Bruce Blakeman

BACKGROUND

• Blakeman, 71, of Atlantic Beach, is a registered Republican running on the Republican, Conservative and Vote Affordable party lines in the general election.
• He has been Nassau County executive since defeating Democrat Laura Curran in 2021. He served on the county legislature from 1995 to 1999 and was a commissioner with the New York Port Authority from 2001 to 2009. He ran unsuccessfully for state comptroller and the U.S. Senate.  
• Blakeman has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a law degree from California Western School of Law. 

ISSUES

• Blakeman said New York’s taxes and spending are too high, that state taxes are driving up utility bills, that setting aside money for “green” energy projects that might never be built is a waste and that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $200 energy rebate checks are an “election-year gimmick.”
• Blakeman said his two successful runs for county executive in a “purple” Nassau show he can appeal to independents and some Democrats as a moderate Republican. He notes he hasn’t raised taxes since taking over the county and that Nassau always gets rated as one of the safest counties in the nation.
• He said he is aligned with President Donald Trump and supports key Republican issues, such as opposing “sanctuary” cities for illegal immigrants, rejecting mask mandates, blocking trans athletes from girls sports and supporting immigration detainment and deportation policies. He has sought to tie Hochul to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist.