New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman sparred over immigration policy, President Donald Trump and who deserves blame for the rising cost of living during a 60-minute debate Tuesday night.
Both candidates repeatedly fell back on their campaign talking points during their 60-minute debate at Spectrum News NY1’s studios above Chelsea Market, which marked what may have been their best chance to appeal directly to New York voters three weeks before Election Day. The debate seemed to lack any major gaffes or viral moments that could meaningfully shift the race.
Hochul, the incumbent Democrat, touted her record in office while bringing up Blakeman’s support for Trump no fewer than 10 times, a move she hopes will resonate in a state where polls show most voters have a low opinion of the Republican president.
“This is your choice, New Yorkers,” she said, noting Blakeman once said he wants to bring “Trump-style leadership” to Albany. “I'm not letting this happen.”
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, repeatedly blamed Hochul for rising gas and electric bills across the state. He said Hochul had made the state less safe through New York’s sanctuary policies for migrants.
But he largely shied away from tying Hochul to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other democratic socialists, whom the Republican has used as a boogeyman while campaigning in more moderate and conservative areas of the state. Blakeman’s strategy has been complicated in recent months by Trump, who has embraced the socialist mayor.
“I’m going to ask you to vote for change,” Blakeman said in his opening statement. “What have you got to lose? And vote for a better New York, and vote for Blakeman for governor.”
Both candidates traded barbed criticisms throughout the debate. The moderators frequently let them address each other directly, sometimes for several minutes.
But neither Hochul nor Blakeman baited their opponent into the kind of viral exchange that can quickly ricochet across the internet — the kind of knockout blow that underdog candidates, in particular, hope to land in modern debates.
Recent public-opinion polls have shown Hochul, the incumbent Democrat, with anywhere from a 9- to 19-point lead over Blakeman, who is looking to become the first Republican to win a statewide race in New York since former Gov. George Pataki in 2002.
Blakeman, 71, repeatedly criticized Hochul for the state’s new law restricting formal cooperation agreements with the federal government on immigration matters. The move forced Blakeman to abandon his county’s agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
When co-moderator Errol Louis asked Blakeman about an ICE officer shooting a man during an attempted arrest — all while a 5-year-old was in the back seat — in the Marble Hill neighborhood of upper Manhattan, Blakeman pointed back to the sanctuary-style law Hochul supported.
“ The question that New Yorkers have to ask is what was this guy doing in New York in the first place?” Blakeman said. “It's because Kathy Hochul has made us a sanctuary state.”
Hochul, 68, responded by faulting Blakeman for failing to condemn ICE’s actions in the shooting that has reignited the immigration debate in New York City.
“ So he basically says in the state of New York he'd be fine if ICE agents shoot into cars, shoot guns into vehicles, not knowing who's inside, and could have killed a 5-year-old child,” Hochul said. “If that doesn't shock the conscience of everybody.”
Both Blakeman and Hochul spent much of the debate trying to claim the mantle of the cost-of-living candidate in a race that has heavily focused on affordability.
For Blakeman, that meant repeatedly touting his pledge to cut electric bills in half while blaming the governor for rising utility rates. He also pledged to allow large-scale natural gas fracking, which has been banned in New York since 2014.
“ It's out of control, and it's because of you, Kathy,” Blakeman said of utility costs.
Hochul, meanwhile, touted rebate checks of up to $200 that are now going out to millions of New Yorkers in the weeks leading up to Election Day, a gesture meant to defray utility costs. She boasted of her one-year moratorium on data centers that require significant electricity, and pointed to Trump’s war in Iran as the reason for spiking gasoline prices.
Later, during a portion of the debate where the candidates could ask each other a question, Hochul noted Trump held a rally for Blakeman in Syracuse on Friday and that Blakeman has called him the greatest president of his lifetime.
“ Now, which is it that makes him so great?” Hochul said. “Is it the high utility costs, the high grocery costs, the high gas costs? Is it his unfettered use of ICE terrorizing our neighborhoods?”
Blakeman accused Hochul of repeatedly bringing up Trump to avoid talking about her time in office.
“You like to talk about Donald Trump all the time because you don't want to talk about your record,” he said. “Because it’s a record of misery and failure.”
Blakeman said he actually believes Dwight D. Eisenhower was the greatest president, though he allowed for the possibility that Trump could pass him in the last two years of his term.
He noted Trump has endorsed his campaign. But Blakeman also touted the support of two people who frequently support Democrats — “Will & Grace” star Debra Messing and Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, widow of the late New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
“Oh, you got two votes,” Hochul retorted. “Good for you.”
New York’s early-voting period runs from Oct. 24 through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 3.
