Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has announced a Republican primary challenge to Rep. Elise Stefanik in the 2026 New York governor’s race against Gov. Kathy Hochul. A New York Times report about a phone call between Blakeman and former President Donald Trump was quickly corrected after initially suggesting Trump had not tried to dissuade him from running.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who last month declared her candidacy against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), is now facing an unexpected primary challenger in Bruce Blakeman, the Republican county executive of Nassau County on Long Island.
Blakeman announced this week that he would seek the Republican nomination for governor, setting up a primary fight with Stefanik in what is expected to be one of the most closely watched gubernatorial races of the coming midterm election cycle.
According to a Daily Wire report, Blakeman’s bid appeared to gain an early boost from a New York Times story published shortly after he announced his candidacy. That article initially reported that former President Donald Trump "did not go so far as to dissuade him" from running against Stefanik, a close Trump ally. The framing spurred speculation that Trump might stay neutral in the primary or even consider offering support to both candidates.
The Times later issued a correction within hours, acknowledging that the piece had "inaccurately described President Trump’s phone call with Bruce Blakeman," the Daily Wire reported. The updated Times account said Trump "tried to dissuade Mr. Blakeman from running in the Republican primary," while noting that he "stopped short of explicitly telling Mr. Blakeman not to run." The identity of the source who initially described the call has not been publicly disclosed.
Trump has so far declined to endorse either candidate in the primary. When asked about the race on Monday, he responded, "I’ll think about it, but he’s great and she’s great," adding, "We have a lot of great people in the Republican party," according to the Daily Wire’s summary of his remarks.
Polling underscores Stefanik’s current dominance in the nascent primary. A survey published last month by the New York Post and cited by the Daily Wire showed Stefanik leading Blakeman 74% to 5% among Republican primary voters, with many respondents unfamiliar with Blakeman.
Stefanik has also consolidated institutional support. The Daily Wire reports that she has secured endorsements from 58 Republican county chairs, giving her control of more than 75% of the party’s weighted vote — a level of backing that is expected to allow her to bypass petitioning for ballot access at the GOP convention. Blakeman, by contrast, is likely to have to gather 15,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot if he does not receive sufficient convention support.
Blakeman has tried to cast his candidacy as a constructive contest within the party. “We’re not like the Democratic Party that had a coronation for Kamala Harris,” he said, according to the Daily Wire.
Stefanik, for her part, has pointed to her long list of endorsements from local officials, including county executives and state lawmakers, to reinforce the impression that she remains the prohibitive favorite for the nomination.
The primary has also stirred strong reactions among New York Republicans. New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov criticized the decision to challenge Stefanik in an X post, without naming Blakeman directly, calling such a primary "the height of political malpractice." She argued that Stefanik would dominate fundraising, debates, and the eventual vote, and urged fellow Republicans to focus instead on defeating Hochul in the general election, according to the Daily Wire.
On the Democratic side, Hochul’s campaign has sought to frame both Republicans as too closely aligned with Trump. The Daily Wire reports that the campaign has referred to the two as "Sellout Stefanik" and "Bootlicker Blakeman." Hochul and her lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, are expected to face off in the Democratic primary ahead of the November 2026 general election.
The Republican primary is scheduled for June 23, 2026. The contest is likely to draw additional scrutiny as a test of Republican voter sentiment in New York during the early months of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s tenure, according to the Daily Wire.
Blakeman’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment cited in the Daily Wire report.
