Taking a page from Zeldin, Blakeman makes his pitch to East Asian voters

In an attempt to sway East Asian voters ahead of November’s election, Republican gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman headed to Downtown Flushing Tuesday afternoon for a walking tour of the bustling Chinatown’s small businesses. Blakeman’s message was clear: He is the pro-public safety, pro-gifted and talented candidate in the race.

“Isn’t it a shame, everything (Kathy Hochul) does in the criminal justice department makes us less safe,” Blakeman said at a press conference in the Queens neighborhood, criticizing a law the governor signed to restrict local law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities. 

Blakeman’s approach to campaigning in Flushing is not exactly new. Then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor in 2022, spent considerable time and campaign resources there. And he hammered the governor on public safety and supported the preservation of the Specialized High School Admissions Test and gifted and talented programs – top issues that have swayed some East Asian voters away from the Democratic Party and toward Republican candidates in recent years. 

“We are not getting rid of gifted schools,” he said. “Gifted schools are for students who need to be challenged and can’t be challenged in a regular school because they excel, so we want to put those students in a school where it is competitive. … Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul – they don’t like these gifted schools.” It was unclear from his comments whether he was calling for the protection of gifted and talented programs or of the Specialized High School Admissions Test, but a spokesperson later clarified he supports both. (While the SHSAT is enshrined in state law, the governor doesn’t directly control the schools or gifted and talented programs.)

Asked for comment on Blakeman’s remarks, Hochul's campaign shot back. “While Governor Hochul passed universal free school meals, a bell-to-bell cell phone ban in schools that’s transforming classrooms and helping kids learn, and a path to universal childcare, Blakeman sent childcare in Nassau into a ‘death spiral’ and said nothing when Trump gutted funding for New York’s schools,” spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki told City & State in a statement. 

Though Blakeman’s pronouncements suggest those programs are in danger, neither Hochul nor New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seem to be making it a priority to reform or axe either one. And discussion of specialized high schools has not focused on whether they should exist, but on the admissions process for them. The Blakeman spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question pointing that out.  

Blakeman has taken a similar approach before. During a Brooklyn Chinatown campaign visit in Sunset Park in January, he inaccurately claimed that Hochul and Mamdani wanted to shut down several of the city’s specialized high schools.

Asked for comment on Hochul’s position on gifted and talented programs and the SHSAT, the governor’s office didn’t go into specifics. “Governor Hochul believes all New York students deserve access to a quality education,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Zeldin ultimately lost to Hochul by 6 points in 2022, but his strategy paid off in Flushing: He defeated the governor by more than 500 votes in Assembly District 40, which covers most of the neighborhood. And down ballot, Democratic Assembly Member Ron Kim only narrowly won reelection that year, despite a low-profile challenge. (Notably, Kim does not have a challenger this November.) 

Blakeman is also hoping to appeal to East Asian voters. And like other candidates campaigning in Flushing, he leaned into what one Democratic strategist calls the “bubble tea photo op.” “We sampled the cuisine,” Blakeman said. “The bubble tea was outstanding.”