Who the fuck is Bruce Blakeman? We're so glad you asked. The Republican Nassau County executive who is challenging Governor Kathy Hochul has been in politics since the '90s. He has unsuccessfully run for state comptroller, U.S. Senate, Congress, and even briefly for mayor of New York City. In fact, a consultant who worked with Blakeman on his Senate campaign told City & State in 2025 that "there are candidates who only will run a race that they know they can win or think there’s a good chance they can win…Bruce has never been like that."
There are more curiosities in Blakeman's backstory. His ex-wife is currently married to Paul McCartney. When he was a college student, he worked as a driver and aide to Nancy Reagan. His brother is named Brad, which I guess isn't too nuts, until you consider that his mother is named Betty and his father is named Robert (Bob!?), which opens up an alliterative Kardashian-style can of worms.
Blakeman, whose most significant political victory so far was unseating a Democratic incumbent in the 2021 Nassau County executive race, was once a Trump-wary Republican. In a 2022 interview with the New York Times, for example, he insisted that despite their shared support for lifting state mask mandates, he and Donald Trump's "personalities and delivery style are very different." But Blakeman has since embraced Trump and Trump-style politics. And for good reason: His star has risen alongside his Trump loyalty, culminating with this (likely doomed) candidacy, which Trump made possible. (Blakeman's campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.)
Blakeman came into office as county executive promising to lower property taxes, but his efforts have taken a more clout-chase-y turn. Beyond banning mask mandate enforcement almost as soon as he assumed office (he would eventually issue a ban on mask-wearing in public, except for law enforcement agents, in 2024), Blakeman made headlines in March 2022 when he launched a gun collection drive on behalf of Ukraine, reportedly taking the opportunity to purchase and donate an AK-47 himself as part of the effort. When critics asked Blakeman how he was planning to get a bunch of random guns to a foreign country, the county executive lacked specifics. "It's a long process to get that done so that's why we're asking for help from the federal government," he told NBC New York, adding, "Time is of the essence. It’s life and death. That's why we need help."
As Blakeman's time in office wore on and Trump mounted his 2024 presidential election campaign, Blakeman began to adopt more and more of the president's pet causes: In February 2024, Blakeman issued an executive order banning trans women and girls from playing in women's sports leagues in Nassau County, a first in New York state. An NYCLU staff attorney representing a women's roller derby team that sued Blakeman over the executive order described the ban to Hell Gate as "nothing more than a cynical attempt to shut trans people out of public life."
A couple of months later, Blakeman was spotted holding an umbrella for Trump at the funeral of a slain NYPD cop, and since then, they've been buds. Trump has appeared at multiple rallies to stump for Blakeman. The president played a major role in clearing the GOP primary field for Blakeman, telling Representative Mike Lawler not to run for governor. Despite her groveling, he was unhelpful to Representative Elise Stefanik, and she eventually ended her campaign.
Now—although his campaign website notably does not feature an official policy platform—Blakeman is running on using fossil fuels and nuclear energy to bring down utility bills, eliminating income taxes for people making less than $50,000 (though he hasn't explained how the state would cover that), being broadly tough on crime, and promising to put an end to New York's sanctuary state status.