Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Bruce Blakeman | Nassau County Executive Aiming to Become New York State's Next Governor

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Bruce Blakeman | Nassau County Executive Aiming to Become New York State's Next Governor · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My dear friend happens to be the Nassau County executive,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: but will be the next governor here in New York,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the great Bruce Blakeman. Bruce, good morning, buddy.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: I'm doing great. Hey, listen, Bucky Dent, how many years
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: did he play? 10, 11 years?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Something like that, yes.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I don't think he had more than 40
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: home runs in his whole career. And he hits probably
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: one of the most iconic home runs in the history
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: of Yankee baseball. What a clutch hit. Remember that hit
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  Speaker 3: in 1978? That home run that clinched it for the
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Yankees against the Red Sox in the one-game playoff?
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  Speaker 1: That was it. 1978 off Mike Torres. And people forget
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: that did catapult the Yankees into the playoffs. The year before,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the Yankees beat the Dodgers in the World Series. And
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson won the MVP. Remember, he had three home
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: runs or three different Dodger pitchers in 77. But in 78,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: when Bucky Dent hit that home run, like you just
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: talked about, Bruce, you're 1,000% right. To get the Yankees
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: into the playoffs, they went on to beat the Dodgers
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: again in the World Series. And people forget, Bucky Dent
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: was the World Series.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: MVP for the Yankees. That's how big he was.
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  Speaker 3: You talk about a clutch performance.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Really was.
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  Speaker 1: That was a huge year for Bucky and went on
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: to manage the Yankees. He took a beating from... Steinbrenner,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: but a terrific guy. Lost his wife to cancer years
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and years ago. They met at the University of Florida.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I think he has since remarried. But we've remained friendly,
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  Speaker 1: and when I go to Yankee Stadium tomorrow night, I'll
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: be wearing my number 20 Bucky Dent jersey for the
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Yankees and Red Sox.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: And you nailed it, Bruce. That was a big home run.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Clutch performances like you're going to be clutch come November
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: when you beat Kathy Hochul.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Well, we have to hit a home run for the
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: people of New York because... They're miserable under Kathy Hochul.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: We're number 50 in economic outlook, the highest taxed state
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: in the nation, electric bills 70% higher than the national average,
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  Speaker 3: and she is the most pro-criminal governor in the United States.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: So we've got a lot of work to do. We
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: still have to win this election. Things are looking better
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: each and every day. Sid, I had somebody come up
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: to me last night. She said to me, Bruce, I'm
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: a liberal. I'm a liberal, but I love America. And
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  Speaker 3: that's why I'm voting for you this year. My party
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  Speaker 3: is a bunch of un-Americans right now. They don't love
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  Speaker 3: America like past Democrats have. So, you know, we may
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: have philosophical differences, but we're all Americans. And everybody I meet,
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't matter which age group, what their demographics are.
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  Speaker 3: Everybody wants lower taxes, lower utility bills and safer neighborhoods.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what I did in Nassau County. And that's
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: what I'll do for the state of New York.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you say she's a liberal. No one's going
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: to be surprised anymore.
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  Speaker 1: I brought this up earlier to my friend Caroline Schenkel,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: who's running for Congress on the Upper East Side, mostly Democrats.
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  Speaker 1: I said, the precedence has been set. Mike Lawler wins
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: in Rockland County. That's mostly Democrats. Bruce Blakeman wins in
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Nassau County, mostly Democrats. And correct me if I'm wrong,
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  Speaker 1: but two huge Democrat names, Frank Lautenberg, widow, Mrs. Lautenberg,
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  Speaker 1: and Bob Holden, maybe the greatest of all the city
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  Speaker 1: council members, both Democrats, came to your camp the last
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't that true?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'm honored to have Bonnie Lautenberg as a supporter.
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  Speaker 3: She's one of those people I'm talking about. Her husband
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  Speaker 3: served with great distinction in the United States Senate. He
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  Speaker 3: and I probably didn't agree on a lot of things. politically,
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  Speaker 3: but I knew he loved America and Bonnie loves America.
