National issues continue to dominate race for N.Y. governor

With Labor Day fast approaching, New Yorkers’ opportunity to tune out the race for governor — on lawn signs, over the airwaves and on social media — is quickly evaporating as the end-of-summer lull gives way to campaign season in the Empire State.

Both candidates had opportunities to make their points this week, with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman meeting with supporters at the annual Broome County GOP Clambake in the Southern Tier and Hochul appearing in her capacity as governor at the New York State Fair, which she herself pointed out signals the close of summer.

One thing the race itself can’t seem to escape is the impact of large-scale national issues in the era of President Donald Trump. This week, that ranged from Hochul coming out in full force against Trump’s tariffs at a logical location — surrounded by farmers at the New York State Fair — to Blakeman reluctantly and bitterly announcing that his county would comply with the state’s ban on local governments formally cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but will join a lawsuit to have the measure struck down.

Tariffs of 50% on some Canadian imports went into effect after trade negotiations failed last week, with retaliatory tariffs expected next month.

The governor, whose campaign has worked in overdrive to emphasize Blakeman’s close relationship with Trump, said she was “calling on Americans to do something about” the nation’s cost of living crisis while delivering remarks on the tariffs.

“You think about the fencing, the steel required for barns, equipment — all of that aluminum is coming from Canada,” Hochul said.

While at the fair, Hochul hosted a roundtable with like-minded farmers affected by the tariffs. One maple farmer said the move by the Trump Administration has sharply increased the cost of equipment that cannot be purchased from domestic manufacturers.

“We’re talking equipment that’s very expensive. It’s not made in the United States at all. The tariffs have made the price of those things sometimes double,” the farmer said.

While Democrats relentlessly point to the economic drawbacks of the tariffs, especially in border states like New York, the Trump administration has portrayed the tariffs as necessary to establish a fairer trading relationship with Canada.

“Stop taking advantage of America — it’s over. We expect fairness in our trade policy,” Vice President JD Vance said earlier this week in Maine.

That has left other Republicans up and down the ballot to decide how to address questions about the economic drawbacks of the tariffs.

Blakeman, who has Trump’s endorsement, declined to engage in the tariff debate during an interview with Capital Tonight this week. He argued that the gubernatorial campaign should focus instead on issues under direct state control.

“Let’s talk about New York state issues — those are the things that a governor can materially change,” Blakeman said.

“You can talk about federal issues all you want, but I’m running for governor,” he added. “We’re the most overtaxed state in the nation. Our electric bills are 70% higher than the national average.”

While Blakeman indicated that the tariffs are not an issue state officials can change, Democrats have tried to address their effects. State lawmakers included a fund in this year’s budget to assist industries affected by the federal tariffs. Sen. Michelle Hinchey, a Saugerties Democrat, told Spectrum News 1 at the fair that the funding appears increasingly necessary.

“We were hoping a few months ago, when some of these tariffs ended up being rolled back, that maybe those funds wouldn’t be needed in the way they were at the beginning of the year, and here we are needing them more so,” Hinchey said.

The next question for lawmakers will be whether additional assistance is needed when they return to Albany in January to negotiate the next state budget.

Blakeman hasn’t shied away from focusing on federal issues altogether. He has worked to focus much of his campaign energy on immigration and public safety. This week, he sharply criticized a new state law requiring counties to terminate their formal cooperation agreements with ICE, insisting it will inhibit the apprehension of dangerous criminals and create complications by limiting how and where ICE can do so.

Nassau was one of the counties with such an agreement, and Blakeman had teased legal action for months.

Speaking to reporters at an event hosted by Broome County Republicans in the Southern Tier on Tuesday night, he said an announcement was impending Wednesday and suggested that joining the counties’ lawsuit was among the possibilities.

After a public announcement, Blakeman said in his interview with Capital Tonight Wednesday that Nassau will join an existing lawsuit filed Tuesday by 15 other county sheriffs but will likely also pursue separate legal action.

“We are joining the Rensselaer County lawsuit, but we’re in a different situation than the other sheriffs,” Blakeman said. “My sheriff is appointed, so we are joining them with a separate complaint.”

Hochul has continuously argued that the law simply bans formal agreements and does not stop coordination with ICE in prosecuting dangerous criminals. Come November, Hochul said she is not concerned that Republican messaging around the law will sway voters, pointing to work she says her administration has done to address crime since the issue played a key role in her closer than expected victory in 2022.

“We have made dramatic progress,” she said. “We didn’t need any 287(g) agreements, in fact I think they’re in the way of making progress because I want local police using local taxpayer dollars to focus on catching local criminals. ICE has $85 billion. They have the resources to do what they want. ”

While Hochul’s campaign has worked to connect Blakeman to Trump, Blakeman has attempted to turn the strategy around by emphasizing Hochul’s relationship with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Hochul told Politico this week that she expects Mamdani will be a helpful presence in her campaign.