Debra Messing backed Bruce Blakeman for New York governor on Tuesday, saying her support shifted because she sees affordability and public safety worsening in New York City. Blakeman is a Trump-backed Republican and the Nassau County executive.
Messing said in a lengthy Instagram post that she has been a Democrat her whole life. She wrote that she had long focused on voting rights, the gay community and gun control, but now weighs those concerns against what she described as rising costs and fear on streets and subways.
Debra Messing on New York City
Messing said, “I know I’m not someone choosing between rent and groceries.” She said many small business owners, teachers, nurses and young people trying to start their lives in New York are struggling with the rising cost of living, and that policies like congestion pricing make it harder to afford the city.
She added that when people cannot afford to live there, “we risk losing part of what has long made New York an extraordinary place of opportunity.” Messing also said she is “increasingly concerned about public safety” and that “the violence we see on our streets and subways frightens me.”
Bruce Blakeman and Kathy Hochul
Messing said she voted for Kathy Hochul four years ago, but said she did not feel better off now than she did then. She wrote that she asked herself who would “actually make life better for the people I love and the place I live,” and said Blakeman was the person she believed would do that because of his focus on affordability and safety.
In the same post, Messing said Blakeman’s campaign has said he is pro-choice and supports gay rights. She also said she has supported Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Cynthia Nixon in the past, and that she has frequently criticized Donald Trump. That puts her public endorsement on the opposite side of her past voting record and her long-running criticism of Trump.
Tuesday on Instagram
Her post adds celebrity attention to a race that will be judged by the same issues she singled out: housing costs, day-to-day expenses and safety in New York City. For voters, the immediate question is whether that message broadens Blakeman’s appeal beyond his Republican base or simply sharpens the contrast he is already making.
Messing’s own framing leaves the political test in plain view. She cast the choice as less about party label than which candidate would improve life in the city and state she said she loves dearly.
