Blakeman: Worst gov, worst mayor-to-be

Nassau’s Republican county executive said he was disappointed that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, Zorhan Mamdani, on Sunday.

“I thought our governor was better than that. I thought she would stand on principle and stand for American values and stand up for the Jewish people,” Bruce Blakeman told The Jewish Star during a pre-Rosh Hashana visit to honey cake-making kosher bakeries in West Hempstead on Monday.

He called Mamdani, a self-professed socialist who opposes Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, “probably the worst candidate for mayor I’ve ever seen, and the fact that he may win is just shocking.”

“Zohran Mamdani is a virulent antisemite,” Blakeman continued. “He’s a communist. He is anti American values. He is anti Judeo-Christian principles.”

“So many politicians say they love Israel and then they stab us in the back, and I feel like we’ve been stabbed in the back,” he said of Hochul, calling her “the most unpopular incumbent governor we’ve ever had.”

Asked whether he thought Mamdani would moderate his views if elected, Blakeman quipped: “I don’t think a leopard changes its spots.”                      —Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star