Inna Vernikov rips Bruce Blakeman’s ‘petty’ Elise Stefanik hit

Bruce Blakeman, the Jewish Nassau County executive who lost the New York governor’s race to Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, by almost 20 points, is drawing widespread criticism for attacking his former GOP primary rival, upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik.

“Elise Stefanik is a selfish, do-nothing politician that didn’t lift a finger to help Republican candidates in New York this year,” Blakeman wrote on Thursday. “She had one moment of glory in what was otherwise an unremarkable career.”

Stefanik, who made national news with her tough questioning of university presidents about Jew-hatred on their campuses, was President Donald Trump’s pick for US ambassador to the UN, but he later said it was important for her to stay in Congress. She then ran for governor but did not get Trump’s endorsement, which went to Blakeman. She dropped out of the race and said she would not seek reelection, citing family obligations.

“Elise Stefanik was and is a star in the Republican Party. You should have never primaried her,” said Inna Vernikov, a Republican member of the New York City Council and co-chair of the council’s bipartisan task force on Jew-hatred.

“Nassau County ran a grift, pushed out a very competent and worthy candidate in Elise and lied to voters and donors about your prospects via fake polling,” Vernikov said. “No elected Republican with half of a brain ever believed you had a shot of winning governor and beating Hochul.”

“At her young age, Elise did more for our country and party, and accomplished more for New York, especially for its Jewish community and college students, than you and the entire Nassau County boys club can ever imagine possible,” she said. “She has got more intelligence, charisma, political acumen, courage and grit than all of you combined, and you have some chutzpah to attack her after your failed grift of a campaign.”

Vernikov called Blakeman’s post “petty and childish.”

“Don’t be bitter,” she said. “Reflect on your own missteps.”

The council member told JNS that “with the blue tsunami we experienced this past Tuesday, I don’t believe any Republican could have won the governor’s race.”

“That being said,” she added, “to play the blame game the day after you get politically annihilated against your opponent and attack the star Republican you helped push out, who never lost a single election, flipped a seat from blue to red plus-21, raised historic amounts of money for the party, rose to be the highest-ranking female Republican in the history of Congress and exposed and demolished Ivy Leagues for their non-action against vile antisemitism, is just bitter and petty.”

Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, which represents more than 1,000 Jewish public school educators and staff in New York City, called Blakeman’s post “a horrible take and really unfortunate.”

“You couldn’t even carry Nassau County. That’s on you,” he wrote. “Maybe less awful AI videos and next time focus more on the needs of the people.”

Stefanik responded that she knew “feelings are raw in the aftermath of Tuesday’s result, so I will cut some slack.”

“While I don’t know from experience, as I have never lost any of my seven elections, I know that this is a tough loss in New York and I imagine it takes time to process. I’m going to give some upstate grace, whether deserved or not,” she wrote. “The reality is, with time, we will need everyone to be part of the solution, including local county-level officials, because we so desperately need it in our state and country.”

“I voted for Bruce and straight Republican ticket and have worked for decades helping Republicans across the state and country including him,” she wrote. “Over the past decade, I have worked hard to campaign, support and raise over $100 million to help boost Republicans up and down the ticket across the country and the state.”

She added that everyone has to be a “constructive part of the effort to rebuild Republican support as we learn from this historic loss.”

—JNS