EXCLUSIVE: Why Republicans dominated this New York suburb while the rest of the country turned blue
Republicans had a big night in a large suburban county bordering New York City – while the party suffered crushing defeats in other parts of the United States.
Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who had the support of President Donald Trump, won reelection Tuesday by defeating his Democratic challenger by nearly 12 percentage points, according to results released by the Nassau County Board of Elections. Republicans also swept county offices and comfortably held the legislative seat in the once Democratic-leaning New York suburbs — the same evening, the neighboring Big Apple elected socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor.
Blakeman, who plans to run for governor of New York in 2026, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that voters re-elected him and other Nassau Republicans in a landslide thanks to a combination of “strong leadership, American values and common sense.”
“I have stood up for common sense, American values, keeping communities safe, making sure law enforcement has all the tools they need to succeed, hiring over 600 law enforcement professionals, 400 cops, 200 corrections officers, just in the last three years,” the county executive told the DCNF. “And I did all this without raising taxes one cent in four years. »
I am very grateful to the people of Nassau County for giving me the honor of serving them again and I will continue to fight to keep this county the safest in America without raising taxes. pic.twitter.com/o9FYMB6NJ3
– Bruce Blakeman (@NassauExec) November 5, 2025
Blakeman cited her record on women’s sports, immigration and crime — three issues that helped President Donald Trump win the White House in 2024 — to explain why Nassau County weathered Tuesday’s “blue wave.”
“So I think people like it. They like the fact that I took a strong stance on biological transgender men playing against women, and that it be banned in Nassau County. We were the first in America to do that,” the Republican said, referring to a law he signed banning men from participating in women’s sports at county-owned facilities. (RELATED: School district infamous for trans bathroom scandal elects independent who pledges to protect girls)
“They like the fact that we have a comprehensive agreement with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and that we remove criminals from our community. We are named the safest county in America,” he added, citing a 2024 study from U.S. News and World Report. “We were also named the nicest place to live in New York State. So I think we have a track record of success.
Blakeman added that he “did all of this without running away” from Trump.
“I actually ran with President Trump. I supported President Trump and I made it very clear that I support his policies,” he told DCNF. “And I think people like the fact that I’m a principled person, that I stand for the same values as President Trump, that I have appealed to moderate Democrats and that I have almost two-thirds of independent voters voting for me.”
Happy to have the president’s support @realDonaldTrump who secured our borders, killed the drug cartels that are poisoning our children, and protected American jobs! pic.twitter.com/rdM5IcptcX
– Bruce Blakeman (@NassauExec) November 3, 2025
Trump won Nassau County by just over four points in the 2024 presidential election, after the county had voted for the Democratic candidate in the previous eight election cycles. Former President Joe Biden won it by double digits in 2020.
Two days before the election, Trump endorsed Blakeman, whom he called “America First Patriot” in an article published in Truth Social, adding that the county executive is “doing a fantastic job.”
“Bruce has been with us since the very beginning and is 100% MAGA. He works tirelessly with the courageous heroes of Law Enforcement, ICE, and Border Patrol to protect our communities, ensure law and order, defend our ever-beleaguered Second Amendment, keep our now very secure border SECURE, end migrant crime, and stop communism from ruining our once great cities,” Trump wrote in the Sunday evening social media post. “Bruce fights hard to cut taxes and regulations, promote MADE IN THE USA, advance American energy DOMINANCE, and defend our nation’s golden age. »
Blakeman also told DCNF that Republicans need to discuss issues of affordability and the cost of living with a focus on “economic development and job creation” rather than “handouts” and giving people “free stuff.”
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 27: Then-Council Member Bruce Blakeman attends the ribbon cutting ceremony for Century 21 department store at Green Acres Mall on October 27, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Pont/Getty Images)
“We’re creating opportunity. We’re creating prosperity. We’re creating wealth for Nassau County families,” Blakeman said. “And that’s how you solve the affordability problem, by creating an environment where people can do better, make more money, have better benefits, and provide for their families better, and not give them free products, because free products don’t improve their overall situation. It just makes them dependent on the government.”
Tuesday’s ABC News exit polls showed that voters in Virginia, New Jersey and New York — all places where Democrats were overwhelmingly elected — consistently ranked the cost of living or the economy as their top issue.
Asked about Mamdani in particular, Blakeman said he was “very concerned” about the mayor-elect’s past anti-police rhetoric, his left-wing policy positions, his plan to raise taxes and his anti-Semitic views.
“I am very troubled by his election, but I will do what I must do to ensure that Nassau County remains safe and prosperous,” the county executive added. (RELATED: ‘Angry Mamdani’: Future Socialist Mayor Prepares for Harsh Reality, Analysts Say)
Blakeman also told the DCNF that in the days since his big re-election, he has “received calls from political leaders, from business leaders, from big donors” urging him to run for governor of New York in 2026.
“I told them I would seriously consider it, which I do, and I would make a decision after I traveled the state and talked to all these leaders and determined whether or not I wanted to enter the race,” he said. “I’m confident that if I enter the race, I will win, because we have a winning formula here and we have the base on Long Island.”
Democrats swept the entire November 4, 2025 election which received the lion’s share of media attention. In addition to Mamdani’s victory, party-backed candidates also won Tuesday’s elections for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general of Virginia, as well as governor of New Jersey, as well as two statewide elections in Republican-leaning Georgia.
One of two New York counties that make up the region, colloquially known as “Long Island,” Nassau County, with a population of approximately 1.4 million, is relatively diverse, with 53% white, 19% Hispanic, 12% Asian and 11% black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey (ACS). The county also has one of the largest Jewish communities in the country, and about one in five Nassau County residents is Jewish, according to 2023 ACS data.
It is also widely considered a “commuter county”, with a significant portion of its residents working in New York.
In addition to Blakeman, Republican incumbents for Nassau County prosecutor, county comptroller and county clerk all won by double-digit margins. Republicans retained full control of Nassau’s government, winning 11 of 19 seats in the county Legislature — a net loss of just one seat following redistricting seen as more favorable to the Democratic Party.
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