Striking a Make America Safe Again tone, Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman blasted Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul as the “most pro-criminal governor” during a Monday campaign event riding the New York City subway system, which has been plagued by violent crimes and commuter safety fears.
“I have not heard from one person, and from all the people, that it’s safer on the subways and public transportation in New York,” Blakeman said as he rode the subway. “I’ve heard just the opposite. Everybody says they feel less safe.”
“So we want them to feel safe,” he said.
Blakeman, a Nassau County executive, is a former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Now running for governor, he was campaigning Monday in the densely populated city, which is overwhelmingly a Democratic stranglehold.
“Hire more police officers, hire more conductors, clean up our subways and get help for those who are emotionally ill – get them help that they need; not have them roam around our subways,” Blakeman told reporters as he rode the subway, targeting both the governor and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the deep-blue area.
“The crime in the subways has gone up tremendously under Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani,” Blakeman lamented. “They are not committed to public safety. I will be committed to public safety. I will make sure that our public transportation is safer and cleaner for the traveling public.”
“That’s how you get more people back in public transportation, not by putting a tax on them with congestion pricing, which is nothing more than a tax on the middle class,” he added.
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Blakeman hit Democrats for being negative influences on public safety, and Hochul specifically, for having “reduced the number of conductors on our trains and subways.”
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More police patrolling the subways and improving the lighting in dimly lit subway systems are on Blakeman’s priority list, but he also discussed having more conductors manning the subways.
Hochul vetoed Albany legislation that would have required conductors on more subway trains, leaving the MTA’s one-person train operation program in place versus the June 2025 state-passed bill requiring at least two-person crews — an operator and conductor.
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Hochul vetoed that bill on Dec. 5, 2025, arguing it would restrict MTA modernization efforts and cost up to $10 million annually.
“Police are very important, but I think people feel very comfortable and very safe when they see a conductor,” Blakeman said. “I want to increase the numbers so that people feel safe.”
Blakeman called Hochul “the most pro-criminal governor in the United States of America,” citing several criminal-justice and immigration policies.
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“Whether it’s cashless bail, Raise the Age, the HALT Act, Clean Slate, or refusing to cooperate with ICE and federal agents, she has made us less safe,” he said, striking at Democrat-backed legislation long rebuked by police groups and Republican public safety hawks.
Cashless bail limits when judges can require defendants to put up money to be released. Raise the Age generally keeps 16- and 17-year-olds out of adult criminal court, while the HALT Act limits solitary confinement and changes prison disciplinary practices. The Clean Slate law seals certain criminal convictions from public view after a designated waiting period.
“People feel less safe in every community that I go to in New York State,” Blakeman said.