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Blakeman says he would end 'wrongheaded' congestion pricing on Day 1 if elected governor
In his first sit-down interview since clinching the New York Republican nomination for governor, Bruce Blakeman takes News 12's Rich Barrabi inside his campaign strategy.
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, discusses what he believes it will take to be elected the first Republican governor in New York in more than 20 years. The Republican nominee also discusses his pick for lieutenant governor, criticism of his selection process, his efforts to unify the party and why he will "always have President Trump's back."
Highlights from the interview are below. Watch the full interview Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on News 12.

On ICE:

"When I become governor, one of the first things I'm going to do is we will no longer be a sanctuary state. We're not going to spend billions of dollars on people who have just arrived here, who haven't earned a thing. That's taxpayer dollars. It should be."

"With respect to ICE, just in one year, we have removed 2,000 criminals who are illegal migrants, not just from Nassau County, but from the whole metropolitan area. There are 2,000 less criminals because of the agreement that we have with ICE."

On congestion pricing:

"It's wrongheaded. It doesn't make sense. It's another tax. And quite frankly, I will end it on Day 1."

On President Donald Trump:

"I don't think he gets enough credit for what he's been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. And, you know, people can spot a phony a mile away, politicians who one day are on this side, and every day they're on that side."

On Mayor Zohran Mamdani:

" If he tries to destroy the economy of the greatest financial capital in the world, the the home of capitalism, I won't let them do that. As governor, I'm going to protect the economy of New York if he makes it unsafe in New York by not supporting law enforcement, by not upholding the rule of law."

On the House majority:

It weighs on me every day. I know what's at stake, not just governor. We need to win the governor's race. We're at a tipping point in the state, but we also have to elect our congressional candidates, our statewide ticket, more Republican state senators that agree with the majority of people, in this state that we need to change more members of the state Assembly."

On getting the nomination by Republicans to be governor:

"This is just the start of the journey to become governor... I'm on the right side of the issues."

On Rep. Elise Stefanik:

"I think we have to trust Elise at her word that the reason why she got out was she realized that a campaign is very grueling."

On the lieutenant governor pick:

"It wasn't messy at all. It's a process that you go through, and people have to search their soul as to whether or not they're willing to give nine months up of their life to run for statewide office."

On affordability:

"We're sitting on one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world. And we're not using that natural gas to bring down energy costs and to create prosperity in the southern tier of our state and throughout our state. And that would be like Saudi Arabia saying, we're out of business. You know, we're going to sell pencils now. It's it's just it's a lack of common sense. It's it's wrong thinking."

On his candidacy:

"My goal as governor is to make people happy again by putting New Yorkers first. My goal is to let people know that you'll have a governor that cares about you, no matter what part of the state you are, no matter what race, religion, ethnic group, what abilities you have, what lifestyle you live."