Bruce Blakeman seeks more spotlight after failed first term promises

It's no surprise that Bruce Blakeman is seeking a stage with a bigger and brighter spotlight than is given a Nassau County executive. After a first term marked more by performance than governance, he cynically sought a second one while plotting to get out of town. His 11% reelection win last month was impressive, though boosted by his casting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a threat to the suburban way of life.

Now just weeks away from starting a second term, Blakeman has announced a run for the 2026 Republican gubernatorial nomination. That he doesn't have a record to run on might be a problem in convincing the rest of the state to give him a job where stuff actually needs to get done.

But Blakeman, who so far appears to only have the support of his home county GOP, is skilled at making headlines. In his tenure to date he created an unnecessary special militia, despite Nassau having one of the most well-staffed and experienced police departments in the nation. Blakeman also took a ride on the wave of opposition to transgender athletes, barring them from using county facilities. Then there was a ban on wearing masks which he later had to change so ICE agents could operate here. On Tuesday he touted that pact as "the most comprehensive agreement with ICE in the United States," not credibly claiming that Latinos "love it the most."

In a postelection maneuver, he declared that the NCPD would use license plate readers and surveillance techniques at the border with Queens, perhaps to stop socialists from shopping at the Roosevelt Field mall.

The best that can be said about these efforts is that none ever really had any consequence except for inviting lawsuits that the county is spending millions to defend, including one from Newsday for removing its designation as the county's official newspaper in retaliation for not getting positive coverage.

As Republican county chairs around the state compare Blakeman with Rep. Elise Stefanik, his rival for the nomination, they will be evaluating his failed first term promises such as the aborted plan for NYU Langone to establish a hospital on the Nassau Community College campus. And the abandoned plan for Las Vegas Sands to build a casino at the Hub. Blakeman never devised a long-term plan to identify and prioritize the upgrading of Nassau's aging infrastructure. Nor did he get around to stabilizing Nassau University Medical Center, as his appointees failed so badly the state had to take over the facility.

And he has yet to fix the county's broken tax assessment system, a pledge he first made in 2021. Running on an affordability platform could be difficult when you preside over one of the most expensive places to live in the nation. 

Given his inattentiveness to his day job of running Nassau County, we have no concerns that Blakeman's gubernatorial run will divert his focus.