Bruce Blakeman

Blakeman was born in Oceanside, New York, and raised in Valley Stream. He is a graduate of Arizona State University and California Western School of Law.⁠[1][2]

Blakeman served as presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature.⁠[1]

In 1998 Blakeman was the Republican nominee for New York State comptroller and lost to incumbent Carl McCall.⁠[2]

After the September 11 attacks, Governor George Pataki appointed Blakeman a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a post he held until 2009; he has said he worked there to enhance security at airports, bridges, tunnels and other critical infrastructure.⁠[2][1]

In 2014 Blakeman won the Republican primary in New York’s 4th congressional district with 9,083 votes (66%) over Frank Scaturro, but lost the general election to Democrat Kathleen M. Rice by 80,127 votes (47.1%) to 89,793 (52.8%).⁠[3]

From 2015 to 2021 Blakeman served on the Hempstead Town Council.⁠[1]

On November 2, 2021, Blakeman was elected Nassau County executive, defeating Democratic incumbent Laura Curran by a margin of a few thousand votes.⁠[1][4][2]

In the November 2025 county executive election, Blakeman was re-elected by more than 10 points over Democratic county legislator Seth Koslow; his campaign focused on lowering taxes and reducing crime, and President Donald Trump endorsed him the day before the election.⁠[2][4]

On December 9, 2025, Blakeman announced his candidacy for governor of New York on Fox & Friends and launched his campaign with a video; Elise Stefanik was also seeking the Republican nomination at the time. He said: “We want to make it more affordable, we want to make New York safer, and we want to make people in New York happy again.”⁠[5]

On February 11, 2026, the New York Republican Party’s nominating convention on Long Island unanimously designated Blakeman for governor and Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood for lieutenant governor; Blakeman’s original choice, Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino, had publicly declined. In a video played at the convention, Trump said of Blakeman: “He is a winner.”⁠[6]

In his acceptance speech he criticized Hochul’s green energy mandates and congestion pricing, saying: “Make no mistake about it, if Kathy HochulKathy HochulKathy Hochul is an American Democratic politician who has been the 57th governor of New York since August 2021, the state’s first female governor. She previously served as lieutenant governor of New York and as a U.S. representative, and was re-elected in November 2026.Open the full entry is reelected, she will expand the radical agenda of billion-dollar tax hikes.”⁠[6]

The Republican and Conservative Party primaries scheduled for June 23, 2026, were canceled, and Blakeman advanced as both parties’ nominee without appearing on a primary ballot.⁠[3]

During the campaign Blakeman promised to cut utility bills by 50% and said he would oppose cashless bail, parole board leniency and the HALT Act.⁠[2]

In the November 3 election, the Associated Press called the race for Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul as soon as polls closed at 9 p.m.; preliminary state Board of Elections results with 92% of election districts reporting showed Hochul leading 60% to 40%. Blakeman conceded that night after calling Hochul, saying: “We have the best interests of the people in our heart.”⁠[7]

As county executive, Blakeman announced he would not enforce a COVID-19 mask mandate set by Governor Hochul and later signed an executive order letting school boards decide whether to enforce mask mandates for students; he also issued an executive order barring sports organizers from county-run athletic facilities if they allow transgender girls and women to compete on female teams.⁠[2]

He has said he eliminated $150 million in property tax increases scheduled by his predecessor and hired nearly 1,000 police and law enforcement officers over his two terms.⁠[2]

Blakeman was a partner at his father’s law firm for several years and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the courts of New York and New Jersey, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.⁠[2][1]

He has also been deputy counsel to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Foundation and executive director of the New York Police Chiefs Benevolent Association, and a member of the Crime Stoppers board and the New York COPS Foundation.⁠[1]

Nassau County: Official website: https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

X: Public account: https://x.com/NassauExec (opens in a new window).⁠[1]