Republican Bruce Blakeman Courts Disaffected Democrats in NY Gubernatorial Race

BRONX, N.Y. – Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is actively courting disaffected Democrats as he seeks to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul. He bets that frustration over affordability, crime, and the party's leftward shift could help him make inroads with traditionally Democratic voters.

"They're not Democrats," former Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman told Fox News Digital. "They're socialists and communists." "They're just not Democrats, they're not moderates."

Kaufman delivered that blistering criticism while rallying alongside Blakeman at the Crosstown Diner in the Bronx. Several voters expressed similar frustrations with Democratic leadership there and said they were backing the Republican candidate.

"Every time I go out and meet the people, another Democrat comes up to me and says, 'Bruce, I'm a lifelong Democrat. I've never voted Republican in my life. We're voting for you,'" Blakeman told Fox News Digital.

Kaufman accused the Democratic Socialists of America of gaining increasing influence over the party. He warned that Democrats are "rapidly becoming a house of hatred" that no longer welcomes moderate voices.

Several Bronx voters who spoke with Fox News Digital echoed those concerns. They pointed to rising costs, public safety, and the Democratic Party's increasingly progressive direction as reasons they feel politically abandoned.

"It's not your Democratic Party anymore," Lisa, a resident of the Bronx's Throggs Neck neighborhood said. "It's not your grandfather's Democratic Party. It's become the Democratic Socialist, a.k.a. Communist Party."

"The socialists here literally said we're land-hoarding if we only have a single-family home or a four-family home and that we were a problem," another man from the Bronx added. "Kathy was all in support and quiet about it. She didn't defend the homeowners."

One registered Democrat said the party's failure to address the needs of working families was driving his political decisions.

"I'm a registered Democrat," he said. "Ask me if I vote that way. I vote to what affects me, my community, the people I live with. I vote who's going to help the middle class."

Blakeman argued that growing frustration with Hochul's leadership has created an opening for Republicans in a state long dominated by Democrats.

"Kathy Hochul has raised taxes," Blakeman said. "She's raised utility rates 48 times. Programs like cashless bail make it easier for criminals to operate in our neighborhoods. So now I have the evidences. I have her report card and it's straight F's."

Kaufman said that Hochul has embraced and catered towards the further left of her party.

"The electricity rates have skyrocketed," Kaufman added. "She's had 42 increases over time. She wouldn't permit building of gas lines. She's closed utility plants. All she does is move harder and harder to the left. Which don't represent people in this neighborhood."

"Every time she has a problem, she goes crying to the hard left," Kaufman added. "She's totally controlled by them."

Blakeman told Fox News Digital he would take the opposite approach. He pledged to cut taxes and utility bills while making communities safer.

Look at my record as Nassau County executive," Blakeman said. "I made safer communities just like I did back home." He claims he has not raised taxes a single penny in five years, noting instead that he cut them by $150 million. "I'll take my record and compare it to hers," he argued. His plan involves cutting their taxes, slashing utility bills, and building safer neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the socialist wing of the Democratic Party has shifted from the margins into positions of real political power. This change is most visible in New York, where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani became mayor and DSA-backed candidates toppled Democratic incumbents in congressional primaries. The movement has also scored victories beyond state lines. In Colorado, DSA-backed Melat Kiros defeated longtime Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette. Elsewhere, self-described democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George captured the Democratic mayoral nomination in Washington, D.C.

Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul's office for comment on these developments.