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  Speaker 3: And Bob Holden, he is probably one of the best
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  Speaker 3: members of the city council in recent memory. This is
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  Speaker 3: a guy who made decisions on what was best for
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  Speaker 3: the people of New York City and his district, regardless
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  Speaker 3: of party, regardless of philosophy. He accomplished so much in
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  Speaker 3: his short tenure as a member of the city council.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm honored to get his endorsement as well.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I was watching the last couple of days Kathy Hochul
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: talk about the Nor'easter and the damage it could do
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and getting New Yorkers ready, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And she's just so mealy-mouthed. I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: And then I watch you. You know, you look tough.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: You look like you're ready out there on Long Island.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Even during the snowstorm, I remember I was watching Rosanna Scotto.
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  Speaker 1: one of those really horrible snowstorms last year, like 20
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: plus inches. And you came on like right after her.
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  Speaker 1: And she was like, she just, she looks like she's
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  Speaker 1: out of a league. And then here comes Bruce Blakeman,
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  Speaker 1: who knows exactly what he's talking about. So the difference
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  Speaker 1: was stark in watching both of you guys on television
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  Speaker 1: the last couple of days. But how did Long Island
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: end up doing with another day of rain and wind
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: coming up today?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, Sid, I can't take all the credit for, uh,
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  Speaker 3: the magnificent job that was done here managing this storm
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  Speaker 3: in Nassau County. First of all, our police department, our
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  Speaker 3: volunteer firefighters, our county employees, our partners in town government,
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  Speaker 3: in the town of Oyster Bay, Joe Saladino, John Ferretti
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  Speaker 3: in Hempstead, Jen DeSena in North Hempstead. We all worked
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  Speaker 3: together using every asset that we had to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that we kept people safe and we managed this storm
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  Speaker 3: in a way that that it would produce the least
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  Speaker 3: harm to our communities. And I think we accomplished that.
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  Speaker 3: We didn't have one casualty during this storm. And this
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  Speaker 3: was a very significant storm. This was a strong storm
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  Speaker 3: that occurred on a full moon. So it made it
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  Speaker 3: very problematic with the coastal flooding. High winds, downed trees,
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  Speaker 3: downed wires. And we worked together. PSE & G worked
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  Speaker 3: well with us together. They got out there right away
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  Speaker 3: to make sure that people got a restoration. their electricity.
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  Speaker 3: So it was a team effort all around. And also
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  Speaker 3: out in Suffolk County, Ed Romain did a great job.
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  Speaker 3: We worked in a regional approach. So it was really
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  Speaker 3: shared work habits of people who train for things like
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: this each and every day. We train for all of
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: these major events that could occur, hoping they never occur,
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  Speaker 3: but we have to be ready when they do.
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  Speaker 1: So today, I know the storm is kind of looping
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  Speaker 1: around Won't be as nasty as it was the last
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  Speaker 1: two days, but it does plan on paying New Jersey
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  Speaker 1: and Long Island a visit. So are you guys still
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: on kind of, you know, this high alert out there
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: on Long Island?
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we're always on high alert. This last wave
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  Speaker 3: of the storm will bring significant rain. We expect probably
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: an inch to an inch and a half today. which
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  Speaker 3: makes the ground more saturated and it loosens the roots
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  Speaker 3: and trees. So it's easier if a wind comes to
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: tip over the trees. So that's still an issue. Coastal
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: flooding is still an issue at high tide. So we're
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: monitoring all those situations. But the winds have gone down
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: now to about 10 to 15 miles an hour on
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  Speaker 3: a steady basis. The gusts won't reach 50 or 60
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  Speaker 3: miles an hour like they did yesterday, probably 30 miles
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  Speaker 3: an hour, which is still significant. And we're just keeping
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  Speaker 3: an eye on everything and making sure that we have
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: assets in place in case anybody needs any help.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: You know, Bruce, a week ago today, President Trump met
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: with Mamdani, and I was angry.
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  Speaker 2: And I made it very clear I was angry. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't hide it.
