Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is lashing out at outgoing Rep. Elise Stefanik after she called his failed gubernatorial campaign “low energy,” setting off a public feud among New York Republicans in the wake of his landslide loss to Gov. Kathy Hochul. Blakeman posted his criticism on X, accusing Stefanik of being selfish and doing nothing to help Republican candidates across the state.
According to the New York Post, Blakeman said Stefanik had one moment of glory in an otherwise unremarkable career. The Post reported that Hochul beat Blakeman 60.1% to 39.7%, though SILive.com put the margin at 60% to 39.8%. Blakeman is the sitting Nassau County executive, and his campaign had been endorsed by President Donald Trump, per the Post's reporting.
Stefanik, for her part, didn't hold back either. She called the state GOP apparatus broken and said it needed to be rebuilt, according to SILive.com, which reported her saying, “when you have a low energy campaign with limited resources that lacked an apparatus,” referring to Blakeman's bid. She also described Tuesday's results as a political reckoning for Republicans, the outlet reported.
A Campaign That Never Quite Got Off the Ground
The sniping comes after a chaotic run-up to the race. Stefanik had considered a run for New York governor in 2025 before dropping out of the gubernatorial race after Blakeman emerged as a candidate, per the seed reporting attributed to the Post. She did not appear at Blakeman campaign events, and Stefanik did not support his candidacy.
A source familiar with Stefanik's campaign went further in comments to NOTUS, saying Blakeman's determination to tank the Republican Party's chances in the general election was not only disgraceful but selfish. Stefanik herself told the outlet the results speak for themselves, and that the state GOP needed to reset after a series of losses.
Other NY Republicans Are Also Pointing Fingers
Blakeman and Stefanik aren't the only New York Republicans airing grievances this week. Newly elected Rep. Anthony Constantino, who won in NY-21, continued attacking state Republicans after his own victory, referring to county committee chairs as scammers and criticizing Blakeman's losing campaign, according to the Times Union. Stefanik is the outgoing U.S. representative for that same 21st District, the paper noted, having won every election there by double-digit margins since she first won election in 2014.
Blakeman's defeat also stands out next to the party's last attempt at unseating Hochul. In 2022, Republican Lee Zeldin lost to Hochul by about six points, a narrower margin than Blakeman's loss four years later, SILive.com reported.
A Rough Night for Republicans Statewide and Beyond
Blakeman's loss landed amid a broader wave of Democratic wins. CBS News projected Hochul's reelection as governor and also projected that Democrats would win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Nationally, Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats, according to results tallied by the New York Times as of early Wednesday morning.
In 2025, Stefanik dropped out of the race while seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
