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In two and a half months, New York will elect a governor. One candidate is Kathy Hochul, the incumbent Democrat who has emerged as a strong voice in the state's fight against a cruel federal immigration policy, and has, to a point, worked well with New York City's popular mayor, easing the decades-long tension that previously plagued state and City leaders.
The other candidate is Bruce Blakeman, the Republican Nassau County executive who last weekend campaigned with a historically unpopular president, commands his own (somewhat elderly) militia, and has appeared alongside a Tennessee Republican who has said the City's Muslim population should be subject to "denaturalizations and deportations," starting with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
In evaluating those two choices, New Yorkers seem to be Blakeman-curious. Earlier this month, a Siena Poll of likely New York voters showed Hochul leads Blakeman by just 10 points, and she hasn't notched majority support (49-39 percent in her favor), with Blakeman narrowing the 20-point lead Hochul enjoyed as recently as June. In 2022, her Republican opponent Lee Zeldin came shockingly close—within 6 points—to defeating her. An August 2022 poll had her with a bigger lead against Zeldin than Blakeman.