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  Speaker 1: And every blog, every publication, every paper wrote, MAGA radio
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  Speaker 1: host whips his buddy Trump.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm sure the president saw it.
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  Speaker 1: My gut tells me that he wasn't angry because what
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  Speaker 1: was funny about last Monday's meeting was the Democrats were
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: not upset. It was us, me, you know, all the
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  Speaker 1: MAGA people. Doesn't mean I don't love the guy. I
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: love him dearly. Reached out to him actually on Saturday
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: when it was on his way to the Texas-Tennessee game.
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  Speaker 1: But you gave the right answer a couple days ago, okay,
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  Speaker 1: when they said to you, how'd you feel about that meeting?
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  Speaker 1: And I probably could guess. We didn't talk about it.
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  Speaker 2: We didn't. But I could probably guess how you really feel.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: But you said the right thing. You said, listen, when
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  Speaker 1: I win, I got to deal with this guy. Now,
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  Speaker 1: you can also fire this guy.
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  Speaker 2: You know, that Bruce. But when I win, I got
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  Speaker 2: to deal with this guy.
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  Speaker 1: Is that how you basically get around really telling the
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  Speaker 1: world how you really feel about this guy?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, first of all, government officials... have to
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: meet with other government officials that they may not agree with.
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  Speaker 3: So I completely understand why President Trump met with Zoran Mondami.
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  Speaker 3: My feelings about Zoran Mondami are very clear. When I
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  Speaker 3: become governor, I will have to work with him and
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: he'll have to work with me. It's got to be
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: a two-way street. And if he does the right thing,
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: then we can get along fine. If he doesn't do
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  Speaker 3: the right thing, then I'm going to have a problem
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  Speaker 3: with him and I'm going to keep him in check.
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  Speaker 3: Because right now, Zohra Mondami appears to me to be anti-Semitic, anti-Christian,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: and anti-American. That's a big problem for me. Ouch.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that doesn't get a lot worse than that, right?
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  Speaker 1: He's also anti-capitalism and anti-money. Well, just about anti-everything.
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  Speaker 2: Is what the guy is.
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  Speaker 1: And you're the complete opposite, of course, being the Nassau
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  Speaker 1: County executive now for the second straight time and running
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  Speaker 1: for governor. My dear friend, Bruce Blakeman. Hey, Bruce, give
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  Speaker 1: me an idea of what's going on in some Congress
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: races in your community. With you right there on that ticket,
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  Speaker 1: it's got to help them both. We talked about this before.
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  Speaker 1: One is Janine Driscoll.
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  Speaker 2: I really like her.
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  Speaker 1: She talks about me every time, whatever. It's Peter King
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  Speaker 1: or Joe Cairo. Her kid happens to be friends with
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  Speaker 1: my son, Gabe. So Janine Driscoll. And the other guy
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I like, too, Michael Petri. How do those races look?
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  Speaker 3: First of all, Janine Driscoll is going to win. I
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  Speaker 3: was at her fundraiser yesterday. It was packed. It was enthusiastic.
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  Speaker 3: Michael Petri, he's going to win as well. He had
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: a fundraiser up on the North Shore. He had to
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: cancel because Mike Johnson was coming in, but because of
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: the weather, wasn't able to fly in. So Mike's going
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: to reschedule that. But they're both going to win. Mike Lawler. very,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: very strong, solid member of the House of Representatives. He
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: always does the right thing for his district. So Mike
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Lawler is going to get reelected in his district. Nick
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: LaLona is looking very good in his district. Andrew Garbarino
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: looking very good. And then we got people like Kaylee Buller,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: Kelly Buller, up around Onondaga County. I think she's going
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: to surprise people. We've got a few other races. Look,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: I believe that we've got an opportunity to bring in
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  Speaker 3: anywhere between two and five new Republicans in New York State.
