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Bruce Blakeman called Kathy Hochul a "puppet" of Zohran Mamdani at a campaign rally, accusing both of failing on crime and illegal immigration.

Former Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman accuses his own party of being overtaken by socialists while rallying for Bruce Blakeman.

New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman says internal polls show a dead heat in his race against Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Give Hochul this much: She's making her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, look like a piker with his Buffalo Billion "investments" — which also didn't pan out.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a brief 15-minute joint campaign appearance in Brooklyn to rally voters before Election Day.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s vision for New York has been largely shaped by her upbringing in a failing western New York town and her family’s move up from a trailer park to affluence.

Anyone who wants the state to have a better future needs to choose a governor who’ll fight to rebuild the sensible center — and that means a vote for Bruce Blakeman.

Republican New York gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman is making public safety a centerpiece of his campaign against Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, betting that lingering concerns about crime will resonate with voters, Politico reported Wednesday.

BLAKEMAN’S (LACK OF) ENERGY PLAN: GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman continued to hammer Gov. Kathy Hochul on rising energy costs today, promising to slash utility bills in half if he’s elected. The Republican, however, still has not offered up a policy proposal on how he’d go about doing that. “Kathy Hochul increased our utility rates 48 times in four years,” Blakeman said in upper Manhattan this morning. The Washington Heights press conference, which included former Gov. George Pataki, was heavy on rhetoric and relatively light on details. Afterward, Blakeman’s campaign would not spell out how exactly he plans to cut consumer utility costs and did not respond to a request for clarification about his claim that Hochul increased utility rates 48 times. (While the state’s Public Service Commission has approved increases in major utility rate cases during Hochul’s tenure, those hikes have been less than what the utilities requested .) “Donald Trump’s puppet, Bruce Blakeman … wants data centers raising your costs and said Trump was doing an ‘amazing job’ after he jacked up utility bills.” Hochul campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. “Two weeks from irrelevance, here’s what Blakeman won’t tell you: Governor Kathy Hochul delivered a billion dollars in energy relief, ten billion in tax relief, and made data centers pay for the energy they use.” The Nassau County executive described meeting the owner of a Bronx diner who told him the business would need to sell 1,000 burgers a month to pay its $16,000 utility bill. Blakeman said he would legalize fracking to help New Yorkers lower their energy bills fast. Aside from the fact that fracking doesn’t necessarily lead to lower utility bills and the reality that Blakeman would need buy-in from the state’s Democratic-dominated Legislature to do so, he insists that legalizing fracking could offer near-term relief from high energy costs. “I met with those same individuals and companies that are doing the extraction of natural gas in Pennsylvania. They told me they can be up and running in 60 days,” Blakeman said. “If Albany has the will to reduce people's utility bills … we can get it done in 60 days.” He pointed to Pennsylvania, arguing that the state has lower electric bills because it allows fracking. But he neglected to mention that Pennsylvania is not part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — the carbon trading program of 11 eastern states, which Blakeman has pledged to withdraw from if he is elected. Pataki, the last Republican to serve as governor in the Empire State, spearheaded the creation of that initiative, which is commonly known as RGGI. “The concept is right, but the way it's being done in Albany is wrong,” Pataki said at the presser, accusing Albany of using RGGI as a “slush fund.” Even if New York did withdraw from RGGI, the benefit would amount to a 5% to 6% decrease on an average New York residential household bill, according to an estimate from National Grid — barely making a dent in the 50% Blakeman is promising to slash. Exactly how the state would cover the rest of his proposed cut remains unclear. Affordability, though, continues to be a key concern in Washington Heights, a largely Dominican neighborhood that Mayor Zohran Mamdani did well in during his ascent to victory last year. To drive their message home, the Republicans even attempted to make their pitch in Spanish. Pataki, much more practiced in this than Blakeman, talked about how much he loved the “barrio” when he was governor, describing Blakeman as a leader “muy fuerte.” “Gracias, hombre grande,” Blakeman exclaimed, before touting what he views as the GOP ticket’s immigrant bonafides — Saritha Komatireddy for attorney general and Joe Hernandez for comptroller. “Governor, your Spanish is better than my Spanish, and I grew up speaking it,” Hernandez praised Pataki. — Mona Zhang From the Capitol LABOR BOOSTS GOV: A coalition of public employee unions is joining the crowded ro…