SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — The New York State gubernatorial race has been closely watched this election cycle, with Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman challenging Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul for her spot in the governor’s mansion. 

Blakeman, a Donald Trump-endorsed candidate, has criticised Hochul on several fronts. Blakeman said that under Hochul’s leadership New Yorkers are facing an increasingly unaffordable New York, and that people have grown tired of her leadership of the Empire State. He says if elected, he would make New York more affordable, more prosperous and more safe.

“I’m running for governor because everywhere I go in this state, people are miserable under Kathy Hochul,” Blakeman said. “What I want to do is I want to make people happy again.”

The River Reporter talked with Blakeman and local activists to discuss Blakeman’s platform and their differing visions for New York.

Blakeman says ‘frack yes’

One of the main tentpoles of Blakeman’s platform is energy affordability. The issue has dominated the election cycle, with candidates up and down the ballot floating ideas for how to address the energy affordability crisis in the state. In laying out his plan, Blakeman said the state should repeal its fracking ban in order to get access to natural gas reserves in New York.

“We are sitting on one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, here in New York State, and she won’t let us extract that natural gas,” Blakeman said. “If we extracted that natural gas, it would increase the supply, which would lower costs. We would create jobs, prosperity and generate tax revenue.”

Blakeman also brought up Pennsylvania, saying that the neighboring state gets energy from fracking without a problem. When pressed about the impacts of fracking, Blakeman said that “it’s safe environmentally.”

“It’s only divided by a political subdivision. It’s the same land, and in Pennsylvania, they do it without hurting the water supply,” Blakeman said. “That’s why they’re doing much better in Pennsylvania. They’re more prosperous. They’re driving brand new Cadillac Escalades in Pennsylvania on the other side of the border; in the southern tier of New York, we’re driving around in 25-year-old rusted-out pickup trucks.”

However, advocates disagree with Blakeman’s assessment that fracking is safe for the environment. Barbara Arrindell, director of Pennsylvania nonprofit Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, said that it would be a mistake for a governor of New York to work to repeal its fracking ban.

“What’s the trade-off if you allow drilling? You just totally destroy your environment,” Arrindell said. “What’s somebody’s house and property worth if they have no potable water?”

Arrindell said that the water contamination with fracking is of high concern, saying that water that gets used in the process of fracking gets contaminated with 20 tons of chemicals per million gallons of water. “That’s a lot. And it doesn’t come back up. A lot of it stays underground which means it continues to migrate. Where fracking has been done, there’s more and more aquifer contamination. It also comes all the way up to the surface and contaminated surface water, so there isn’t potable drinkable water anywhere in a lot of these areas.”

Reporting from Politico pushed back on Blakeman’s claim that fracking would ease the utility affordability crisis, saying that “fracking doesn’t necessarily lead to lower utility bills.”

Further complicating the issue is that New York’s fracking ban was put into state law, requiring a measure repealing the law to pass through both houses of the state’s legislature, which are comfortably in Democratic control. Blakeman’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment clarifying how Blakeman would repeal the statute.

Hochul pushed back on Blakeman’s claims and defended the fracking ban. “I don’t have any guarantee that the technology has gotten any better or more secure,” Hochul said to Spectrum News. “I’ve not seen that. Which is why I’m leaning hard into our renewable energy systems and trying to find a path forward to get more capacity on the grid.” 

Nassau County Executive and GOP candidate for New York Governor Bruce Blakeman sat down with River Reporter's Patrick Kelly to talk about his platform.

Blakeman on immigration

One issue dominated the conversation with Blakeman about his vision for New York: immigration. Blakeman criticized the Hochul administration for spending money on undocumented immigrants, money that should have gone to New Yorkers.

“[Hochul] spends money on illegal migrants, giving them free food, free housing, free transportation and a free cell phone when they haven’t earned a thing,” Blakeman said. “She’s taking our taxpayer dollars… and giving it to illegal migrants when we could spend money on New Yorkers, on infrastructure, on schools, on hospitals and lowering energy costs.”

Sandra Cuellar Oxford, a Sullivan County citizen activist who has worked in immigration policy, says that the idea that immigrants get preferential treatment is false. She said that immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, face an uphill battle to get services. 

“I am unsure if he really understands what he’s even talking about,” Oxford said.

Oxford said that immigrants deliver substantially to local economies and communities. She said that undocumented immigrants often work in industries that citizens do not work in, industries that help power New York’s economy.

“Undocumented immigrants make a sizable contribution to New York, to many of our communities, and here in our region as well,” Oxford said. “When you look at these industries that many of them work in, they are contributing to the tax base, they are renters. Many individuals who happen to be immigrants are very industrious with their contributions.”

Oxford also said that the state should work to be more welcoming and inclusive of immigrants, not less. “Their families and their community deserve an opportunity to thrive and to flourish here, and we should be welcoming immigrants because of the contributions that they make.” 

Blakeman’s campaign did not respond to comment responding to Oxford’s remarks.

Blakeman also floated the idea that Democrats were attempting to sway the election by allowing undocumented immigrants to vote. He said that Adrienne Adams, Hochul’s lieutenant governor nominee, supported the notion, and that the idea “materially diminishes the safety and the integrity of our state.”

“[Adams said] that illegal migrants should vote in our elections. They’re not stakeholders. They have no interest. They have no investment in our state,” Blakeman said. “So I am concerned that Kathy Hochul, by choosing her, will have allies that are going to have illegal migrants try to vote in our elections.”

The governor’s campaign responded to this in February, saying that, “The Governor sets policy for the state of New York—she does not support this measure,”  according to reporting by the New York Post. 

Blakeman’s campaign has been criticized for his rhetoric about immigration, with the Times Union drawing a link between statements made by Blakeman and the “great replacement theory,” an anti-immigrant conspiracy theory in which the shooter who shot and killed 10 black people in a Buffalo supermarket reportedly believed.

Oxford also called out Blakeman’s rhetoric, saying that it is actively making New York’s immigrant community unsafe.

“That type of rhetoric is terrible. There are crime victims in the community that have varied immigration status, and because of the rhetoric that Bruce Blakeman has embraced, he is making these people who are already vulnerable even more vulnerable.”