Politics & Government Active Updated Oct 7, 2026
The governor's race
Gov. Hochul is seeking reelection against Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who has built his campaign around New York's sanctuary law and crime, with President Trump's active backing. The race has tightened sharply, testing whether Trump's endorsement and crime messaging can flip a blue state's governorship in November.
The story so far
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Oct 7, 2026 Latest
Gothamist reported that the state Democratic Committee Hochul controls moved $10 million into her campaign, legal because party committees can take $138,600 from a donor while a governor's race caps gifts at $9,000. Blakeman has drawn about $3.5 million from the Nassau GOP the same way.
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Oct 4, 2026
Actress Debra Messing, who backed Andrew Cuomo for mayor, endorsed Republican Bruce Blakeman for governor, the New York Post reported. The Hochul campaign called him her "MAGA all the way" opponent.
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Oct 3, 2026
Republican Bruce Blakeman pledged a statewide ban on transgender students in girls' school bathrooms and locker rooms, saying Gov. Hochul would "rather satisfy a political agenda than protect our daughters," the New York Post reported. The state Democratic Party called it "an old Trump playbook."
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Sep 29, 2026
Gov. Hochul and the state Democratic Party reported $33.5 million on hand five weeks before the Nov. 3 election, City & State reported. Bruce Blakeman's campaign finance numbers are due by Oct. 2.
City & State New York - All Content -
Sep 24, 2026
Two new polls showed Gov. Hochul leading Bruce Blakeman by 9 points in a Siena poll and 19 points in a Quinnipiac poll, with both surveys finding Mamdani's endorsement of Hochul viewed more favorably than Trump's endorsement of Blakeman, Spectrum News NY1 and City & State reported.
City & State New York - All Content City & State New York - All Content 
Politics | Spectrum News NY1 -
Sep 23, 2026
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman won the state correction officers' union endorsement and vowed to end New York's HALT solitary confinement law, saying prisons are less safe under it, though he acknowledged a Democratic Legislature means any change would have to come through bargaining.
Politics | Spectrum News NY1 -
Sep 16, 2026
Gov. Hochul touted energy rebate checks of up to $500 for 8.2 million New Yorkers and a wider utility discount program, while Bruce Blakeman called the savings 'peanuts' and pledged to halve bills by lifting the fracking ban. The state's correction officers' union endorsed Blakeman as Hochul faced criticism over the prison crisis, the New York Post reported.
Politics | Spectrum News NY1 -
Sep 10, 2026
Bruce Blakeman drew criticism after endorsing a candidate who called 9/11 an 'inside job,' Bronx Times reported.
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Sep 5, 2026
Gov. Hochul's campaign accused Bruce Blakeman of sending "fake government documents" after his campaign mailed New York City voters official-looking memos claiming they owe the new pied-a-terre tax, while the Blakeman campaign said the mailers highlight a botched tax rollout and would not say what records it used.
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Sep 3, 2026
Bruce Blakeman's campaign mailed New York City homeowners official-looking "memorandums of tax assessment" soliciting campaign donations while pledging to eliminate the pied-a-terre tax, and election attorney Sarah Steiner called the mailers legal but manipulative scaremongering.
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Aug 21, 2026
Gov. Hochul launched her first television ads of the campaign cycle, touting free school meals and leaning into an affordability message against Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman.
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Aug 15, 2026
President Trump rallied with Bruce Blakeman at the Nassau County police academy, touting a 9.3% national drop in violent crime in 2025 and calling New York's sanctuary law seditious. A new Siena poll showed Gov. Hochul leading Blakeman 49% to 39%, down from a 20-point margin in June.
Politics | Spectrum News NY1 
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