Debra Messing has thrown her support behind Republican Bruce Blakeman’s bid for New York governor, breaking with Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul.
The “Will & Grace” actress, 55, appeared alongside Blakeman at a recent Manhattan fundraiser hosted by dietician Tanya Zuckerbrot, where she delivered a pointed assessment of the city’s deterioration. Messing, a Brooklyn native and NYU alum, has built a national profile as a Democratic donor and vocal Trump critic, making the endorsement a striking departure from her political history.
“I am so grateful you are running. You are what we need more than anything,” Messing told Blakeman at the event.
“The decline in this city over the last four years has been so exponential and devastating — economically, socially and on every level. And obviously, we’ve lost so much business here. People are leaving,” she continued. Messing called New York the “city I love” but added, “It’s not the city I love anymore.”
The actress looked directly at Blakeman and pledged, “I believe in all my heart that you are the answer. You are the affordable campaign, candidate.”
Her economic focus extended to specific pocketbook complaints. “People are just really struggling. They need their utilities to be lower,” Messing said. She also alluded to the $9 congestion pricing toll for Manhattan entry, telling Blakeman, “It’s just too expensive to live in New York City, and I love the fact that is at the top of your mind.”
Messing’s political evolution on Israel appears intertwined with her New York stance. The Jewish actress has publicly expressed outrage over Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, posting hostage signs in Manhattan and pleading with “far-left students” to “leave the posters up” amid vandalism. She has been equally fierce toward left-wing Mayor Zohran Mamdani, endorsing former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s failed mayoral bid against him and blasting Mamdani as an “American-hating jihadist” with the nickname “Osama bin Mamdani.”
Blakeman, Nassau County executive, has positioned himself as a staunch Israel supporter while Hochul has faced criticism for allegedly equivocating on Jewish community concerns.
The Republican candidate seized on Messing’s backing with gratitude. “Thank you to the iconic Debra Messing for your courage to speak out,” Blakeman said. “She is trying as hard as she can to save New York and to make sure it’s safe for Jewish people who live in this community and in this state.”
Messing’s endorsement represents a dramatic reversal from her 2019 stance, when she faced backlash and McCarthyism accusations for demanding public disclosure of attendees at a Beverly Hills Trump fundraiser. “Please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know,” she wrote on X at the time. Her Democratic credentials run deep: she stumped for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and donated to Cynthia Nixon’s left-wing 2018 gubernatorial bid.
Blakeman last week unveiled a tax proposal vowing to eliminate state taxes on the first $50,000 of income for single filers and the first $100,000 for married couples, a plan his campaign calculates would benefit average-earning households across 45 of New York’s 62 counties.
The Hochul campaign dismissed Messing’s defection through spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki. “We’re proud that New Yorkers from across all 62 counties, with an average online donation of $22.38, are standing with Governor Hochul in her fight to bring down the cost of housing, childcare, car insurance and more, and stop her ‘MAGA all the way’ opponent from letting Donald Trump attack New York, jack up prices, and threaten public safety,” Radulovacki said.
Blakeman faces Hochul in the November general election.