238 over the same period. Blakeman has promised to cut utility bills in half if elected, though Politico notes he has offered scant details on how he would accomplish that. He has also said he would declare a statewide energy emergency to lift New York's fracking ban without requiring approval from the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Gothamist reported.
Hochul, for her part, has promoted a Ratepayer Protection Plan and expanded eligibility for an energy-affordability discount program, and millions of state residents are receiving $100 to $200 rebate checks in the weeks before Election Day, per Gothamist's reporting. A Manhattan Institute fellow quoted by the outlet described Hochul's utility-cost efforts as “cosmetic” and called Blakeman's plan to halve bills unrealistic.
Taxes and Public Safety
On taxes, Blakeman has proposed eliminating state income taxes on the first $50,000 of income for single filers and the first $100,000 for joint filers, according to Spectrum News. He has also argued that cashless bail makes it easier for criminals to operate in neighborhoods, a claim he repeated in his remarks captured by Fox News.
New York Republicans broadly are betting that a public safety focus will help the party in a tough political climate, even though violent crime is down statewide and affordability ranks as voters' top priority, according to Politico. Hochul has spent the years since 2022 boosting the State Police's budget and narrowing the scope of the cashless bail law, the outlet reported. In Nassau County, Blakeman's own proposed 2027 budget would reduce Police Department equipment funding from about $3.53 million to $2.66 million even as overall police spending rises to roughly $1.24 billion, according to amNY.
Where the Polls Stand
Despite the energized Bronx crowd, statewide surveys still show Hochul with a clear lead. A Marist poll taken in early October found Hochul ahead of Blakeman 53% to 42% among registered voters, within a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, according to Marist College. The same poll found Hochul holding a commanding 69% to 24% advantage in New York City, while Blakeman led Upstate by 51% to 43%, amNY reported.
The numbers get tighter outside the big cities. Blakeman led Hochul 49% to 42% among independent voters, and the two candidates were tied at 48% among suburban voters, per amNY's analysis of the Marist data.
A Party Grappling With Its Left Flank
The Bronx grumbling Blakeman is courting comes against the backdrop of a broader shift within the Democratic Party, which Fox News described as moving “from the margins to positions of real political power,” particularly in New York. Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City, and DSA-backed candidates went on to topple Democratic incumbents in congressional primaries, including Melat Kiros's defeat of longtime Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette and Janeese Lewis George's capture of the Democratic mayoral nomination in Washington, D.C., per the Fox News report.
Research from the Brookings Institution found that 282 DSA-endorsed candidates ran in the 2026 election cycle nationally, including 21 from New York, and the organization's New York City chapter grew from 5,900 dues-paying members in the fall of 2024 to 14,000 before its latest primary, with at least 900 more joining the day after the results, according to The Guardian. Still, Brookings researchers found only 10 DSA-backed candidates prevailed in districts with a Cook Partisan Voter Index below D+10, suggesting the movement's reach outside heavily Democratic districts remains limited.
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Hochul's office for comment on the Bronx criticisms and Blakeman's broader campaign pitch. With early voting now underway across New York, both campaigns are racing to turn their competing narratives — one of voter revolt, the other of a durable lead — into ballots before Election Day.
