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BRONX, New York – Republican candidate for New York governor Bruce Blakeman is courting disaffected Democrats as he seeks to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul, betting that frustration over affordability, crime and the party’s leftward shift could help him break through with traditionally Democratic voters.
“They’re not Democrats. They’re socialists and communists,” Stephen Kaufman, a former Democratic congressman from the Bronx, told Fox News Digital. “They are simply not Democrats, nor moderates.”
Kaufman issued the harsh criticism while rallying alongside Blakeman at the Crosstown Diner in the Bronx, where several voters expressed similar frustrations with Democratic leaders and said they supported the Republican candidate.
“Every time I go out and meet 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.
New York’s socialist surge could push Democratic voters to defect, GOP gubernatorial candidate predicts
Nassau County executive and Republican candidate for New York governor Bruce Blakeman, who is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and has won the support of President Donald Trump. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Kaufman accused the Democratic Socialists of America of gaining increasing influence over the party, warning that Democrats are “rapidly becoming a house of hate” that no longer welcomes moderate voices.
Several Bronx voters who spoke with Fox News Digital echoed these concerns, pointing to rising costs, public safety and the Democratic Party’s increasingly progressive focus as reasons they feel politically abandoned.
“It’s not your Democratic Party anymore. It’s not your grandfather’s Democratic Party. It’s become the Democratic Socialist, aka Communist Party,” said Lisa, a resident of the Throggs Neck neighborhood in the Bronx.
“The socialists here literally said we were grabbing land if we only had a single-family home or a four-family home and we were a problem…Kathy was all supportive and silent about it. She didn’t defend the landlords,” another Bronx man added.
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Republican and Democratic voters in the Bronx explain why they support Bruce Blakeman for governor. (Fox News Digital)
One registered Democrat said the party’s failure to address the needs of working families was behind its policy decisions.
“I’m a registered Democrat. Ask me if I vote that way,” he said. “I vote for what concerns me, for my community, for the people I live with. I vote for those who will help the middle class.”
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Blakeman argued that growing frustration with Hochul’s leadership created an opening for Republicans in a state long dominated by Democrats.
“Kathy Hochul raised taxes. She raised utility rates 48 times. Programs like cashless bail make it easier for criminals to exploit our neighborhoods. So now I have the evidence. I have her report card and it’s straight F’s,” Blakeman said.
Kaufman said Hochul embraced and responded to the far left of his party.
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Republican candidate for New York governor Bruce Blakeman, left, attends a rally to fight anti-Semitism on May 10 in the borough of Queens, New York. ; Gov. Kathy Hochul, right, speaks at the governor’s office in New York as she announces a state budget proposal to include security barriers around places where people gather to worship as well as a pied-a-terre tax on luxury second homes in New York valued at $5 million or more. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images; Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Electricity rates have skyrocketed. She’s had 42 increases over time. She hasn’t allowed gas lines to be built. She’s shut down power plants. All she’s doing is moving harder and harder to the left. Which doesn’t represent the people in this neighborhood,” he said.
“Every time she has a problem, she cries to the far left. She is totally controlled by them,” Kaufman added.
Blakeman, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital he would take the opposite approach, pledging to lower taxes and utility bills while making communities safer.
“I will cut taxes. I will cut utility bills. And I will help make communities safer, just like I did in my own county as county executive,” Blakeman said.
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Bronx voters explain why they’re voting for Bruce Blakeman. (Fox News Digital)
Blakeman highlighted his record as Nassau County executive, saying he “didn’t raise taxes a dime in five years” and instead cut taxes by $150 million.
“I’m going to take my record, compare it to his,” he said, saying he would “cut their taxes, lower utility bills and make communities safer.”
The socialist wing of the Democratic Party moved from the margins to positions of real political power, particularly in New York, where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani became mayor and DSA-backed candidates unseated Democratic incumbents in congressional primaries.
The movement also scored victories beyond New York, with DSA-backed Melat Kiros defeating longtime Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado and self-described democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George winning the Democratic mayoral nomination in Washington, DC.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Hochul’s office for comment.
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