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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman of “bigotry and racism” on Tuesday night despite admitting to not having watched Blakeman’s debate with Gov. Kathy Hochul live.
Mamdani made the statement in comments to reporters on Wednesday after Blakeman and Hochul squared off on Tuesday night. A reporter asked Mamdani whether he was bothered that Hochul hadn’t responded to Blakeman’s claims that the NYC mayor is an antisemite.
“So I think, you know, it is hard for anyone to keep up with all of the bigotry and racism that Bruce Blakeman exhibits on a regular basis. So I think that the governor did a good job and I’ll never fault someone for not being able to catch all of it because that is a fool’s errand when it comes to Bruce Blakeman,” Mamdani said.
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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)
“And I think the governor also made clear, you know, I’ve said that I, I didn’t watch the the debate beyond the clip, but I think the governor has made clear time and time again what her vision is. It’s a vision of a more affordable New York,” he continued.
“And when it comes to Bruce Blakeman, his vision seems to be making life harder for working people. When the governor and I announced putting our city on a pathway to universal childcare, Bruce Blakeman went on television and said this was rewarding lazy parents who would sit at home and watch ‘The View.’ When we were speaking about concerns about what HR1 was going to do with regards to healthcare access across the state, Bruce Blakeman went on television and said that he would cut Medicaid in half,” he added.
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 five-year-old boy inside Oscar Bergal’s vehicle was unharmed.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman are pictured in a split image amid debate over immigration enforcement and policing policies. (Getty Images / Fox News composite)
“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.
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“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.”
Hochul called Blakeman’s response a “non-answer,” because “he refused to condemn what ICE did.”
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“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.”
New York Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, left, attends a rally to combat anti-semitism on May 10 in the borough of Queens, New York City. ; Governor Kathy Hochul, right, speaks at Governor office in New York as she announced proposal for state budget to include safety barriers around places where people congregate to pray as well as pied-à-terre tax on luxury secondary homes in New York City valued at $5 million or more. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images; Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Blakeman pushed back, saying, “it never would have happened” but for Hochul’s “sanctuary policy.”
Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.