Hochul, Blakeman talk kitchen table issues two weeks from Election Day

Both Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, highlighted pocketbook issues exactly two weeks before Election Day, with the governor celebrating some fruits of one of her marquee budget proposals and Blakeman hammering her on utility costs.

Hochul announced 16 arrests across eight counties on Tuesday as part of her administration’s crackdown on auto insurance fraud, with the aim of lowering auto insurance rates. 

“The average New Yorker pays some of the highest auto insurance rates in the entire country, about $4,000 a year, almost $1,500 more than the national average. … All that fraud drives up what New Yorkers pay in their insurance premium,” she said. Hochul also said her administration has seen a “triple-digit increase” in staged crashes, which were often followed by multiple insurance claims and falsified medical records.

Hochul fought hard to include auto insurance reform measures in this year’s state budget. Negotiations over her proposal were a major reason why lawmakers passed the spending plan a whopping 57 days late. The legislation was supported by Uber, which claimed both its drivers and riders would benefit from the legislation, while the New York State Trial Lawyers Association fought hard against it. 

Months after winning the budget fight, Hochul finally had tangible results to share with New Yorkers shortly before Election Day. But even as she touted new arrests she claimed will save money, she admitted that New Yorkers won’t see tangible change for roughly  two years. 

But she didn’t stop at car insurance fraud. Hochul also discussed ongoing “months-long investigation” to combat Medicaid fraud in social adult daycare programs and “safeguarding taxpayer dollars.” 

While Hochul shared some results she fought so hard for in the budget, Blakeman hit the campaign trail to attack the governor over her projections on estimated utility increases. 

Blakeman campaigned Tuesday in Washington Heights with former Gov. George Pataki to denounce high utility costs in the state. “We should have an all-of-the-above attitude towards energy,” Blakeman said, reiterating his call to bring fracking back to the state. “People are really suffering. As I walk down the street here, people tell me wherever I go how expensive their utility bills are.” And he unveiled a new ad on X criticizing Hochul’s “failed energy plan,” also on Tuesday morning.

The new ad cited City & State’s reporting on a February memo from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority that suggested upstate gas and oil households could face over $4,100 in gross cost increases under requirements set in the state’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Law. Hochul advanced changes to the law’s statutory timeline she said were needed to avoid those cost increases this spring. 

But that hasn’t stopped Blakeman from using the governor’s own estimates against her.

“I don’t think his numbers are accurate, just like he was rather certain I did not sign a bill that I had signed,” Hochul told reporters when asked about Blakeman’s comments on high utility prices, referring to Blakeman’s since-deleted social media postcriticizing the governor for signing legislation to increase a tax credit for firefighters she had in fact signed. 

Hochul cited her administration’s $1 billion investment in the energy rebate check initiative, as well as the repayer protection plan, but deferred responsibility to President Donald Trump and the ongoing war with Iran for overall increases in energy prices in New York and across the country. 

“I’ve yet to hear Bruce Blakeman give any blame to the Trump administration on why our costs have gone (up),” she said. She also pointed to Blakeman’s support for expanding data centers as evidence he has “no credibility” on the issue of energy affordability. “These are some of the largest energy consumers in the world, and to think that having those consume our limited supply is gonna drive down costs, he is so wrong.”

Returning to a reliable line of attack, Hochul again accused Blakeman of simply parroting empty promises from Trump, saying that her opponent should be speaking with the president about lowering energy prices instead. “He’s blaming me for everything,” she said. And, she added, “I think it’s an act of desperation.”