Meeting with President Trump during his 2024 campaign, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told him the road to the White House runs through the suburbs. He elaborated on the subject as a featured speaker at the state Conservative Party’s recent conference in a talk titled, “Winning the ‘Burbs, How Common Sense Conservatism is Holding the Line on Long Island.”
A Republican in a county dominated by Democrats, Blakeman expressed confidence in Conservatism. “If we bring our message out, we can take this state back. People want to vote Conservative, they really do,” he said, telling the crowd: “You’re the ones who bring us back to reality and remind us of the values we should be professing and acting upon.”
Winning Nassau’s top seat in 2021, Blakeman said he kept his promise to the moms to get the masks off their kids. He got men out of women’s sports and boys out of the girl’s room. He ended Nassau’s status as a sanctuary county for illegal immigrants.
“You had to wear a mask in school, but if you went across the street to the pizza place, you could take it off. Just bizarre,” said Blakeman in a room abuzz with the prospect of him running for governor. “The science was always on our side. Dr. Fauci finally admitted what we already knew—he was making it up as he went along.”
Blakeman said he was subject to significant pressure against his Executive Order on illegal immigration. “We got calls from the Biden administration, calls from Governor Hochul’s office, calls from Mayor Adams' office, saying to me, Nassau County needs to do their share and take in the migrants too,” he revealed. “I said to them very directly, you invited them in, you take care of them. It's like me inviting people to spend the weekend at my house and then telling my neighbor they have to take them.”
Instead of spending billions on illegal aliens, Blakeman, a former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, said his common sense policy is to spend taxpayer dollars on “better schools, better hospitals, better infrastructure, and more cops on the street.”
Right after President Trump was inaugurated for his second term, Blakeman said he had the county police commissioner and sheriff reach out to ICE and say, we're on board. “We told them we would give them whatever they need,” he said of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “And they were quick to respond because they were relieved. They could finally do their job to protect the borders of the United States.” The county executive embedded 10 detectives with ICE and provided jail cells to house those picked up with criminal records. “They said they wouldn't be able to get the funding for this for maybe a couple of weeks or a month and l said you can start right away. Donald J. Trump’s credit is good with Nassau County.”
While other communities were defunding the police, Nassau hired 291 new officers. They set up an intelligence center and a training village that the FBI and Secret Service also use. “We want to make sure that we have the cutting-edge training and all the tools the police need to get the job done,” Blakeman said.
He asked the Conservatives to consider how religion has become unpopular in certain places, including as the state capital. “Think about the foundation of this country. We were founded on religious freedom.” He referenced a Pew Research poll that found families with religion as part of their core values have children more likely to be prosperous and stay out of trouble.
“In New York, there is an attack on religion. These people want the state to control everything. They want the state to tell us how we should raise our children. And that's got to stop,” Blakeman declared.
He went on to say, “It was disgraceful that our state and New York City officials stood by while there was rampant antisemitism throughout this state, and you know what? The pro-Palestinian protesters were professionals. We know that because we coordinate with the NYPD, FBI, Secret Service, the CIA. And you know who they were funded by? The Communist Party.”
Concluding, the county executive stressed that suburban voters will vote for Conservative values and principles. “They just want to know that people are out there who care about them and care about their vote. And all it takes is to be bold, to have leadership skills, to talk to people about values. We need to multiply and go out and get our message to the people throughout the state and ask them what kind of state do you want? Do you want a state of failure? Do you want a state where people get ahead, not based on merit, but by people who pick winners and losers? Do you want a state that throws money away? If we bring that message out, we can take this state back.”