Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman railed against rival Gov. Kathy Hochul for soaring MTA spending — but he stood by the “hardworking people” in the transit agency labor unions after a Post report on soaring overtime spending.
Blakeman, who is serving as the elected Nassau County executive, said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s forecasted budget gaps — estimated at $295 million in 2027 and $507 million in 2028 – should be blamed on Hochul and her MTA boss Janno Lieber’s management and unchecked spending.
“We don’t have a revenue problem. We’ve got a spending problem,” Blakeman told reporters at a press conference in Penn Station Wednesday, where he rode in on the Long Island Rail Road.
“And what Kathy Hochul has done is she’s blaming the hardworking people who work for the MTA who do an excellent job,” he claimed.
A Post report on Wednesday showed that the transit agency is on track to blow past its 2025 overtime record of nearly $1.5 billion this year — having already spent $764 million year to date on OT, or $176 million over its budgeted allotment.
The report said nearly 1,000 MTA workers raked in more overtime in 2025 than their entire base salaries.
Blakeman has stood by the high-earning LIRR union workers when they went on strike in May of this year — despite being offered a generous 4.5% raise to their already lucrative six-figure salaries averaging $136,000 per year. The salaries don’t include OT.
“It’s just like the state government,” Blakeman said. “They keep taking more and more money from people, from taxpayers, from people who pay the fares, and from electric bills.”
The MTA faces financial risks with ongoing contract negotiations for union workers and rampant fare evasion — with paid weekday train riders declining 8.1% to 1.2 million since January 2025. Paid bus riders have also declined 7.7% year over year since June 2025, according to recently released figures.
The bleak future financial picture was revealed at an MTA board meeting Wednesday – where CEO Lieber accused Blakeman of being a “no-show” on transit issues in Nassau County.
“He’s known by New Yorkers mostly as a guy who specializes in losing elections for a long time,” Lieber quipped. “I have nothing to say about Bruce Blakeman’s wisdom on transit because I don’t know anything about it.”
Blakeman hit back against the MTA head, who’s paid $400,000 in salary, for trying to solve money troubles with a congestion pricing toll that went into effect in 2025 that charges drivers entering Midtown Manhattan a minimum of $9.
The GOP candidate called the congestion toll a “tax on the middle class” and blasted Lieber as a “joke.”
“This is a guy who’s presided over a transportation system that has consistently deteriorated,” Blakeman said. “He’s raised fares, and he even admits that there’s going to be a massive deficit.”
A poll released this week by a pro-Blakeman super PAC found that Blakeman is trailing his Democratic incumbent opponent by only 4 percentage points, though he trails by larger margins in other surveys. The poll also found respondents gave Hochul an unsavory 38% approval rating.
“People are unhappy, and change is about to come. And on Jan. 21 I expect to be the next governor of the state,” Blakeman said.
A spokesperson for Hochul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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