Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, on Thursday largely stood by his comments this week that Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander would have been a camp guard in a Nazi concentration camp. The remarks, made during a Wednesday interview with Newsmax, drew swift condemnation from Democrats and progressive advocacy groups.
Blakeman called Lander, who won Tuesday's Democratic primary in New York's 10th Congressional District, antisemitic despite both men being Jewish. "Even though he's Jewish, this guy would be a camp guard in the concentration camp if he could," Blakeman said of Lander, New York City's former comptroller.
Lander is a close ally of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and both have been openly critical of the Israeli government's actions in Gaza. Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman in Tuesday's primary — one of three progressive candidates endorsed by Mamdani who defeated incumbents or incumbent picks in New York elections.
What the Right Is Saying
Blakeman, speaking to reporters Thursday, offered a partial walkback while maintaining his core criticism. "Maybe camp guard was too strong, but certainly collaborator as Brad Lander turned his back on the Jewish community when he locked arms with the extremists who want to wipe Israel off the map," he said.
President Donald Trump endorsed Blakeman last year in his gubernatorial bid. Supporters of Blakeman have pointed to Lander's vocal criticism of the Israeli government and his alignment with Mamdani, arguing that positions on Gaza policy define the fault lines in this contest. Some Republican allies argue that Blakeman was highlighting what they characterize as a fundamental departure from mainstream Jewish political consensus by Lander and his progressive allies.
Blakeman's defenders have not issued broad statements defending the specific language used but have emphasized the underlying debate over Israel policy and characterized it as a legitimate line of criticism in a heated election season.
What the Left Is Saying
Democratic leaders and progressive groups roundly condemned Blakeman's remarks as disqualifying. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Blakeman's Democratic opponent in the November gubernatorial race, told NY1 that the comment "disqualifies him from public office." "Every single time Bruce Blakeman opens up his mouth, he's simply auditioning for his next role in the Trump administration after he loses the election," she said.
Lander issued a statement rejecting the characterization. "I don't know where Bruce Blakeman went to Hebrew school, but I was taught that 'Never Again!' means never again to anyone," he said. "Standing up for Palestinian human rights doesn't make me any less proud to be Jewish, or any less serious about fighting antisemitism." Lander added that he believes New Yorkers "will resoundingly reject Blakeman's far-right MAGA bigotry this November."
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, a Democrat and the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, decried the comments on social media. "The Holocaust must never be used as a rhetorical device in our politics, and this kind of moral equivalence is unacceptable," Menin wrote.
J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group, also condemned Blakeman's remarks as "corrosive and wrong." "No amount of vitriolic language from Blakeman or others will erase the fact that a growing number of American Jews reject the false choice that fighting for Israel's future means abandoning the Palestinian people," the organization wrote on X.
What the Numbers Show
Brad Lander won Tuesday's Democratic primary for New York's 10th Congressional District, defeating five-term Rep. Dan Goldman by approximately 8 percentage points, according to preliminary results. The margin was wider than many pollsters predicted in the heavily Democratic district that includes parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Lander was one of three candidates backed by Mayor Mamdani who defeated incumbents or their preferred successors on Tuesday. All three ran on platforms critical of Israeli government policy in Gaza, with Lander explicitly accusing Israel of committing acts of genocide against Palestinians.
Goldman, who served as lead counsel during Trump's first impeachment trial, received endorsements from Hochul, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, and major labor unions. Goldman was supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, while both candidates received support from J Street — a distinction that highlighted their different positions on Israeli policy.
New York gubernatorial polling shows Hochul with a consistent lead over Blakeman in recent months, though the race remains competitive heading into November.
The Bottom Line
The controversy has injected the governor's race with intensity typically reserved for federal contests, as national Democrats rush to defend Lander while national Republicans have largely remained silent on Blakeman's specific language. Both sides agree the remark will feature prominently in campaign advertising through November.
For Blakeman, the comments represent a risk: polling shows voters in New York, even those critical of Israeli government policy, express discomfort with rhetoric that invokes Holocaust imagery. For Lander, the episode reinforces his progressive credentials among Democratic primary voters but may present challenges in a general election matchup should he advance to face a Republican opponent.
What happens next: Blakeman faces continued calls from Democrats to apologize more fully. Hochul's campaign is expected to tie Blakeman's comments to broader concerns about his fitness for statewide office. The 10th Congressional District race moves toward the November general election, where Lander would be heavily favored in the Democratic-leaning district.