Blakeman disqualified from matching funds, a blow to run against Hochul

ALBANY — A state board on Tuesday disqualified Republican Bruce Blakeman from receiving public matching funds for his gubernatorial campaign, dealing a potentially huge blow to his run against Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The state Public Campaign Finance Board ruled, in a 4-3 vote, that the Nassau County executive is ineligible because he filed incorrect paperwork to qualify for the matching funds program, which grants public funds to candidates who raise enough in donations from state residents. The program is available to gubernatorial candidates for the first time in 2026.

The issue is huge because Blakeman trails Hochul, a Democrat, by about $20 million in the money chase. The potential loss of matching funds, as first reported by Newsday, could prove crucial to his campaign as he could have qualified for at least $3.5 million or even double that amount.

After a heated exchange, the four Democrats on the board agreed with a staff recommendation that Blakeman was ineligible because he failed to file certification papers that included his lieutenant governor running mate, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, as required.

The deadline for correcting the error was March 2 and the burden was on the campaign to be on top of the requirements, be aware of the mistake and fix it, the staff had said.

The three Republicans on the board accused Democrats of using a "bureaucratic snafu to punish" Blakeman.

"This wasn't anything intentional, nothing criminal," board member Anthony Casale, a former Republican state assemblyman, said during the debate. "It was strictly a bureaucratic snafu, and we ought to have the guts to correct it."

Other Republicans warned that the board's vote could be challenged in a lawsuit — although that could take months to play out in court.

Changing rules

A key element of the issue is a new state law, signed in 2025, that ended separate primaries for governor and lieutenant governor, requiring them to run on a single ticket. As such, they also should have filed a "joint certification" application to the Public Campaign Finance Board.

The board received an application only from Blakeman. As Republicans noted, Blakeman wasn't the lone candidate caught off-guard; several other candidates also were impacted by this vote, including Larry Sharpe, a former Libertarian who is attempting to gather enough petition signatures to run in a Republican primary.

If Sharpe gets on the ballot, Blakeman could receive up to $3.5 million in matching funds for the primary and another $3.5 million for the general election against Hochul.

Democrats said Blakeman clearly didn't comply with the regulation by the deadline, and they said allowing retroactive corrections would undermine the program's integrity.

"There are certain threshold responsibilities on the part of a candidate," Barbara Lifton, board chair and a former Democrat assemblywoman, said.

There were several meetings since December, including Feb. 6, about the program and required forms, attended by Democrat and Republican staff, board and staff said. 

"These are candidates for governor of the State of New York," Lifton said. "They're seeking millions of dollars from a program and they're not paying any attention? I'm dubious, you know, about that argument."

Blakeman spokeswoman Madison Spanodemos sought to blame the governor and Lifton for the outcome, saying "it's no surprise Kathy Hochul's handpicked appointee would vote to take away funds from Bruce Blakeman."

Hochul spokesman Ryan Radulovacki said the board "makes its own determinations and the onus is on each campaign to make sure they meet its requirements."

Program requirements

To qualify for matching funds, any candidate for governor must raise a total of $500,000 from at least 5,000 state residents who give $1,050 or less. The first $250 of those contributions are matched 6 to 1 by taxpayer dollars — which could mean millions of dollars to a candidate. The program was enacted in 2023 to help low-donor candidates run against deep-pocketed ones.

The vote came as the latest Siena Research Institute poll shows Blakeman gaining ground on Hochul, with her lead falling to 13 points in a new poll published Tuesday.

Good government groups, often at odds with Republicans on election laws, sided with Blakeman. They said the board's decision could undermine public trust in a new program meant to make elections more competitive.

"The board’s meeting revealed that both the board failed to clearly communicate new rules and provide adequate guidance, and the (Blakeman) campaign failed to proactively address potential filing deficiencies," Grace Rauh, executive director of Citizen's Union, a watchdog group, said. "The best course of action would have been to acknowledge these shortcomings and provide the campaign an opportunity to fix the underlying issue."