Long before Bruce Blakeman became New York’s gubernatorial candidate for change, he was a lowly college kid tasked with driving Nancy Reagan around.
The Nassau County executive’s first real political gig — as a volunteer for Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign— unexpectedly landed him in proximity to the fiercely protective soon-to-be first lady.
“She liked and trusted me,” Blakeman told The Post in a recent interview. “She was worried about her husband’s safety. She was very, very protective of her Ronnie.”
The unglamorous job of carting “Fancy Nancy” to fundraisers impressed upon him the value loyalty, discretion and political access — though the story reveals Blakeman has long been destined for the political spotlight.
“I got involved in politics at age 7. On Halloween, I went door-to-door with two bags — one to collect candy and another to give out literature for my dad’s campaign,” he said.
“People loved it,” he said, “when homeowners saw a boy volunteering for his dad’s campaign instead of just getting treats.”
The longtime public servant is now seeking the highest office in the state, vying to become New York’s first Republican governor in more than two decades on November 3.
Blakeman, 71, is broadly considered the underdog in trying to topple incumbent Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul — but he’s always been a risk taker.
Three years after he was elected to the Hempstead Town Board in 1993, the Long Island native took a chance — running in a blue district for the newly created Nassau County Legislature.
He won — and even became the body’s first presiding officer.
“I took a risk,” he recalled. “I was up for re-election [for the Hempstead Board]. Instead, I ran for the Nassau County Legislature in a district drawn for a Democrat and I won.”
It was an early example of Blakeman silencing the doubters.
Former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, a powerhouse in Nassau County GOP politics who’s known Blakeman for 40 years, described him as driven and fearless.
“Bruce was always a hard worker. He never stopped working,” D’Amato said.
“He’s never afraid to take on a project. If you needed him to do something, he did it.”
As the son of Robert Blakeman, who served as a Republican state assemblyman in the 1960s, campaigning was in his blood.
“My father was ‘Mr. Valley Stream,’” Bruce Blakeman said about his dad, an influential attorney and World War II veteran who he described as an inspiration and a pillar of the community. He died in 2018 at 92.
The elder Blakeman enjoyed drafting and debating bills but didn’t like the campaign rituals of glad handing and street campaigning — unlike his son, who revels in pounding the pavement and pressing the flesh.
Blakeman credits his outgoing nature to his mother, Betty, who served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.
“My mom was a big personality. Anyone who met my mother remembered her for her strong personality and beauty,” he said. “Her love and compassion continue to guide me in everything I do.”
One of five siblings, Blakeman’s parents instilled in him a strong work ethic and he had jobs during summers as a busboy, janitor, dishwasher and bartender.
As a 12 year old boy, he loved taking the Long Island Rail Road into Manhattan on his own or with his friends.
“We’d roam around the city all day. I was always fascinated by the city,” Blakeman said.
The 6’1″ Blakeman excelled at basketball at Valley Stream High School, where he was a shooting guard and small forward, boasting, “I could play above the rim. I could dunk easily.”
His basketball career ended when he broke his ankle during the first day of practice his senior year and he later went off to college, first to Arizona State University — where he met first wife Nancy Shevell — and then to California Western Law School in San Diego.
“It was exciting to be in different places,” Blakeman said. “But I always gravitated back to New York.”
In his 20s, the young Republican became involved in presidential politics and backed Gerald Ford for re-election in 1976.
But at the GOP convention that year, he said he was inspired by rival Reagan’s speech, and volunteered on his 1980 presidential campaign while still in law school.
Reagan’s campaign assigned Blakeman the sensitive task of serving as the personal driver and assistant for Nancy Reagan, who had many influential friends in New York society, he said.
”Nancy was very kind, very thoughtful. People often underestimated her,” Blakeman recalled, saying he mostly drove her to campaign fundraisers.
After law school, Blakeman returned to New York, worked at his father’s law firm and soon got into Nassau County politics.
But Blakeman had statewide ambitions and even once flirted with running for New York City mayor.
He was the Republican candidate for state comptroller in 1998, but lost to Democratic incumbent Carl McCall. He lost his seat in the Nassau County legislature the following year in a pair of political setbacks.
Three years later, then-Gov. George Pataki, the last Republican to hold statewide office, appointed Blakeman a commissioner to the state Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
It was just months before terrorists hijacked planes and toppled the World Trade Center owned by the PA on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people and devastating downtown Manhattan.
Blakeman got to work assisting the city and region’s recovery as a PA commissioner serving on several key committees.
It was personal for Blakeman.
“My nephew, court officer Tommy Jurgens, was murdered while administering first aid in Tower 2. The building fell on him,” he said.
His body was never recovered; only his gun and badge.
Blakeman served on the PA’s World Trade Center and Security committees and was involved in the redevelopment plans for the Freedom Tower and Lower Manhattan.
He also attended many funerals of people killed in the attack.
“I gave eulogies on behalf of the governor. It was a horrible time, a dark time,” Blakeman said.
But Blakeman still had the thirst for political office.
He made unsuccessful runs for the US Senate in 2010 when he lost in a Republican primary and was defeated by Democrat Kathleen Rice in a race for a Long Island congressional seat in 2014.
In his personal life, however, things were more rosy as the divorcé found love a second time with Segal Magori, now a Nassau County Family Court judge, who he married in 2015.
His political career got a boost a few years later when, in 2021, he defeated Democratic incumbent Laura Curran for the Nassau County executive in what many observers viewed as an upset.
“That was a race nobody thought I would win,” Blakeman said.
He won re-election as county executive handily last year and shortly thereafter announced his bid for governor.
Blakeman said his Jewish faith is very important to him, and that he was disgusted with what he claims is antisemitism raging within the ranks of the Democratic Party.
“I have a strong belief in God. You’re more likely to be productive and less likely to get into trouble if you have faith,” he said.
D’Amato said Blakeman’s tenacity and resilience make him formidable.
“He lost a couple of races but he never gave up,” D’Amato said.
Blakeman is still staring down the naysayers.
“People don’t think I can win the race for governor. I’m going to win,” he said.