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  Speaker 3: We really have that ability. So I'm planning on having
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: one coattail, Sid. This is a team effort. And I'm
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: planning on having those coattails to help our members of Congress,
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  Speaker 3: our assembly members and our Senate members and those who
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: are running locally this year. So it's it's a situation
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: where around the country you hear about midterm elections and
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: how it's going to be bad for the Republican Party.
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  Speaker 3: But we have the perfect storm here in New York.
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  Speaker 3: We've got Zoran Mondami and we've got Kathy Hochul, two
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  Speaker 3: people who are universally unlike by the population. and the public.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Kathy Hochul has made people miserable in the last four years.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: Zoran Mondami doesn't reflect American values. So regardless of what's
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: going on around the country, I am telling you here
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  Speaker 3: in New York State, we are going to have change.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: People want change. They're tired of one-party rule. It's made
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: everybody miserable. They want to be happy again. So that's
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: why they're going to vote for me, and they're going
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: to vote straight down the ticket.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, God, from your mouth to God's ears. I also,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I'm not a big fan of Letitia James. In fact,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: I can't stand her. Can't stand her. I'd love to
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: see our girl Saritha win. That's going to be tough,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I know, but she is a very impressive young lady.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: She really is.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: And Joe Hernandez running for controller against Annapolis. So I
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: know that tomorrow night you would like to be standing
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: right next to me and Danielle with Randy at Yankee
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Stadium for the Yankees and Red Sox, but something tells me,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Bruce Blakeman, that you'll be traveling somewhere across the state
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: to garner more support.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: What does your week ahead look like?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to be all over the place today.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: I got about seven stops today. So we'll be going
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: till midnight tonight. Then tomorrow, we're going to be in
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Rochester and Syracuse. And other than that, the rest of
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: the day is really busy. I look at it day
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: to day. There's so much on my schedule. The nice thing, Sid,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: is I get so many invitations. People want me to come.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: And I really wish I could make everything. But You know,
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: with only 36 days left, we still have a lot
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: of work to do. And we've got to pick and
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: choose where we go on a strategic basis. So I'd
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: love to be everywhere. But unfortunately, we have to look
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: at the state, make sure that we get to a
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: lot of different places. But I had a great day
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: in Queens and the Bronx yesterday. Just people who just
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: want change. Dominican American women. I went to an empowerment event.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: meeting that they had. And they want they don't want communism.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: They don't want socialism. No, they want to make money.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: They want prosperity.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: They want their kids to grow up in a community
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: that's safe. So we're making progress in so many different
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: areas and so many different communities.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: So great to see you, too.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Thursday night, Ilmanello with Keith Kantrowitz and my guy crew.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: They all love you.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Kemper, and he wasn't there, but Oranger and Caron wasn't
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: there either, but Al Bopi and Elbstein, all those guys,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: you spoke beautifully in that restaurant on Thursday night in
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Manhattan in New York City. And it is clear, Bruce,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: to wrap it up with this, because I'm with you
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: a lot. Wherever you go, wherever you go, any borough,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: any town, all the way up to Buffalo, they love
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: you in this state.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: They love you. So you're going to win.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Sid. By the way, I was at Barossa's.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I was in Queens last night. People actually applauded when
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: I walked in. I was at Rob Keys in Smithtown
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: out in Suffolk County, which is a very famous restaurant
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: out there. I walked in. I got a standing ovation.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: People are craving change. Come on.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: You're getting a standing ovation from me right now. Come on, Bruce.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: It's not so much me. It's my message. My message
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: is let's get back. to cutting taxes, cutting utility bills,
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: American values, safer neighborhoods. That's what everybody wants. And that's
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: what I can deliver.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: And you're handsome. And you work with Chris Boyle. Come on.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I love Chris. I do. I love him.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Hey, Bruce, great job here today. Continued success out there
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: on the road. And I really believe in my heart
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you're going to win this thing. So keep it up, buddy.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: Thanks, and God bless you.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: God bless you.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Bruce Flakeman right there, my brother, Nassau County executive running
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: for governor here in New York.
• 15:14
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• 15:18
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• 15:20
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• 15:42
  Speaker 4: so you never have to wonder.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?