Livingston County News (thelcn.com)TIER 2
Blakeman spoke for nearly 30 minutes to more than 120 people at the Avon Inn on Monday evening (reported Aug 19), hosted by the Livingston County Republican Committee alongside Rep. Claudia Tenney, Sen. Pamela Helming and Assemblywoman Andrea Bailey. He tied Hochul to Mayor Mamdani ("Comrade Kathy"), called New York 50th of 50 in economic outlook and "the most overtaxed state," said electric bills run 70 percent above the national average because of a "green energy scam," and called the ban on extracting Southern Tier natural gas "a crime," recounting Trump telling him "drill, baby, drill." He also criticized cashless bail, sanctuary policies, and S.9316's gender-neutral parentage language. The reporter noted Blakeman never used the word "affordable" though it was printed on his podium sign.
The BatavianTIER 2
At an Aug 16 GLOW-region stop at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Ag Education Center in Batavia (reported Aug 19), Blakeman called utility-scale solar on farmland "a total scam," alleging out-of-state and foreign developers collect subsidies while donating to Hochul, and said New York should extract its own natural gas reserves instead. He also claimed New York electric bills run 70 percent above the national average across 48 rate increases under Hochul, and that the state spends about $8 billion on services for people in the country illegally, roughly $81,000 per person. Both figures are fact-checked separately. He pledged not to forget upstate regions and pointed to his 12-point 2025 Nassau reelection in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 110,000.