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Candidate fires up Dunkirk crowd during stop

Candidate fires up Dunkirk crowd during stop

DUNKIRK – New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman packed the Conservation Club to capacity with supporters for a rally Monday.

The Republican Party's candidate to take over for Gov. Kathy Hochul made a Western New York swing Monday, also stopping in Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

Blakeman, the county executive for Nassau County, strolled from the back of the room after other Republican politicians talked him up, pumping handshakes as he went to the podium. He received an enthusiastic response from the friendly crowd.

"It’s great to be in Dunkirk and Chautauqua County and the shores of great Lake Erie," Blakeman declared. His first campaign promise of the day followed: "We are not putting wind turbines in that lake!"

He soon added, "We are on a mission. This is not a normal campaign. This is a battle for the heart and soul of this state. I can tell from the energy here you’re up for that battle."

Blakeman said that everywhere he goes across the state, "it’s the same story. People are miserable under Hochul." He claimed New York is the highest-taxed state in the country and called Hochul "the biggest pickpocket in the state."

Blakeman played to the crowd a bit by mocking a favorite target of conservatives, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He called "AOC" the "new buddy" of Hochul and mentioned the New York City congresswoman was seen recently in a Buffalo Bills hoodie.

"Does anyone believe AOC is a Bills fan? She doesn't know what football is," he said to cackles from the room.

Turning back to the issues, Blakeman said Hochul's green energy push is a "scam." He accused her of giving New Yorkers' money to foreign energy corporations, while getting hefty campaign contributions in return.

Blakeman promised to "cut taxes in half" and allow fracking in the state. He proposed that no income tax be levied on the first $100,000 earned by joint-filing New Yorkers. Blakeman claimed it would save the average Western New York family $4,000 a year.

He went on to allege that Hochul has created a "revolving door of criminality" in the state and its prison system.

"Even the prisoners are complaining about safety," he said.

Blakeman stated that as Nassau County Executive, he worked with ICE to deport 2,000 illegal immigrants.

He called Hochul anti-Christian and anti-American.

"I hate to say it but I’m your last best hope," he said.

Blakeman also claimed that the Democrats' long-term plan in Albany under Hochul is to confiscate guns. He told the crowd to tell their neighbors to vote for him, or they will lose their guns.

Blakeman got some of his biggest cheers when he said the Ten Commandments refer to a mother and a father, not gestating and non-gestating parents.

He concluded by declaring that his first executive order will be that New York can no longer be a so-called "sanctuary state" for illegal immigrants.

State Assemblymen Andrew Molitor and Joe Sempolinski, state Senator George Borrello, and U.S. Representative Nick Langworthy all gave stump speeches to warm the crowd up for Blakeman's appearance at the podium.

"I see people in this room who work hard and abide by laws, but Democrats in Albany make it too hard for us," Borrello said.

"This is our moment, folks, I’m telling you," he said. "There is an energy like I’ve never seen before. I have seen thousands upon thousands of Blakeman signs."

Langworthy disparaged Hochul as "the perfect blend of arrogance and incompetence."

He added, "If she had her druthers, the lake would be full of windmills. You wouldn’t catch a walleye from here to Cleveland."