Blakeman's Eight-City, 48-Hour Sweep Ends in Manhattan on Monday
The Republican challenger for governor is flying a closing circuit of New York — Long Island, Oswego, Albany and Rensselaer County on Sunday, then Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton on Monday — before a final Election Eve pitch in Manhattan, trailing Gov. Kathy Hochul by double digits in public polls.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is spending the last 48 hours of the campaign the way challengers do when the map is the message: in the air. His statewide sweep began Sunday morning on his home turf on Long Island and was set to touch Oswego, Albany and Rensselaer County before the day ended, the New York Post reported, with Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton still to come on Monday and a final appearance in Manhattan on election eve.
The arithmetic he is flying against is not in dispute. Multiple major polls show Blakeman trailing incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul by double digits, and unofficial early-voting data show registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans in early voting across the state — including on Long Island, the Post reported, with more than 1.7 million ballots cast early statewide. A survey by the pollster Convos found 83 percent of Long Islanders say their minds are made up, though that survey did not measure head-to-head support in the race.
Blakeman's counter-argument is the oldest one in New York politics: Republicans vote on Election Day. He insists the race is in a 'dead heat,' the Post reported, and is betting that an in-person surge on Tuesday overturns the early-vote ledger — the hope the whole 48-hour circuit is built to serve.
Manhattan gets the last word of the tour on Monday, in the city whose early turnout has done the most to build Hochul's cushion. Polls across New York open Tuesday at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.
