Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman to announce gubernatorial run

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who has been toying with the idea of running for governor, is expected to announce on Tuesday that he will be challenging upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik, 41, for the Republican nomination.

Blakeman, 70, spent his early political career in various offices in the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County. He was the commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 2001 to 2009, and was appointed to the Hempstead Town Board in 2015. Blakeman challenged then County Executive Laura Curran in 2021, and won. He defeated County Legislator Seth Koslow in last month for another four-year term.

The past few years, Blakeman has strongly supported President Donald Trump and has allowed the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold detainees in a portion of the county’s Correctional Center in East Meadow — a first of its kind partnership in the U.S.

"The people of Nassau County want us to cooperate with ICE," he said during his November victory speech at the Coral House in Baldwin. "They want to get the criminals out of our country."

Blakeman advocated for the Las Vegas Sands proposed casino project at the Nassau Hub, which fell apart when the Sands dropped out in April. Previously, he told the Herald that alternative development plans are now progressing under a “Plan B” strategy.

First elected to the Hempstead town board in 1993, two years later Blakeman was elected to serve in the County Legislature’s first class as that lawmaking body replace the Board of Supervisors. He also served as the Legislature’s first presiding officer.

Blakeman grew up in Valley Stream and his father, Robert, served as an assemblyman. Blakeman’s brother Brad, served on the staff of President George W. Bush.

In 2014, Blakeman lost to Kathleen Rice to represent the 4th Congressional District that covers a large swath of Nassau’s South Shore. Four years earlier, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City and U.S. Senate. Blakeman now lives in Atlantic Beach.

"Bruce has no shot and is putting his raging ego first and New Yorkers last as he blows up the best opportunity in a generation to Save New York,” Stefanik campaign spokesperson Bernadette Breslin wrote in a statement.