Debra Messing threw her support behind Republican Bruce Blakeman at a recent Manhattan fundraiser, giving him an on-camera endorsement instead of backing Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul. In the video, Messing told Blakeman she was “so grateful you are running” and said, “You are what we need more than anything.”
The endorsement lands now because Messing is not just another celebrity name in the room. She has long been associated with Democratic politics, but this time she used her platform to elevate a Republican candidate while arguing that New York City has deteriorated so badly that a change is overdue.
Messing’s message was blunt. She said the “decline in this city over the last four years has been so exponential and devastating — economically, socially and on every level,” then added, “It’s not the city I love anymore.” She also said, “I believe in all my heart that you are the answer,” and cast Blakeman as the candidate who understands the cost of living pressure facing New Yorkers. “People are just really struggling. They need their utilities to be lower,” she said, while also pointing to the “$9 congestion pricing toll” to enter Manhattan.
That is a sharp turn for a figure who has previously been visible on the Democratic side of politics. Messing once stumped for Hillary Clinton for president and donated to Cynthia Nixon’s campaign for governor in 2018. She also criticized Donald Trump at a Beverly Hills fundraiser for Republican Trump in 2019, and on X that year asked for a public list of attendees, writing, “Please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know.”
The break is even starker because Messing’s recent political comments have been tied to the same issues that fueled her endorsement. She endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for mayor in his failed bid against Zohran Mamdani, called Mamdani an “American-hating jihadist,” and nicknamed him “Osama bin Mamdani.” After the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, she also put up signs in Manhattan bearing the names and information of hostages held by Hamas and begged “far-left students” to “leave the posters up” as some were torn down.
Blakeman now has a prominent public backer willing to say the city needs him more than anyone, even if that support sits awkwardly beside Messing’s earlier politics. The endorsement suggests she is no longer speaking like a Democrat in opposition, but like a voter who has decided the case against New York City is stronger than the case for loyalty to her side.
