{"id":577,"date":"2026-08-12T04:31:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=577"},"modified":"2026-08-12T04:31:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:31:32","slug":"taking-a-page-from-zeldin-blakeman-makes-his-pitch-to-east-asian-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=577","title":{"rendered":"Taking a page from Zeldin, Blakeman makes his pitch to East Asian voters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In an attempt to sway East Asian voters ahead of November\u2019s election, Republican gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman headed to Downtown Flushing Tuesday afternoon for a walking tour of the bustling Chinatown\u2019s small businesses. Blakeman\u2019s message was clear: He is the pro-public safety, pro-gifted and talented candidate in the race.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIsn\u2019t it a shame, everything (Kathy Hochul) does in the criminal justice department makes us less safe,\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blakeman\u2019s 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 \u2013\u00a0top issues that have swayed some East Asian voters away from the Democratic Party and toward Republican candidates in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not getting rid of gifted schools,\u201d he said. \u201cGifted schools are for students who need to be challenged and can\u2019t be challenged in a regular school because they excel, so we want to put those students in a school where it is competitive. \u2026 Zohran Mamdani, Kathy Hochul \u2013 they don\u2019t like these gifted schools.\u201d 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\u2019t directly control the schools or gifted and talented programs.)<\/p>\n

Asked for comment on Blakeman\u2019s remarks, Hochul’s campaign shot back. \u201cWhile Governor Hochul passed universal free school meals, a bell-to-bell cell phone ban in schools that\u2019s transforming classrooms and helping kids learn, and a path to universal childcare, Blakeman sent childcare in Nassau into a \u2018death spiral\u2019 and said nothing when Trump gutted funding for New York\u2019s schools,\u201d spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki told City & State in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Blakeman\u2019s 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s specialized high schools.<\/p>\n

Asked for comment on Hochul\u2019s position on gifted and talented programs and the SHSAT, the governor\u2019s office didn\u2019t go into specifics. \u201cGovernor Hochul believes all New York students deserve access to a quality education,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

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 \u201cbubble tea photo op.\u201d \u201cWe sampled the cuisine,\u201d Blakeman said. \u201cThe bubble tea was outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s 2022 all over again, as the Republican gubernatorial nominee argues he\u2019s the pro-public safety, pro-education candidate in the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[8,7],"class_list":["post-577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-new-york-gubernatorial-election","category-new-york-state","tag-2026-new-york-gubernatorial-election","tag-new-york-state"],"yoast_head":"\nTaking a page from Zeldin, Blakeman makes his pitch to East Asian voters - Business Relocation Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=577\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taking a page from Zeldin, Blakeman makes his pitch to East Asian voters - 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