BRONX, N.Y.– Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is courting disaffected Democrats as he seeks to unseat Gov.
Kathy Hochul, betting that frustration over affordability, crime and the party's leftward shift could help him make inroads with traditionally Democratic voters."They're not Democrats.They're socialists and communists," former Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman told Fox News Digital.
"They're just not Democrats, they're not moderates."Kaufman delivered the blistering criticism while rallying alongside Blakeman at the Crosstown Diner in the Bronx, where several voters expressed similar frustrations with Democratic leadership and said they were backing the Republican candidate."Every time I go out and meet the people, another Democrat comes up to me and says, 'Bruce, I'm a lifelong Democrat.I've never voted Republican in my life.
We're voting for you,'" Blakeman told Fox News Digital.NY SOCIALIST SURGE COULD PUSH DEM VOTERS TO DEFECT, GOP GOVERNOR CANDIDATE PREDICTSBruce Blakeman, Nassau County executive and Republican candidate for New York governor, who is running to unseat Democratic Gov.Kathy Hochul and has secured President Donald Trump's endorsement.
(Victor J.Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images)Kaufman accused the Democratic Socialists of America of gaining increasing influence over the party, warning that Democrats are "rapidly becoming a house of hatred" that no longer welcomes moderate voices.Several Bronx voters who spoke with Fox News Digital echoed those concerns, pointing to rising costs, public safety and the Democratic Party's increasingly progressive direction as reasons they feel politically abandoned."It's not your Democratic Party anymore.
It's not your grandfather's Democratic Party.It's become the Democratic Socialist, a.k.a.
Communist Party," Lisa, a resident of the Bronx's Throggs Neck neighborhood, said."The socialists here literally said we’re land-hoarding if we only have a single-family home or a f...