Nassau County Exec Bruce Blakeman rakes in $2M for campaign in an ominous sign for Democratic challenger
- - - Nassau County Exec Bruce Blakeman rakes in $2M for campaign in an ominous sign for Democratic challenger
Brandon CruzJuly 21, 2025 at 5:38 AM
An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows County Executive Bruce Blakeman speaking at a Nassau County event, Image 2 shows Protestors holding signs that say
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman tripled his campaign war chest in a year — and raised nearly $1.5 million more than his election opponent in the first half of 2025.
The Republican pulled in just under $2 million from PACs, corporations, unions and individual donors between Jan. 15 and July 15, according to the most recent campaign filings — while Democrat Seth Koslow only brought in $433,535.
Blakeman ended the first six months with a whopping $3.3 million on hand while Koslow — a county legislator and attorney from Merrick — had $389,855 on hand, the filings showed.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s campaign has raised $2 million so far this year. Michael McWeeney
“I’m proud to have earned overwhelming support from hardworking taxpayers, law enforcement, trade unions, and local employers who stand behind my record of holding the line on taxes and keeping Nassau the safest county in America,” Blakeman told The Post.
The county executive raked in nearly 700 individual donations, with about 40 of them over $10,000 apiece, the filings showed. This includes $50,000 each from insurance executive and CEO of The Whitmore Group, James Metzger as well as relatives of Bolla Oil CEO Harvinder Singh, according to the records.
Blakeman also took in $25,000 each from two major Republican donors in the nursing home industry — Kenneth Gaul of Port Jefferson and Benjamin Landa of Cold Spring Hills — the same amount as the estate of Lawrence Herbert, the late inventor of the Pantone color system, according to the filings.
Blakeman was boosted by donations of $12,000 from the Nassau PBA, $7,000 from the correction officers’ union, $2,500 from the Detectives’ Association, and $2,000 from the superior officers’ union, the filings showed.
Blakeman’s Democratic opponent Seth Koslow speaking at a “Nassau not for sale” rally on July 17, 2025. Brigitte Stelzer
Koslow bashed Blakeman for taking money from law firms that have active contracts with Nassau. Attorneys with the firm Abrams Fensterman — including Frank Carone, the former chief of staff to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and his wife — donated $25,000, according to the records.
“If you’re doing business with the county, odds are you’re cutting checks to Bruce, too,” Koslow said Thursday outside of the county exec’s office for a rally, where he placed a “for sale” sign on his door and accused the incumbent of corruption.
“Bruce Blakeman didn’t raise over $2 million by accident, he did it by auctioning off county contracts like they were concert tickets. If you’re a vendor doing business with Nassau, odds are you’re cutting checks to Bruce too.”
Blakeman has raised about $1.5 million more than Koslow this year. Brigitte Stelzer
But Blakeman fired back and called Koslow’s run against him a “failing campaign aided by criminal attorneys and radical NYC politicians that want to defund the police and raise taxes.”
Koslow reported almost 100 more individual donors than Blakeman — though in much smaller amounts.
His backers include $15,000 from state and county Democratic boss Jay Jacobs, $10,000 from Port Washington trader and philanthropist Eric Knight and $8,500 from the New Suburbia PAC, which backs progressive suburban candidates.
The election is Nov. 4.
Source: “AOL AOL Politics”
