Blakeman needs money to challenge Hochul; next few weeks will show how it's going

ALBANY — Republican Bruce Blakeman has faced the nagging question since he jumped in the race for governor: Can he raise enough money?

The next few weeks will give voters and potential donors a start on an answer.

By July 15, Blakeman will have to publicly post how much money he has raised through his own campaign committee. A state Public Campaign Finance Board might approve some matching funds for him. And a super PAC, or political action committee, formed earlier this month to oust incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, will have to report how much money it has raised so far.

Hochul, a Democrat whose been in office five years, began the year with a $20 million lead on Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, in fundraising. Blakeman reported just over $1 million in January, but Howard Fensterman, Blakeman's campaign finance chairman, told Newsday this week the Republican has raised $8 million now.

"Hochul may have the office, but we have the unstoppable force of New Yorkers fed up with a state they can no longer afford," said Fensterman, managing partner and co-founder of Abrams Fensterman, LLP, a politically influential law firm.

Blakeman is seeking to become the first Republican to win a statewide election in New York since 2002.

The effort is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars on both sides, as Democrats and Republicans hope their top-of-ticket candidates can lift down-ballot candidates, which could shape the balance of power in Congress.

Michael Dawidziak, a longtime Republican consultant, said Blakeman’s fundraising abilities will be boosted by the Nassau County GOP, calling it one of the most powerful Republican parties in the country. "And they know how to raise money, they've been doing it a long time, and they could be a very, very potent fundraising machine."

Blakeman has trailed Hochul in the polls since announcing his candidacy and has struggled to gain name recognition.

In May, a Siena University poll said Hochul led 49%-33%, with 64% of voters saying they had not heard of Blakeman more than six months after he launched his campaign. This past week, Blakeman has been on a tour of western New York, with stops in Cattaraugus, Erie and Niagara counties to drum up support.

Additionally, midterm elections are often difficult for the party that holds the White House.

Blakeman has not shied away from highlighting his ties to Republican President Donald Trump during the campaign.

Hochul's team has made Blakeman's ties to Trump — who has a 34% approval rating in New York — the focus of its attacks.

"Donald Trump and his MAGA dark-money donors are trying to buy the governor’s mansion for Bruce Blakeman so that he can jack up costs, gut healthcare, and let ICE trample over New Yorkers’ rights," Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said in a statement. "Our campaign is building the grassroots strength it takes to turn out New Yorkers across the state so that we can stop them."

Dawidziak said Blakeman needs to avoid the mistake former Rep. Lee Zeldin made in 2022 by taking too long to tack his campaign closer to the ideological middle, he said.

"You can't stay on the hard right in a blue state like New York" and raise money from independents or disaffected Democrats, he said.

But Blakeman will benefit from outside help.

The independent expenditure committee Make it Cheaper filed with the state Board of Elections to support Blakeman. The group’s name echoes the message of cutting costs for New Yorkers that Blakeman is running on.

Make it Cheaper’s treasurer is Kristofer Graham, a Massapequa-based CPA who ran similar efforts for Zeldin’s gubernatorial campaign in 2022.

Outside groups spent at least $20 million to help Zeldin — but later paid a $900,000 fine to settle an investigation into alleged illegal campaign finance activities, the largest penalty ever in New York in a case involving a political action committee coordination with a candidate.

Independent expenditure committees can raise and spend unlimited sums supporting candidates, but aren’t allowed to coordinate that spending with the campaigns they are supporting.

Also listed as working for Make it Cheaper is Chris Grant, a Republican consultant who runs the firm Big Dog Strategies. Grant also worked as a general consultant for MAGA Inc., Trump's main political action committee.

Money from a super PAC isn’t the only infusion of cash the campaign will see.

And at the end of the month, Blakeman could receive his first payment from the state’s public campaign financing program.

Blakeman successfully sued the state Public Campaign Finance Board after it voted along party lines to disqualify him from the program over a paperwork issue.

The matching funds program is open to candidates for governor for the first time in 2026. Hochul is not participating in the matching funds program.

It was not immediately clear how much Blakeman’s campaign will receive as part of its first payment.

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 6-1 by taxpayer dollars — which could mean millions of dollars to a candidate.