Republican Bruce Blakeman will be allowed to access roughly $4 million in public funds for his campaign in the 2026 New York governor’s race, an Albany-based appellate court ruled Thursday.
The Appellate Division, Third Department unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling that overturned the state Public Campaign Finance Board’s March decision that Blakeman’s campaign was ineligible to access matching funds because it had not correctly filed for them.
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive running to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in November’s election, said he was “very gratified and very happy” that the appellate division upheld the ruling against the campaign finance board. He continued to criticize the board’s 4-3 decision as partisan, as only the Democratic members voted to deny him the matching funds.
“We all knew from day one that this was dirty politics and this was something that was done to try and frustrate our ability to get matching funds even though we complied with everything that was required under the statute,” Blakeman said at a press conference. “It gives me great confidence that we have an independent judiciary.”
A spokesperson for Hochul’s campaign and the Public Campaign Finance Board didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s ruling.
Previously, a Hochul spokesperson told the Long Island Press, a sister publication of amNewYork, that the governor is critical of how Blakeman spends his campaign money. The Democratic co-director of the campaign finance board said court rulings overturning their decision shouldn’t be mistaken as indicators that the Republican canddiate “followed the rules.”
Hochul elected not to participate in the matching fund program. She has roughly $20 million more cash on hand than Blakeman in the race, according to recent filings; recent polling shows she about 16 points ahead of the Republican challenger.
The campaign finance board initially ruled that Blakeman’s campaign was not eligible for matching funds because he applied for them before he chose his running mate, then never officially submitted a lieutenant governor certification for his choice, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, to the board. The board’s Democratic voting members agreed with the board staff’s recommendation that it was up to candidates to be aware of its requirements, follow them, and fix mistakes if they are made.
However, the courts have ruled that decision was arbitrary and capricious, saying that, though Hood did not properly register for the matching funds program, it was on the public finance board to inform the campaign that Hood needed to do so; provide the Republican ticket with the necessary forms to properly update its application for funds after Hood joined the ticket; and offer Blakeman a week-long period to update his campaign’s application after being informed it was incomplete.
Since the board failed to do that, the courts said, it was therefore wrong to deny Blakeman the public funds.
The Public Campaign Finance Board’s matching funds program began in 2023 to help candidates without adequate resources run against deep-pocketed ones. This is the first year gubernatorial candidates are included in the program.
To qualify for matching funds, a gubernatorial candidate must raise at least $500,000 from no less than 5,000 state residents each contributing under $1,050. The first $250 of contributions from each person are matched six-to-one by taxpayer dollars.
