Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman pledged to confront antisemitism and challenge New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies if elected governor. He also accused Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, of failing to confront anti-Jewish hostility adequately.
“There is no place for antisemitism anywhere in America, but especially here in New York City,” Blakeman said on Wednesday at Temple Emanu-El, a Reform congregation in Manhattan.
About 350 people, many wearing kippahs, attended the discussion, titled “Bruce Blakeman: The race for New York’s next governor.” Blakeman received loud applause at the event, moderated by Eric Levine, a Republican Jewish Coalition board member.
Rabbi Joshua Davidson, senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, introduced the event by underscoring the importance of the gubernatorial race to Jewish New Yorkers and the obligation for Jews to vote.
The synagogue invited both Blakeman and Hochul, but Hochul’s campaign couldn’t accommodate the invitation, the synagogue said.
A spokesman for Hochul’s campaign told JNS that “while the schedule for this event didn’t work, the governor has enjoyed numerous meetings with Rabbi Davidson and visits to the congregation over the years and looks forward to more in the future.”
The governor also looks forward to “building on her work passing a historic buffer zone bill to protect synagogues and houses of worship, investing record funding to crack down on hate crimes and launching a nation-leading plan to combat antisemitism statewide,” her campaign said.
Blakeman, the Republican Nassau County executive seeking to unseat Hochul, repeatedly criticized Mamdani’s approach to Jew-hatred and called him “the most divisive mayor in my lifetime.”
“The first thing that he did as mayor, with all the issues in the largest city in the United States, was water down the definition of antisemitism,” Blakeman said.
Blakeman said that the mayor’s approach to antisemitism reflects a broader political divide over how Jews and supporters of Israel are viewed in progressive spaces. He criticized what he said is an oppressor-versus-oppressed framework, which can cast people who are white, male, Jewish, straight and Zionist as “oppressors.”
“I guess I’m in trouble,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.
He also accused Hochul of failing to demonstrate the leadership that he believes is needed to address anti-Jewish hostility.
“She doesn’t have the courage and the backbone to stand by convictions that every governor has had in the last 100 years,” he said.
Blakeman contrasted his approach with the state’s response to antisemitism. When anti-Israel protesters demonstrated outside an Israeli real estate expo near a synagogue in Nassau County, he deployed police units and the protest ended within 15 minutes, he said.
He would have approached anti-Israel encampments at Columbia University in the same way, he said.
“I would not have tolerated this. It would have been over,” he said. “I would have sent every asset of the state to end it immediately.”
Blakeman also discussed the economy, taxes and education and said that high costs and state policies were making New York less affordable. He criticized progressive economic policies.
“Socialism is nothing more than shared misery,” he said.
He also said that he supports school choice and charter and religious schools, as well as vocational training as an alternative path for students who do not pursue a traditional four-year college education.
He decried state policies that he believes contribute to New York’s high cost of living, including taxes and energy costs. He said that making the state more affordable would require changes to its approach to spending and economic development.
Audience members asked him how a governor could influence policy in New York City under Mamdani’s leadership.
“Actually, the governor has tremendous power over the city of New York,” Blakeman said.
Asked if he would fire Mamdani, Blakeman said that he would not remove an elected mayor. Instead, he would use the governor’s power to counter policies that he believes could harm the city’s economy, public safety and Jewish residents.
If Mamdani committed an egregious act, he would “take the drastic measures necessary to protect this city,” he said.