BRUCE BLAKEMAN

Republican

BACKGROUND:

• Blakeman, 65, a former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, serves as a Hempstead Town council member. He served as deputy town supervisor under former Democratic Supervisor Laura Gillen, whom he endorsed in the 2017 election over Republican Anthony Santino. In 2019, Blakeman endorsed Republican Don Clavin, then the Hempstead receiver of taxes, who went on to defeat Gillen for supervisor.
• Blakeman is a former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
• Blakeman is a graduate of Arizona State University and California Western School of Law. In 1998, Blakeman was the Republican nominee for state comptroller, but lost to incumbent Democrat H. Carl McCall. In 2014, Blakeman lost a race for an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to now-Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City).

ISSUES:

• Blakeman has criticized Democratic Nassau County Executive Laura Curran's property reassessment program, citing "errors" throughout the process. Blakeman also says reassessment has led to property tax increases for many residents. Reassessment led to school tax increases for 65% of Nassau residents, while 35% received reductions, according to county records.
• Blakeman has criticized Curran's plan to make $375 payments to most county households, using federal pandemic aid. Blakeman has described the payments as the equivalent of sending "peanuts" to Nassau residents, who pay some of the highest property taxes in the United States.
• Blakeman said if he had been county executive this year, he would cut taxes by $120 million, using funds from an expected budget surplus.

Watch Laura Curran, Bruce Blakeman clash over taxes, crime at a Newsday town hall.