Post says most claims in Hochul–Blakeman debate were 'mostly false' and Nassau 287(g) deputized county cops, report says

The only scheduled New York gubernatorial debate ahead of the November election took place on Oct. 13, 2026 at Spectrum News NY1, where incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman clashed on immigration enforcement, fiscal policy and other campaign issues.

Multiple news outlets covered the hour-long exchange; the New York Post followed with a fact-check piece that judged most of the debate claims "mostly false" and applied that verdict across several topics debated that night. The Post’s fact-check concentrated on assertions about immigration enforcement, gas wells and fired corrections officers.

Republican Bruce Blakeman pressed claims about the governor’s spending on immigrants and argued that a Blakeman administration would allow federal agents greater latitude; Gov. Hochul countered that Blakeman would allow federal agents to "run rampant in our streets," according to reporting. The New York Post stated that Nassau County’s 287(g) agreement with U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputized county police to enforce immigration crimes before Hochul’s sanctuary legislation earlier in 2026, and it said nearly a dozen other New York localities maintain working relationships with ICE that the Post described as mainly limited to correctional facilities checking detainee names against a federal database.

Newsday and other coverage emphasized the candidates’ broader fight over ties to President Donald Trump, taxes and utility rates, and quoted exchanges in which Blakeman blamed Hochul for higher utility costs and Hochul said Blakeman would not challenge the president.

The Post included a numerical detail from the state corrections agency, reporting that of 2,000 guards dismissed previously, 848 had been rehired as of November 2025. Reporting across outlets framed the debate as a heated, single televised meeting that both candidates used to lay out contrasting records and promises ahead of the election.

On the factual disputes, the Post asserted a broad "mostly false" verdict, while other outlets focused on the content of the clashes and direct quotes without applying an overarching truth-rating; those differences reflect divergent editorial approaches to post-debate coverage.

The immediate fallout is campaign messaging: Blakeman doubled down on claims about immigration and fiscal mismanagement, and Hochul reiterated her opposition to expanding federal enforcement powers in New York, according to the live coverage.

Beyond the debate, the Post’s focus on Nassau County’s 287(g) arrangement adds specificity to discussions of local-federal cooperation on immigration enforcement by naming a prior agreement and saying it deputized county officers to enforce immigration crimes, and it contrasted that with how other localities interact with ICE.

That contrast was presented as part of the Post’s fact-check rather than as an independently verified legal finding within the debate itself. The reporting does not present an adjudication by a court on the candidates’ claims; instead, outlets supplied quotes, fact-check verdicts, and contextual details that campaign teams are likely to use in the remaining weeks of the race.