Blakeman reports extra $1.6 million raised in amended campaign filing

A week after his July campaign finance report showed him millions of dollars short of what he’d initially claimed to raise, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman has finally filed a promised amended report that makes up the difference. 

Blakeman’s campaign told the New York Post on July 13 that he’d raised $11 million since launching in December to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul. But when the campaign actually filed his July periodic report with the Board of Elections on July 15, City & State reported that he fell at least $3 million short of that total.

The amended filing, posted on the state Board of Elections site Wednesday, reflects an additional $1.6 million in contributions the campaign did not previously report . Blakeman originally recorded roughly $3 million donated to his campaign between March and July. Now, his campaign says he received over $4.6 million from donors.

Previously unreported donors include data rights whistleblower Brittany Kaiser and Charles F. Dolan (presumably billionaire James Dolan’s son, since his father Charles F. Dolan died in 2024), who each gave $18,000 to the campaign, and the Transit Supervisors Organization PAC, which gave $9,000. Blakeman will need to return half of the larger donations since he didn’t face a primary. An initial review of the amended filing showed at least two dozen donations over the $9,000 general election limit. 

The new filing also includes an additional $1.2 million in public matching funds, which Blakeman’s campaign said would be reflected in a fixed report, after City & State inquired about the discrepancy last week. But his campaign did not indicate there would be an additional $1.6 million in previously unreported contributions –  despite standing by the $11 million figure and promising an amended report “shortly.”

The amended report additionally reflects an extra $1.4 million in expenditures made by the campaign. Blakeman initially reported $1.8 million in spending between March and July, while the new version reports over $3.2 million spent during that time.

All told, Board of Elections records show that Blakeman has brought in about $11.4 million since he launched his campaign seven months ago, tracking with the claim made last week. 

Asked about the significant differences between the original and amended reports, as well as the seven-day period it took to file the new version, Blakeman spokesperson Madison Spanodemos blamed tech issues at the state Board of Elections. 

“Kathy Hochul's illegal attempt to block Bruce Blakeman from receiving public matching funds created reporting complications that have been corrected, along with other issues caused by the state's antiquated campaign finance reporting system,” Spanodemos said, referencing a Public Campaign Finance Board decision to refuse Blakeman matching funds citing paperwork errors. Hochul denied influencing the decision, but Blakeman ended up getting paid out after he sued the board and won. 

“Blakeman for New York filed amended reports to accurately reflect the millions more collected to support Blakeman’s campaign, which has raised more than $11 million to fire Kathy Hochul,” Spanodemos added.

Spanodemos did not respond to a follow up question for additional clarity about specific “issues” the campaign encountered that led to multi-million dollar discrepancies between the original and amended reports.

A spokesperson for the state Board of Elections said Blakeman’s campaign treasurer reached out on July 16, one day after the filing deadline when the campaign submitted the original report, to say he had encountered some technical issues. This did not prevent the campaign from getting the original report submitted in a timely fashion, and the spokesperson said she is not aware of any technical problems with the reporting system.

Blakeman’s campaign also filed an amended March report on Wednesday as well. Initially, he recorded a closing balance of $1.6 million after receiving $284,000 in contributions. That was at odds with the $2.2 million opening balance recorded in both the original and amended July reports. The new March report now reflects a $2.2 closing balance for the period with $868,000 in contributions.

This isn’t the first time that Blakeman’s campaign has amended campaign finance reports that resulted in some significant changes between the versions. His very first filing in January has four versions, three of which were posted on the filing deadline of Jan. 15. The original closed the period with $1.6 million on hand. That dropped to $1.1 million in the first amended filing, before settling on $1.2 million in the third and fourth amendments.