Bruce Blakeman, a Republican from Long Beach announced that he will run for the 4th Congressional District seat Rep. Carolyn McCarthy will vacate due to cancer.
The former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature said before announcing that he huddled with local political figures, including Congressman Peter King, who recently endorsed him. Blakeman called the 4th District “winnable.”
“I think one of the things I was known for as the presiding officer was reaching out to the other side of the aisle,” he said. “I had a commitment to keeping taxes down.”
He stated that issues in Washington D.C., from healthcare to jobs, is the main force of his campaign.
“The economy is in the wrong direction,” he said. “People are out of work and Obamacare is a disaster.”
While Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice is well into fundraising her campaign, and rumored candidate Kevan Abrahams, a Nassau County Democratic Legislator, is weighing options, Blakeman feels he’ll catch up quickly.
“I’m not taking anybody lightly,” he said. “I think both Kevan and Kathleen are formidable and I’m intending to run a hard fought campaign on the issues.”
Blakeman, 58, joins attorney Frank Scaturro of New Hyde Park as a Republican candidate gunning for the seat. Scaturro lost the Republican primary in 2012 to Francis Becker and then to McCarthy.
“My candidacy was mutual on the part of the Republican and Conservative hierarchy,”
Blakeman said.
