New York governor's race heats up as Kathy Hochul and Bruce Blakeman clash over high energy costs
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman butted heads on the campaign trail Tuesday over energy policy and the increasingly high cost of utility bills.
Hochul took off the gloves, apparently fed up with the constant attacks from the Nassau County executive, including him blaming her for high energy costs. She blamed President Trump and the war in Iran and challenged Blakeman to use his close friendship with the president to do something about it.
"Now, if he's got such a close relationship, you ought to call him up and say, 'Mr. President, this is really killing my chances to ever have higher office because of what's going on here,'" Hochul said.
And there it was laid bare, Hochul playing the MAGA card to express her frustration with the constant attacks from Blakeman about high utility bills.
"I have acknowledged that our new prices are high," Hochul said. "He is blaming me for everything, including the fact that the sunrise is now at 7:12 in the morning, instead of earlier. I mean, he is blaming me for everything," Hochul said.
Blakeman escalated his attacks Tuesday, appearing in Washington Heights with former Gov. George Pataki to claim that energy costs are three times more than when Pataki was in office -- 11.1 cents per kilowatt hour in 1995 compared to 29.4 cents per kilowatt hour today.
One target was the All-Electric Buildings Act of 2023, which bans the use of fossil fuels for heating, hot water and cooking in all new construction.
"Natural gas is the cheapest effective way that people can heat their homes or generate electricity, and we're not being allowed to do that," Pataki said.
"Kathy Hochul's own state energy research board has said that her policies will increase our utility bills by $4,000 in the next five years," Blakeman said.
Hochul put the ball back in Blakeman's court.
"You know what would be a lot better for driving down energy costs in the state of New York? Stopping the war with Iran. I have yet to hear Bruce Blakeman give any blame to the Trump administration on why our costs have gone [up]," Hochul said. "We want to know what the main cost of energy is. It is the war with Iran. Everything is more expensive. The cost of gas, the cost of diesel that powers many of our plants," Hochul said.
Energy policy is complicated, and the two have punched and counter punched. Hochul says President Trump's opposition to wind power has hurt the state. Blakeman says her opposition to fracking is particularly to blame.
"We're sitting on one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world here in New York state. Yet, Kathy Hochul won't let us extract that natural gas," Blakeman said. "In Pennsylvania, with a Democrat governor, Josh Shapiro, their utility bills are half ours because he allows for the extraction of natural gas."
Over the last few weeks, New Yorkers have started receiving energy rebate checks of up to $200 to help offset the pain.