Bruce Blakeman

Blakeman was born in Oceanside and raised in Valley Stream, Nassau County, according to the county executive's official biography; Wikipedia gives his birth year as 1955.[2][4] He earned a B.A. from Arizona State University and a J.D. from California Western School of Law. He is an attorney admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey and before the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts, and he worked as a partner at his father's law firm.[2][11][4] According to the county biography, he has also served as Executive Director of the New York Police Chiefs Benevolent Association and as Deputy Counsel to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Foundation.[2]

Blakeman served on the Hempstead Town Council from 1993 to 1995 and again from 2015 to 2021.[2][4] He also served on the Nassau County Legislature representing the 7th district, was elected as the body's first presiding officer, and lost his seat in the November 1999 election.[2][4] He was the Republican nominee for New York State Comptroller in 1998, losing to incumbent Democrat Carl McCall.[4] The Governor of New York appointed him in 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where he served until 2009.[2][4]

Blakeman lost the 2010 Republican primary for U.S. Senate to Joe DioGuardi and then ran on the Tax Revolt line in the general election. In 2014 he won the Republican nomination for New York's 4th Congressional District but lost the general election to Kathleen Rice, 52.8% to 47.1%.[11][4] He was elected Nassau County Executive on November 2, 2021, defeating incumbent Democrat Laura Curran, and took office January 1, 2022, becoming the county's first Jewish county executive.[2][12][4] As county executive he has frozen county property taxes and hired hundreds of additional police officers.[12] In February 2024 he issued an executive order banning transgender girls and women from girls' and women's sports at county-run facilities; the Nassau Supreme Court struck it down in May 2024 in a suit brought on behalf of a roller derby league, the county Legislature passed a law containing the ban in June 2024, and in October 2025 a state appeals court halted the ban, after which Blakeman said he would move forward with the law.[13][14] According to the county biography, he lives in Atlantic Beach with his wife, Segal.[2] In 2026 he was the Republican and Conservative Party nominee for governor.[1] His running mate was Todd Hood.[15][1] During the campaign, he emphasized rolling back congestion pricing, cutting taxes and public safety, building on a county record that includes freezing property taxes and hiring additional police officers.[15][1][5][12] He received 40.1% of the vote to Kathy Hochul's 59.7%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[3]