Dennis A. Clark for NY Post
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman unloaded on outgoing Rep. Elise Stefanik Thursday – one day after the upstate congresswoman called his failed gubernatorial campaign “low energy.”
Blakeman tore into his fellow Republican Party member for not doing more to help GOP candidates win and called her career lackluster in the aftermath of his Election Day drubbing at the hands of incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“Elise Stefanik is a selfish, do nothing politician that didn’t lift a finger to help Republican candidates in New York this year,” Blakeman wrote on X.
“She had one moment of glory in what was otherwise an unremarkable career,” he added without elaborating.
Stefanik then fired off a subtle burn back at her almost-primary opponent Blakeman by noting she had never lost an election.
“I know feelings are raw in the aftermath of Tuesday’s result so I will cut some slack because while I don’t know from experience, as I have never lost any of my seven elections, I know that this is a tough loss in NY and I imagine it takes time to process,” she said in an X post.
She went on to set the record straight on her involvement in the party after fellow GOP member Blakeman said she “didn’t lift a finger to help Republican candidates in New York this year.”
“Over the past decade, I have worked hard to campaign, support, and raise over $100M to help boost Republicans up and down the ticket across the country and the state,” Stefanik said.
A simmering intraparty beef between the pair went public Wednesday, a day after Hochul’s landslide win over Blakeman – part of a national Democratic blue wave that ripped control of Congress, the Senate and several former red states from Republican hands.
Stefanik, who had eyed running for governor before Blakeman took the party nomination and the endorsement of President Trump, called the candidate’s campaign “low energy” after she largely sat on the sidelines during election season.
But Stefanik noted that she voted for Blakeman along with the rest of the ticket.
“[I] have worked for decades helping Republicans across the state and country, including him,” Stefanik said in her X post.
The congresswoman, who decided not to seek reelection, had told The Post Wednesday that the state GOP needed to reset after a series of losses.
“The results speak for themselves,” Stefanik said a day after Democrats retook the Senate, Congress and flipped five state governorships blue.
Blakeman had praised Stefanik after she unexpectedly announced in December that she would retire from Congress to head for the private sector after Trump backed Blakeman over her.
“I want to thank Congresswoman Elise Stefanik for her outstanding service to the people of New York and to all Americans,” Blakeman said at the time.
“Throughout her time in public office, Congresswoman Stefanik has been a strong voice for common-sense values, national security, and economic opportunity, and her leadership has earned the respect of people across our state and our country,” Blakeman added at the time.
Many had viewed Stefanik — who represented upstate New York’s 21st Congressional District since 2015 — as the frontrunner to take on Hochul in 2026.
