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The New York gubernatorial race heated up Tuesday as Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Nassau County Executive Brad Blakeman clashed on the debate stage, with the pair trading jabs over President Donald Trump, a recent ICE-involved shooting and inflation.
The debate opened with the candidates being asked about the conduct of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which last week drew outrage in New York City following the shooting of a 28-year-old Dominican national whom the Department of Homeland Security said refused to comply with lawful orders during a targeted operation in the Bronx. A 5-year-old boy inside Oscar Bergal’s vehicle was unharmed.
“Kathy Hochul appealed to ICE to let this criminal out. The question that New Yorkers have to ask is what was this guy doing in New York in the first place? It’s because Kathy Hochul has made us a sanctuary state,” said Blakeman, a Republican.
“Think about it. This guy came into the country illegally. He’s been convicted of a crime. He’s got pending charges for dealing drugs, poison to our children. And he’s a gangbanger. This is who Kathy Hochul is defending?” Blakeman continued. “I have a cooperative agreement with ICE until Kathy Hochul said we could no longer cooperate with ICE. We got over 2,000 illegal migrants out of my county with criminal records ranging from rape, attempted murder, robbery, burglary, drug dealing, carjacking, gang activity. And that’s because we cooperated with ICE and we didn’t raid one school, one hospital, one daycare center or one church. If you cooperate with federal law enforcement, it makes for a safer community. That’s what I did. Kathy Hochul is taking that ability away from us. That’s why things like this happen.”
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Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman face off in the only scheduled debate ahead of the November New York gubernatorial election on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in New York. (Anna Connors/Pool The New York Times)
Hochul called Blakeman’s response a “non-answer,” because “he refused to condemn what ICE did.”
“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. If that doesn’t shock the conscience of everybody — and it should shock his conscience as well — that he says, that’s OK, that’s how ICE is supposed to do it,” Hochul added. “I’ll tell you what. I oversee over 500 policing agencies in the state of New York, over half a million arrests every year. That’s not how you conduct yourself. ICE is out of control. It’s out of control in Nassau County.”
Blakeman pushed back, saying, “it never would have happened” but for Hochul’s “sanctuary policy.”
Law enforcement personnel tend to the suspect after he was shot by federal immigration officers on Thursday in New York. A 5-year-old boy was inside the car. On Friday, a judge blocked his deportation. (New York City Police Department via AP)
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“You have invited criminals to come into our state and prey on our on our communities. And now you won’t let local law enforcement cooperate with ICE in an orderly way, like we did in my county,” Blakeman added .”We didn’t have any incidents in my county because we were allowed to cooperate with local law enforcement. But you took that tool away. The reason why that happened is because of you, Kathy Hochul, and your immigration policies, where you actually invite people into our state, give them free everything, and you don’t care whether they’re criminals or not. That’s a bad policy.”
As part of her rebuttal, Hochul said, “I have a right to answer this one because this is so absurd. I have said, from the president on down, I said, New York is not a sanctuary for criminals, not a sanctuary for criminals. Full stop.”
The two candidates also clashed over Trump and the state of the U.S. economy.
“He promised to cut energy costs. He promised to cut down grocery costs. And you know what? Everything has happened under your friend Donald Trump, who you are the president of the of the fan club for Donald Trump. It’s absurd how adoring you are of him. My gosh,” Hochul told Blakeman. “Well, what he has done is raise gasoline prices and energy prices and the cost of tariffs have driven up everything in the state. If you bought groceries lately, my God, the people are suffering. And that didn’t have to be the case. Why are we at war with the rest of the world?”
“You like to talk about Donald Trump all the time, because you don’t want to talk about your record,” Blakeman responded.
“I’m talking about my record right now,” Hochul said.
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“Because it’s a record of misery and failure,” Blakeman continued. “The highest taxes, utility rates that are 70% higher than national average. But let me say something about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is my friend. He’s endorsed me. But so is Bonnie Lautenberg, a liberal Democrat whose husband, Frank, served in the United States Senate and was a pillar of the Democratic Party. Actor Debra messing, who is a liberal Democrat who supports me because she trusts me to make safer communities, improve the quality of life here in New York.”
“Alright, you got two votes,” Hochul said. “Good for you.”
