Lawyers for Blakeman argue in court to regain state matching funds

ALBANY — Attorneys for Republican Bruce Blakeman asked a state Supreme Court judge Friday to overturn a decision removing the Nassau County executive from the state’s matching funds program in his run for governor.

During a 90-minute hearing, attorneys for Blakeman and for the state’s Public Campaign Finance Board argued before Acting Supreme Court Judge Denise A. Hartman over whether the  board acted properly in requiring candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to jointly file a form and whether it had a duty to tell Blakeman’s campaign there was an issue.

A key element is a new state law, signed in 2025, that ended separate primaries for governor and lieutenant governor, requiring them to run on a single ticket. As such, Blakeman and his running mate, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, should have filed a "joint certification" application to the Public Campaign Finance Board. The board received an application only from Blakeman.

Blakeman’s attorney Adam Fusco said that the board erred because it never created a form with space for both candidates to file and never told Blakeman anything was amiss.

"By sitting on their hands and doing nothing and waiting for the timeline to expire, they have left our clients without the ability to remedy what they perceive to be an issue," he said.

Blakeman sued the board in early April  after it removed him from the program, which grants public funds to candidates who raise enough in donations from state residents. The program is available to gubernatorial candidates for the first time in 2026.

The board’s decision to remove Blakeman over a paperwork issue could cost his campaign millions of dollars as he seeks to unseat Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Hochul previously said she is not participating in the program. She had $20 million on hand, according to her last campaign finance report.

Attorney Christopher Massaroni, who is representing the board as well as the state’s two Democratic Board of Elections commissioners, said Hood had a duty to register for the program under state law.

Because Hood did not register, the board did not have a duty to notify Blakeman that his campaign was in violation of the program’s rules, he said.

Massaroni denied there was an intention to deceive Blakeman’s campaign.

And he argued that Blakeman and Hood had a duty to follow all of the program’s laws.

"The truth of the matter is that from the inception of the program, both the statute and regulations have always expressly stated to be eligible for the program, all candidates must file," he told Hartman.

Attorney Kevin Murphy, who was representing the Republican state Board of Election commissioners, said he believed under the matching fund program’s rules, candidates and committees have an opportunity to fix problems with their applications and the board denied Blakeman that chance.

Hartman said she found it problematic that the board never created a form that allowed both candidates to file for the program. She said she expects to issue a ruling within two weeks.

But she noted she had issued an accelerated timeline for the case to be heard to give either side the chance for an appellate review before the higher court goes into summer recess.