Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is making his final push to try and flip New York with a statewide tour hitting roughly eight cities in the next 48 hours.
Blakeman kicked off the effort Sunday morning on his home turf with a campaign event on Long Island, revealing he plans to make brief visits to Oswego, Albany and Rensselaer County later in the day before heading back to Long Island for the night.
Then Monday, Blakeman plans to swing through Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton before ending his final pitch in Manhattan — the day before elections.
“We are leaving no stone left unturned,” Blakeman told a small room of supporters, donors and fellow Republican pols at a golf course in Northport.
Blakeman plans to fly to each stop for brief stints to make his final pitch to voters in the cities, many of which lean blue.
The statewide tour comes as Blakeman is currently trailing his political foe and incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul by double digits, according to multiple major polls.
Registered Democrats have been outnumbering Republicans in early voting around the state and on the GOP stronghold of Long Island as well, according to unofficial election data.
But Republicans are less likely to vote early and tend to cast their ballots on Election Day, according to several studies.
Blakeman said he hopes his sweeping last-ditch effort will get disgruntled New Yorkers who are considering sitting out of the race to vote for him on Election Day.
A recent survey by pollster Convos found that 83% of Long Islanders have their minds made up on who they’re supporting at this point in the race and that nothing will change their vote before Nov. 3, though the poll didn’t measure head-to-head support between Hochul and Blakeman.
But despite what could appear to be an uphill battle, Blakeman remains confident he will flip the state and insists the race for governor is in a “dead heat,” predicting that Republicans will surge with in-person voting on Election Day on Tuesday.
“Forget about the university-woke-polls — I have seen two statewide polls in the last three weeks that have us less than four points behind — that means we’re in the margin of error,” Blakeman said.
“This is a turn-out election,” he added.