New York Republicans’ feud has spilled into public view since the election, and a newly surfaced text shows Bruce Blakeman, the party’s defeated nominee for governor, apparently challenging Rep.-elect Anthony Constantino to settle their differences in the ring before Election Day.
Blakeman, the party’s defeated nominee for governor, apparently challenged Constantino to settle their differences in person, according to Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke, who shared what appears to be a screenshot of a text exchange between the two men.
In the exchange, Constantino urged Blakeman to break with state GOP Chairman Ed Cox and Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar.
“If you were tough and smart you would come out against Kassar and Cox,” Constantino wrote. “You sound very weak right now and citizens don’t like weak.”
Blakeman replied, “After the election you and I can get in the ring and find out who is tougher. For now don’t get distracted by what other people say and do. It’s what YOU do. Ok I’m getting back to work.”
“Bruce Blakeman challenging @constantino to a fight is easily the most entertaining news of the day thus far,” Brufke wrote.
The election is now over, and the feud has spilled into public view. Constantino, the Sticker Mule CEO who narrowly won Rep. Elise Stefanik’s deep-red North Country seat after a Trump endorsement, blasted the state GOP online as “mostly a Con Job that helps Democrats win,” Newsday reported.
Blakeman fired back that Constantino “was by far the worst candidate I ever encountered,” adding, “I ran way ahead of him in his District and if it weren’t for me he wouldn’t have won. See you in two years, pal.”
Constantino responded by calling Blakeman “a perpetual wannabe who lost by a lot because he’s lazy, dumb and pretentious.”
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, lost to Gov. Kathy Hochul by 20 points and even lost his home county. He is also feuding with the retiring Stefanik, who told the New York Post he ran a “low energy campaign with limited resources.”
Stefano Forte, leader of the MAGA-aligned New York Young Republican Club, told Spectrum News NY1 that candidates complained Blakeman would show up in their districts unannounced, give a speech, and have security push supporters aside “as he has to get back to his Escalade.”
Grassroots activists are also calling on the 80-year-old Cox to step down.