President Donald Trump endorsed Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman to be the Republican nominee for New York governor Saturday, just one day after Rep. Elise Stefanik announced she was suspending her campaign.
Stefanik abruptly exited the race Friday afternoon, citing a desire to focus on raising her young son and to avoid a potentially contentious primary against Blakeman. Until her exit, Trump had declined to make an endorsement, despite the latest polls showing Stefanik as the clear Republican frontrunner.
“Bruce is MAGA all the way, and has been with me from the very beginning,” Trump wrote Saturday evening on Truth Social. “Bruce Blakeman is a FANTASTIC guy, will win the big November Election and, without hesitation, has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Governor of the ONCE GREAT STATE OF NEW YORK (IT CAN BE GREAT AGAIN!). BRUCE BLAKEMAN WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
Stefanik launched her campaign in November 2025 to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, while Blakeman — who first won the Nassau County executive seat in 2021 by defeating a Democratic incumbent — entered the race Dec. 9.
A Siena College poll released Tuesday showed Stefanik leading Blakeman by more than 30 points in a hypothetical Republican primary. She had also secured the backing of more than 75% of county GOP chairs statewide, making her the presumptive nominee before she suspended her bid.
Trump’s reluctance to endorse Stefanik while she was still in the race prompted questions among Republicans, given her longstanding loyalty to the president.
In her announcement, Stefanik said that, while she believed she would have “overwhelmingly won” the primary, continuing the race was not a wise use of time or resources.
“While we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York,” Stefanik wrote.
Stefanik also faced an uphill battle against Hochul in a state which has not elected a Republican governor in more than two decades and where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly two to one.
In a hypothetical general election matchup, Hochul led Stefanik by 19 points, polling found. That margin, however, was narrower than Hochul’s 25-point advantage over Blakeman in the same survey.
Blakeman’s campaign has argued his decisive reelection victory in Nassau County this November demonstrates he could be competitive statewide against Hochul.
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