BRUTAL SHOWDOWN: Republican Bruce Blakeman TORCHES Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul in Fiery New York Debate

Posted on by patriotsheart

Bruce Blakeman confronts Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul over rising crime, cashless bail, illegal immigration, ICE enforcement, and the collapse of New York. (Screenshot: Spectrum News NY1)

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman came loaded for bear Tuesday night and left New York’s disastrous Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul on defense for the full hour of their only gubernatorial debate.

With the race tightening into a dead heat and early voting weeks away, Blakeman repeatedly forced Hochul to answer for her sanctuary-state policies, sky-high costs, and record of failure while she defaulted to blaming President Trump and refusing accountability.

A Pollfinity survey released the day of the debate showed Hochul clinging to a razor-thin 47%–44% lead, with the rest undecided or supporting others.

One of Blakeman’s strongest moments came when he confronted Hochul over the crushing financial burden facing New York families.

The Republican pointed to the dramatic differences between neighboring Pennsylvania and New York, arguing that the Empire State’s energy policies have left residents paying the price.

“On the Pennsylvania side of the border, people are driving around in brand-new Cadillac Escalades,” Blakeman said.

He contrasted those vehicles with the aging, rusted trucks he said New Yorkers were driving because of Hochul’s policies.

The exchange highlighted a central argument of Blakeman’s campaign: New Yorkers are being squeezed by high taxes, soaring utility bills, and an increasingly expensive cost of living.

Hochul defended her administration’s record while attempting to blame President Trump for utility bills.

“Kathy, Donald Trump didn’t raise utility rates 48 times. You did! Donald Trump didn’t increase our utility bills by 50% since you became governor. You did!” Blakeman fired back.

WATCH:

Blakeman: “I’ve said it many times, so I’ll repeat it. When you look at your energy bill, get your energy bill out tonight. Only about 30% of your payment actually goes for energy. The rest goes for taxes. Yes, Kathy Hochul taxes your energy bill as well, and excessive delivery costs that are merely trying to masquerade rate hikes and her slush fund, where she collects money every month from you, billions of dollars, and invests in science projects like wind turbines in the middle of the ocean or solar farms in upstate New York that are taking away our rich farmland, which, by the way, are covered under snow three months out of the year.

“It’s very expensive. She’s paying billions of dollars to foreign corporations for these. And guess what? That’s why we’re in an energy crisis.

“I would extract the natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. We’ll get rid of that green energy scam of Kathy Hochul, and I will cut utility bills in half, just like they did in Pennsylvania.”

WATCH:

The most devastating exchange came when Blakeman confronted Hochul over the human cost of her sanctuary policies. He listed specific cases enabled by her refusal to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement:

  • A 14-year-old girl raped in New York by an illegal migrant.
  • Four Irondequoit residents killed recently by an illegal migrant, including two children under the age of five.
  • Two Nassau County women in their 30s killed by an illegal migrant.

Blakeman asked point-blank: “Will you apologize to that 14-year-old girl, whose life is forever changed and her family, and the families of those who were killed? The ones that’ll never get to sit another Thanksgiving dinner, never be able to open their presents under the Christmas tree? Will you apologize to them, and will you please return Sheridan Gorman’s parents’ calls to talk to you about your sanctuary policy?”

Hochul dodged, offering only generic platitudes: “You know, any crime is heartbreaking. There’s a family left with a huge hole in their heart. And I abhor all crimes, regardless of the perpetrator…”

She never apologized or addressed the specific victims or the parents whose calls she had not returned. Blakeman also noted she had spent roughly $8 billion on illegal migrants while giving them more benefits than many New Yorkers receive.

Blakeman has long said he rejected sanctuary policies in Nassau County and would end them statewide.

Bruce Blakeman: “We have an epidemic of crime from these illegal migrants. There are 16,000 detainers out there for people who committed 52,000 crimes in our state, and you won’t let local law enforcement cooperate with ICE to pick them up and get them out of this state. This never would have happened, Kathy, if it weren’t for your policies.”

“You have invited criminals to come into our state and prey on our communities. And now you won’t let local law enforcement cooperate with ICE in an orderly way like we did in my county. We didn’t have any incidents in my county because we were allowed to cooperate with local law enforcement. But you took that tool away. The reason why that happened is because of you, Kathy Hochul, and your immigration policies where you actually invite people into our state, give them free everything, and you don’t care whether they’re criminals or not.”

WATCH:

Blakeman also challenged Hochul over state spending on migrants, contrasting the cost of migrant assistance with funding for law enforcement.

The Nassau County executive defended his public safety record and said his administration provides police officers with the resources necessary to protect residents.

Blakeman: “U.S. News & World Report says I have the safest county in America. So I back law enforcement, and I back the laws of both our federal government and our state government. And I give our law enforcement professionals the tools they need to keep us safe. But you say you spent $4 billion on law enforcement. Well, you spent $8 billion on illegal migrants and gave them more benefits than New Yorkers get. How does that make any sense?”

WATCH:

Another fiery moment came when Blakeman confronted Hochul over New York’s criminal justice laws, retail theft, and her handling of the state’s prison staffing crisis.

Blakeman: “Well, first of all, she’ll never give Donald Trump any accolades for sealing our borders. Maybe that’s why the shootings are down. Maybe that’s why all the fentanyl deaths are down. Not by anything that you did. But let me say this about crime.

“If you walk into any CVS or Walgreens and you want to buy a bottle of shampoo, in Kathy Hochul’s world, you got to ring a buzzer. A store clerk has to come out, unlock a glass door for you to buy a bottle of shampoo in New York State. It’s because we have a revolving door of criminality: cashless bail, Raise the Age, the HALT Act. And you talk about militias? You’re the only one on this stage that has a militia.

”You have two: the National Guard and the State Guard. And you have the National Guard at the cost of $1 billion a year to the taxpayers because you fired corrections officers who said, ‘These prisons are not only unsafe for corrections officers, they’re not safe for the prisoners.’ And you fired them and put the National Guard in there. You’re the one that used the militia, not me.”

WATCH:

Blakeman also hammered Hochul over the dropped “Cornell 7” sexual assault case. As an ex-officio trustee of Cornell and the governor who oversees roughly $150 million in annual state funding to the university, she failed to demand an independent investigation after the local district attorney dropped the charges.

“Kathy Hochul has already prejudged this case… Where were you? What did you do for the trustee of Cornell University?” Blakeman charged. “You were the governor of the state. You funded Cornell University to the tune of $150 million a year. As a partner of the state of New York and as a trustee and as governor, you didn’t call for an independent investigation. When you find out that the district attorney was dropping the case… Shame on you.”

Hochul’s response fell flat: “That’s pretty pathetic to blame me for what happened in a fraternity.” Blakeman pressed: “Why didn’t you call the investigation afterwards? Do you deny that you were a trustee there?”

Blakeman saved some of his sharpest attacks for the final stretch of Tuesday night’s sole New York gubernatorial debate, unloading on Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul’s cozy alliance with radical New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

While Hochul spent most of the hour trying to hang President Trump around Blakeman’s neck, the Republican challenger flipped the script and forced her to answer for embracing a democratic socialist who has made Jewish New Yorkers feel less safe.

WATCH:

The post BRUTAL SHOWDOWN: Republican Bruce Blakeman TORCHES Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul in Fiery New York Debate appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *