Newsday’s editorial board endorsed Gov. Kathy Hochul for reelection Saturday, favoring her funding record and energy plans over Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s proposals and record in county government.
Blakeman did not meet with the board. His campaign instead submitted a statement objecting to Newsday’s coverage and citing the newspaper’s pending federal lawsuit against him and the Nassau County Legislature over access to cover county government, according to the editorial.
Funding and development
The board cited additional state funding for Long Island, which Hochul put at $5 billion over five years. In her interview with the board, she said school aid to Long Island districts had increased 53%, compared with 35% statewide.
The editorial also pointed to the $350 million Long Island Investment Fund, intended to support job creation in fields including life sciences and quantum computing. Hochul promised further housing and economic-development funding as municipalities undertake projects, specifically naming the Heartland development in Brentwood.
Newsday credited her administration with advancing state and federal money for coastline protection and improvements to state parks, including Jones Beach.
The board supported the state’s intervention at Nassau University Medical Center, arguing that changes in its management offered an opportunity to improve the hospital. It criticized Blakeman’s opposition to the intervention and his refusal to appoint members to the hospital board.
Energy costs and state policy
The editorial identified cleaner, less expensive electricity as a major challenge for the next governor, particularly as demand grows downstate and on Long Island.
Hochul told the board she planned a major expansion of upstate nuclear generation, alongside expanded hydropower.
She also acknowledged that the planned $3.26 billion Propel NY Energy project, partly developed by the New York Power Authority, had not given communities convincing information about proposed underground transmission routes, according to the editorial. She pledged to improve that communication.
The board supported an energy strategy that includes natural gas, while acknowledging criticism from environmentalists.
It described the state’s slower implementation of an all-electric building mandate and gas-reduction rules, along with proposed changes to methane-emissions timelines, as responses to inflation and utility costs. The board criticized the Trump administration’s opposition to offshore wind and Blakeman’s support for the president.
During a yearlong moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers, Hochul said her administration was developing community-benefit guidelines and requirements for those facilities to generate their own electricity or contribute to the public grid, according to the editorial.
Newsday also credited Hochul with restricting student cellphone use in schools and securing auto-insurance fraud legislation requiring insurers to pass savings on to customers.
The board cited legislation addressing antisemitism, including a new offense involving protesters entering a 50-foot buffer around a synagogue or another house of worship. It contrasted Blakeman’s agreement for county police to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a law Hochul signed prohibiting such agreements.
Criticism of Blakeman’s record
Newsday questioned how Blakeman would deliver his pledge to cut electricity costs in half on his first day in office, saying his proposals lacked detail.
The board also criticized his failure to overhaul Nassau’s property-tax assessment system and said he had withheld dedicated opioid-settlement funds to balance the county budget.
It cited unsuccessful efforts to attract a casino to the Nassau Hub and a dispute over a proposed NYU Langone Health hospital at Nassau Community College. That hospital is now planned for Suffolk County, the editorial said.
The board based its endorsement on candidates’ records, governing plans and qualifications. It said it had interviewed 107 candidates for local, state and federal office this election year.
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