Bruce Blakeman

Bruce Arthur Blakeman (born October 2, 1955) is an American attorney and politician currently serving as the 10th County Executive of Nassau County, New York.

He was elected in the 2021 election, defeating Democratic incumbent Laura Curran.

He previously served as the commissioner for the New York-New Jersey Port Authority as well as a Nassau County legislator and Hempstead town councilman.

Blakeman was born in Valley Stream, New York.

Blakeman's father was Assemblyman Robert M. Blakeman.

His mother, Betty, served in the Army and his father was a Merchant Marine and later Naval Reserve Officer.

His brother is Brad Blakeman, who was Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush.

Blakeman attended Valley Stream Central High School.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and government from Arizona State University and a Juris Doctor from the California Western School of Law.

Blakeman holds a certificate in Homeland Security management from Long Island University.

Bruce Blakeman was first elected to the Hempstead Town Council in 1993.

In 1993, federal district court judge Arthur D. Spatt ruled Nassau County's Board of Supervisors to be in violation of one man, one vote.

The Board of Supervisors authorized the creation of the Nassau County Legislature as a successor to their body.

Elections were held in November 1995, and Blakeman, at the time a Hempstead town Councilman, was elected to the first legislative class to represent the 7th district.

He was also elected the body's first presiding officer.

The body took their seats on January 1, 1996.

In 1998, Blakeman was the Republican nominee for New York State Comptroller, he lost in the general election to incumbent Democrat Carl McCall.

During a particularly bad election year for Nassau County Republicans, Blakeman lost his seat in the Legislature in the election of November 1999 to Jeff Toback, and the Republicans lost the majority.

In June 2001, Blakeman was appointed by Governor George Pataki as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

In 2007, as a member of the law firm Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Greenberg, Formato & Einige, Blakeman brokered the purchase of 52 acres of land in Melville by Canon USA for the construction of new headquarters.

About 1,200 people worked at their old Lake Success offices at the time.

Previous attempts to move their headquarters to Westbury and Brookville were unsuccessful, and Canon was expected to move out of state if the deal fell through.

Long Island Business News reported that Blakeman received a "multimillion-dollar" commission for the sale.

He held that position until 2009.

In the 2010 special election, Blakeman ran for United States Senate, but lost the Republican primary to former congressman Joe DioGuardi.

He was a commissioner during the September 11th attacks.

In 2014, Blakeman ran for the 4th congressional district, after incumbent Carolyn McCarthy announced her retirement.

He won the Republican nomination, but was defeated 53% to 47% in the general election by Democrat Kathleen Rice.

In January 2015, Blakeman was appointed to the Hempstead Town Council, replacing James Darcy after previously serving on the Hempstead Town Council from 1993 to 1995.

In 2017, Blakeman joined fellow Republican councilwoman Erin King-Sweeney in endorsing Democratic challenger Laura Gillen in the race for Hempstead Town Supervisor.

Gillen, who ran against incumbent Town Supervisor Republican Anthony Santino, went on to win the election, becoming the first Democratic Hempstead Town Supervisor in over 100 years.

Gillen named Blakeman Deputy Town Supervisor.

In 2019, Blakeman and King-Sweeney endorsed Republican Receiver of Taxes Donald X. Clavin Jr. against Democratic Town Supervisor Laura Gillen for Town Supervisor.

Clavin went on to win against Gillen.

Blakeman was succeeded on the Hempstead town council by GOP Assemblywoman Melissa Miller.

In March 2021, Blakeman was chosen by Nassau Republicans to run against incumbent Democratic Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.

In the 2021 election he squeaked by with 50.35% of the vote.

On September 19, 2022, Blakeman introduced his annual budget proposal.

This proposal did not raise nor lower taxes, and added nearly 100 additional police and law enforcement jobs to the County payroll.

On January 11, 2023, County Executive Blakeman joined Nassau Republican Chairman Joseph Cairo and other elected officials to call for the resignation of Congressman George Santos.