Stefanik a possible gubernatorial roadblock for Blakeman

Daily Point

Blakeman’s prospects seen partly tied to reelection in Nassau

Reading the New York political tea leaves — and what they might mean for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman's gubernatorial ambitions — got more interesting Tuesday night. That’s when Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik made use of her prime speaking spot at the New York GOP’s gala to bash Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, setting off speculation that she was setting up her own run for governor.

And Stefanik indeed is being encouraged to run by donors, state GOP leaders, and some close to President Donald Trump, according to published reports Wednesday. Trump, who last month pulled Stefanik’s nomination as U.N. ambassador because of the GOP’s narrow House majority, seemed to weigh in on Wednesday with a one-line post to Truth Social: "Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is GREAT!"

Blakeman, too, spoke at the gala at the Plaza Hotel and praised the president. "We have a job to do. Our job is to support Donald J. Trump," Blakeman was quoted as saying in news reports. "Our job is to make sure we don't go weak in the knees and get all wobbly. Nobody said Making America Great Again would be easy ..." 

Rep. Mike Lawler, who’s also considering a bid for governor, was not able to attend despite being invited to speak.

In an interview with The Point Wednesday, New York GOP chairman Ed Cox said of Stefanik, Blakeman and Lawler, "All three would be very good potential candidates, but they’ve got to pay attention to their present jobs and do well in them."

"They’ve got to appeal across the state," Cox added. "Every one of the candidates we’ve mentioned has the capability of doing it."

A Stefanik run could change the calculus for both Lawler and Blakeman, one political strategist told The Point. But by this fall, each of them will have to assess the one key outside factor in any Republican’s gubernatorial run: Trump.

"Yes, if Stefanik actually ran, it would shake the race up," the strategist said. "But for all three of these rumored Republican candidates, they’ll have to do a serious look at the hard math of New York State politics. Whether they think they can win is going to be heavily influenced by what the strength of the ticket is, in terms of Trump. Instead of being a booster rocket underneath them, will he be cement shoes for the next year?"

"All I see here are question marks. There’s not an exclamation point anyone can bank on," the strategist added.

Gubernatorial speculation is growing as Hochul’s popularity and favorability numbers remain weak, more than two years after former Rep. Lee Zeldin gave her a scare in the 2022 election. Republicans have renewed hope they can win the governor’s race for the first time since George Pataki’s last victory in 2002.

The 2026 focus was most evident Tuesday night in the GOP gala’s choice for keynote speaker: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who won in a blue state in 2021.

"He mapped out how he did it, and that’s what we plan to do in 2026," Cox told The Point. "The whole evening was really very focused with respect to the needs of New York State and what has to be done, as Glenn Youngkin put it, to rescue New York like he rescued Virginia."

Cox said that will require winning votes not only on Long Island and in other downstate suburbs, but also in New York City and upstate, too.

That’s a particular challenge for Long Island candidates, who haven’t been very successful in appealing to upstate New York, the political strategist who spoke to The Point said Wednesday. Only two Long Island elected officials — former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato and current state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli — have successfully reached beyond the downstate suburbs and New York City to capture enough statewide attention, he said.

"Blakeman’s challenge is can he flip the switch and become a viable statewide candidate after success on Long Island," the strategist said. "Only D’Amato and DiNapoli had the work ethic and the intellectual curiosity to figure it out. No other Long Islander has. It doesn’t mean they can’t, but it does mean you have to really work at it."

In response to The Point’s queries, Blakeman didn’t specifically address his own potential run for governor.

"The Republican Party in New York State is fortunate to have many exciting and capable candidates for statewide office," Blakeman said in a statement, while also seeming to map out what could be a statewide platform.

"New Yorkers are yearning for new leadership and are rejecting dangerous Democrat policies and leadership that make our communities less safe and less affordable," Blakeman added.

Nonetheless, Blakeman said that for now, he is "focused on my reelection" later this year and working "to make Nassau County a better place to live, and raise a family."

Blakeman’s reelection effort, the political strategist said, will be key to whatever happens next.

"If Blakeman loses for county executive, I don’t think anyone would seriously look at him for governor. If he only won narrowly, we’ll have to ask, ‘What’s that going to mean?’"

On the flip side, the strategist noted, if the national Republican Party determines that it needs Lawler and Stefanik to maintain the majority in the House, Blakeman might gain an upper hand.

"If they were that worried about the House, and even if Blakeman only won narrowly, national Republicans might want Blakeman to be the sacrificial lamb," he said. "But it’s way too early to know."

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Many happy returns

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/aprilnationalcartoons

Reference Point

Flying to the future

Aviation is an essential part of Long Island’s story — from Mitchel Field’s role as a center for military and civilian aviation, to Roosevelt Field’s claim to fame as the takeoff point for Charles Lindbergh’s historic 1927 trans-Atlantic crossing, to the Grumman and Republic factories that churned out the aircraft that helped win World War II. Newsday’s editorial board has long been a champion of the region’s aviation-related triumphs.

Two years after the war ended, Newsday’s editorial board applauded a different kind of aviation feat — a record-breaking, round-the-world flight that featured two "local men," war hero/pilot Bill Odom of Roslyn and navigator/co-pilot Tex Sallee of Roosevelt. Together with businessman and sponsor Milton Reynolds — whose primary source of wealth was the development and manufacture of the first ballpoint pen — the pair took off from LaGuardia Airport on April 12, 1947, in a retrofitted surplus A-26 bomber dubbed the "Reynolds Bombshell." Some 20,020 miles later, they landed back at LaGuardia in less than 79 hours on April 16, more than 12 hours faster than Howard Hughes’ world record.

"It was a good stunt, and one well worth while. Among other things accomplished, such flights stimulate aviation and dramatically needle public interest in aviation’s progress," Newsday’s board wrote in an April 17 piece called "My! What a Small World!"

The title illustrated the board’s contention that the flight by Odom and Sallee had shown how the world was shrinking, writing, "Lindbergh was 33 hours in the air getting to Paris. It took Odom and Sallee less than 30 hours flying time to go clear across India from LaGuardia."

And the board saw clearly the geopolitical implications of travel made ever faster and ever easier.

"When the world has shrunk so much as that in 20 years, old-fashioned thinkers who still believe we can isolate ourselves in it and stay aloof from the problems of our neighbors in India or China or Chile should have their noses rubbed in the Bombshell’s new record," the board wrote. "Oceans and great continental mountain ranges are no longer the barriers they were between nations. Odom and Sallee have proven it."

Our region today might not be as synonymous with aviation as it once was, but it is impossible to write the history of flight without Long Island.

— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com

Subscribe to The Point here and browse past editions of The Point here.