5 things to know about the Republican convention happening in Garden City

Republicans from across New York will gather at The Garden City Hotel from Monday to Wednesday to designate their candidates for statewide offices, including naming Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman the party's candidate for governor. 

Delegates and representatives from the Republican committees across the state's 62 counties, plus party donors, supporters and activists, are expected to attend. There will be rallies, parties and meetings to organize and conduct official political committee business as well as publicly support their slate in November's general election. 

The gathering will come days after Democrats across the state held their own convention.

Once Blakeman and candidates for attorney general and comptroller are nominated, they would require more than 50% of delegate votes to become the party's official designees, which allows them to get onto the ballot without having to submit a petition of signatures to the state Board of Elections. 

Here's what to know:

Blakeman's moment 

The marquee race this election cycle is for governor and for the second time in a row the party is set on a Long Island Republican. Nassau's Blakeman is expected to be officially named the party's choice to lead the statewide ticket, challenging Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Blakeman, 70, of Atlantic Beach, was sworn into a second term as county executive last month. He is a former Town of Hempstead councilman who served as a commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A perennial candidate, Blakeman has unsuccessfully run for several posts including U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, New York City Mayor and state comptroller.

Hochul, 67, of Buffalo, is seeking her second full term as governor. She was the state's lieutenant governor when, in August 2021, then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned. She later was elected in 2022 to her first term in office after defeating Lee Zeldin, a former Shirley congressman who is now head of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Who's the lieutenant governor pick?

Blakeman is likely to reveal his running mate over the next few days, with the debut expected at the convention, party officials said. State law changed last year, eliminating a separate primary for lieutenant governor, and requiring governor and lieutenant governor to run together. A schedule is in place with a lineup of speakers and a rally to kick off the event on Monday, and nominations for state attorney general and state comptroller on Tuesday.

Saritha Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor, and Khurram Dara, a crypto lawyer from Brooklyn, seek to challenge Letitia James to be the next attorney general.

Joseph Hernandez, a biotech entrepreneur and Cuban American immigrant who ran for New York City mayor, hopes to be the party's pick for state comptroller to challenge Thomas DiNapoli.

A who's who of GOP dignitaries on tap

Blakeman is expected to accept the nomination on Wednesday and his lieutenant governor will emerge at that time too, party officials said. Among those expected to give speeches are former Gov. George Pataki and Madeline Brame, a frequent contributor to Fox News and conservative talk-radio who speaks against cashless bail and shorter sentences for violent felons. The Republican leaders of the state Senate and Assembly are also expected to speak.

Speakers to direct line of attacks on Democrats

Republicans will likely hammer home their opposition to municipal laws that protect immigrants living in the country illegally like those that make neighboring New York City a "sanctuary city." They are expected to speak against Hochul and Albany Democrats, but also New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a former state assemblyman and democratic socialist.

Party officials say they will lay out plans to boost economic opportunities around the state such as lowering the corporate tax, eliminating congestion pricing to travel into Manhattan, cashless bail and legislation that raises the age of when a young person can be prosecuted as an adult from 16 to 18 years old.   

A three-day convention at a 150-year Victorian-style hotel 

This is the third time in recent history the state's Republicans will hold their convention in Nassau County. In 2022, the party gathered at The Garden City Hotel, a 150-year-old Victorian-style landmark on Seventh Street, to designate Zeldin their candidate to oppose Hochul. He came within six points — the closest of any Republican gubernatorial candidate since 1994.

State party officials said at the time they were seeking to replicate the wins of 2021 when Blakeman, widely considered an underdog candidate, defeated Democrat Laura Curran and Republicans swept all countywide offices in Nassau and gained the majority of the seats on the Suffolk County Legislature.

In 2006, officials also used Hofstra University in Hempstead. That year, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld and John Faso, who went on to the House of Representatives a decade later, battled for the party's nod with the main event at the university and the smaller gatherings at the hotel.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.