By Callahan Blackwood | Monday, October 19, 2026
Bruce Blakeman entered October with $177,900 in his campaign account. That figure, reported by Politico Pro and cited by Long Island Life & Politics, is the smallest cash-on-hand balance for any major-party New York gubernatorial candidate this century. His opponent, Gov. Kathy Hochul, had roughly $19 million. His campaign had raised more than $13 million across the cycle and spent almost all of it.
The money tells one version of the race. The polls tell another. Every major statewide survey has Hochul ahead, by margins ranging from 9 to 19 points depending on the pollster and the month. Blakeman keeps describing his record, seven bond rating upgrades, no tax increases in four years, a county that re-elected him on November 4, 2025 by 11.3 points, 55.61 percent to 44.30 percent.
Those three things exist at the same time. This is the nature of this race.
The Record
Blakeman has been Nassau County Executive since January 1, 2022, after defeating Democratic incumbent Laura Curran in 2021. His pitch is fiscal: Nassau's own multi-year financial plan states the three major rating agencies issued a combined seven bond rating upgrades over the past five years. Moody's described the county's financial position as improved "to levels not seen in 20 years." S&P cited "historically high levels of reserves." The State Comptroller's Fiscal Stress Monitoring System gave Nassau a 2024 score of 3.3, "no designation," meaning not fiscally stressed.
His proposed county budget for September 2026 holds taxes flat again. It leans on a projected $68.9 million jump in sales-tax revenue to about $1.7 billion and reports reserves of about $740 million. He says he canceled a $150 million tax increase left by his predecessor in his first year.
He has also demanded the state end NIFA's control period over Nassau, the oversight authority created in 2000, calling it a political tool of Hochul's. In the sources the desk reviewed, NIFA's status has not changed.
Beyond the ledger, his first term produced several policies that drew national attention, not all of it favorable. In August 2024 the Republican county legislature passed, and he signed, the Mask Transparency Act, making public mask-wearing a misdemeanor with exceptions for health, religious, and cultural purposes. A federal judge dismissed a disability-rights challenge in September 2024, finding the plaintiffs lacked standing because of the health exception.
In February 2024 he issued an executive order barring transgender women and girls from women's sports at county facilities. A state judge struck that order down on the ground that he lacked the authority to issue it. The county legislature enacted the ban as a local law in June 2024. Nassau County Supreme Court Justice R. Bruce Cozzens upheld the local law as "narrowly tailored" in fall 2025; the Long Island Roller Rebels and the NYCLU are appealing, with Attorney General Letitia James's support. The ban remains in effect pending that appeal.
In March 2024 he created a program to deputize armed civilian volunteers as provisional deputy sheriffs during declared emergencies. About 75 members make up the corps. It is the subject of ongoing litigation.
He also declared Nassau would not be a "sanctuary" county and entered a 287(g) cooperation agreement with ICE, including training for a designated squad of county officers. New York's Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, signed by Hochul in May 2026, has since banned such agreements statewide.
The Money
Blakeman raised $13,445,025.11 and spent $10,455,185.77, with no loans, according to Transparency USA figures from state filings; those figures update as filings arrive. His filing for July through September showed nearly $10.5 million spent in the period and just over $177,900 in cash on hand entering the final month.
His campaign has emphasized that he out-raised Hochul in the period itself, pulling in $6.3 million including $1.27 million from the Nassau County Republican Committee and $125,000 from Suffolk's committee. That comparison excludes Hochul's party-committee transfer.
He is participating in the state's public matching funds program, a 6-to-1 match on the first $250 from eligible New York residents, and had received $2.4 million in matching funds, with roughly another $1 million expected. WAMC reported the shortage "could make it difficult to keep his ads in rotation in the final stretch."
Pro-Blakeman super PACs had spent about $2 million on the general election as of early October, much of that from a group largely funded by entities controlled by New York Knicks owner James Dolan, per state Board of Elections records reported by WAMC.
The Claims, Checked
On taxes: Blakeman says he "never raised taxes one penny," pointing to surpluses and seven bond upgrades. The county's own financial documents and the State Comptroller corroborate the upgrades, the no-fiscal-stress designation, and consecutive year-end surpluses. Democratic Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton argues the surplus streak began under his predecessor Laura Curran and that the county hoards reserves instead of cutting what she calls "exorbitant fees," a backdoor tax. The no-tax-hike budgets also lean heavily on sales-tax revenue and large reserves, not only property-tax restraint.
On public safety: he calls Nassau "the safest county in America." The underlying designation is real but narrower: U.S. News & World Report designated Nassau the safest county of its size in the United States. The broader claim is his.
His "Affordability Mandate," announced in April 2026, calls for 10 percent income-tax cuts for earners under $250,000, no state income tax on the first $50,000 of earnings for single filers or $100,000 for joint filers, repeal of congestion pricing, repeal of cashless bail, and return of $2.4 billion in unspent NYSERDA funds to ratepayers. Every item requires the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Pressed by the New York Post on that point, he answered: "The governor has tremendous leverage over the budget process... if I don't get what I want, they're not getting what I want."
He has said fracking the Marcellus Shale would "slash utility bills in half." The New York Post's debate fact-check rated this highly unlikely: New York's fracking ban was codified by the Legislature in 2021, so a governor cannot reverse it alone, and no sourced analysis in the record supports a 50 percent reduction.
He says Hochul "takes orders" from Mayor Mamdani and is a "useful tool" of his movement. This is campaign rhetoric, not a documented fact. Mamdani endorsed Hochul for re-election. Hochul has publicly worked with both Mamdani and Trump. Blakeman, in the same Post interview, acknowledged his own independence: "Donald Trump is my friend... the decisions that I make will be decisions made solely in what I feel is in the best interest of New Yorkers."
Two other debate claims were checked in Saturday's claims-check piece in this series; see that report for the detail.
The Controversies
The armed-deputies program has generated the most sustained legal scrutiny. Democratic Nassau legislators, including Scott M. Davis and Public Safety Committee member Debra Mulé, sued in state Supreme Court in February 2025 to shut it down. Court filings reported in 2026 allege that of the roughly 75 deputies, at least four "appear to have either been arrested or had warrants issued for their arrest," five were over the mandatory police retirement age of 62, one is a member of Blakeman's "extended family" without a law-enforcement background, and another is a doctor who served on his transition team. These are allegations in pending litigation, not findings. Blakeman has said on the record: "All special deputies went through an extensive background check and were trained in criminal law and firearms and all had valid New York State carry permits." Oral arguments were heard in October 2025; the case remained pending in the sources the desk reviewed.
On campaign finances: New York Focus reported that his campaign improperly sought public matches for more than 2,600 ineligible donations, though it is unclear whether the state matched any. Newsday reported that his October disclosure appeared to double- or triple-count some contributions, with possible repeats totaling more than $460,000, a significant issue in a 6-to-1 matching program. The state Democratic Party has asked the Public Campaign Finance Board and the Board of Elections to audit. No finding against either side appears in the sources the desk reviewed. Blakeman's campaign has itself sued the Public Campaign Finance Board in state Supreme Court in Albany over a separate matching-funds decision.
Critics, including the commentary outlet News & Photo Features, charge that he never delivered his repeated campaign promise to fix Nassau's property-tax assessment system. The desk found no sourced administration response to that charge in the materials reviewed.
Trump endorsed him and visited the Nassau County police training center in August 2026. Democrats have tied Blakeman to Trump in nearly every statement. In New York, Trump's approval is 35 percent against 57 percent disapproval, per Emerson's October survey.
What He Has Not Answered
The Affordability Mandate's income-tax cuts are specified in structure but, in the sources the desk reviewed, the campaign has not published a revenue offset or a cost estimate. Asked how he would pass the plan through a Democratic Legislature, Blakeman offered budget leverage, not a fiscal plan.
Beyond fracking and the proposed NYSERDA rebate, no sourced analysis supports the claim that utility bills would be cut in half, and he has not identified one in the coverage the desk reviewed.
Hochul's campaign attacks his 1998 and 1999 votes as a county legislator to raise property taxes. His only on-record answer at the debate was to dismiss them: "Property taxes? You're going to talk about something I did 28 years ago," while counterattacking on Hochul's record. He did not dispute the votes.
Where the Race Stands
Marist, polling October 1 to 4, had Hochul ahead by 11 points. Emerson/PIX11, polling October 8, showed 52 to 40, Hochul by 12. Siena in September had it plus-9. Quinnipiac in September had it plus-19. Every major pollster has Hochul ahead; the margin depends on turnout modeling, and no poll is a prediction.
Inside those numbers Blakeman runs better. Marist had him leading independents 49 to 42 and splitting the suburbs 48 to 48. Emerson had him leading independents 55 to 34 even while trailing overall. He has publicly attacked the Marist poll as "phony" and "woke."
One outlier, Pollfinity, polling October 8 to 12 among 499 respondents, had the race at plus-3. The firm was founded in 2026 by a Libertarian activist.
Early voting opens Saturday, October 24. The series continues this week with the Hudson Valley's House races; find the desk's Dutchess County voting guide at rftuv.ai/news/voting-in-dutchess-county-the-october-24-deadline-and-everything-after. Saturday's debate claims checkand yesterday's Hochul deep dive are also available on the site.
