TV Star Turns from Democrats to Trump-Backed Republican

Debra Messing is crossing party lines in New York’s heated race for governor, throwing her support behind Republican Bruce Blakeman after years of publicly backing Democratic candidates.

The “Will & Grace” star, who supported Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and campaigned for Democrats during the 2020 election, is now endorsing Blakeman over Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The move is particularly striking because Blakeman has been endorsed by President Donald Trump — a politician Messing has repeatedly and publicly criticized.

But Messing says her concerns over New York’s affordability and the direction of New York City have become impossible for her to ignore.

“Oh gosh, I am so grateful that you are running,” Messing told Blakeman in a campaign video. “You are what we need more than anything.”

The actress, who was born in New York, said she believes the city has suffered a steep decline in recent years, pointing to businesses leaving, rising expenses and growing financial pressure on residents.

“The decline in this city over the last four years has been so exponential and devastating economically, socially on every level,” Messing said.

“People are leaving the city.”

Messing went on to describe New York as the city she loves but said it no longer feels like the same place.

“I was born here. This is the city I love, and it’s not the city that I love anymore,” she said.

She told Blakeman that she believes he can help reverse that trend.

Affordability appeared to be the central issue behind her endorsement.

Messing specifically cited utility costs and New York City’s congestion-pricing program, which charges most passenger vehicles with E-ZPass $9 during peak hours to enter Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone south of and including 60th Street.

“You are the affordable candidate,” she told Blakeman, arguing that New Yorkers are struggling with everyday expenses.

“It’s just too expensive to live in New York City,” she added.

Messing’s comments reflect one of the biggest political battles heading into New York’s November election.

Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, has made taxes, affordability, energy costs, crime and immigration major themes of his campaign against Hochul.

He has also proposed eliminating state income taxes on the first $50,000 earned by individual taxpayers and the first $100,000 earned by married couples, an idea he has promoted as a way to ease the cost-of-living squeeze on working and middle-class New Yorkers.

Hochul, meanwhile, has made affordability a centerpiece of her own reelection campaign, arguing that her administration is working to reduce costs involving housing, child care, insurance and other major household expenses.

Her campaign pushed back after Messing’s endorsement became public.

A Hochul campaign spokesman said the governor has support from residents across New York’s 62 counties and portrayed Blakeman as closely aligned with Trump and the MAGA movement.

Messing’s endorsement should not necessarily be interpreted as a wholesale change in her political identity.

There is no indication that she has formally switched political parties or suddenly become a Trump supporter.

Instead, the endorsement puts her among voters willing to cross party lines in a specific race — and her history makes the decision especially notable.

Messing has been a highly visible Democratic activist for years.

She appeared alongside Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, encouraged voters to support the Biden-Harris ticket and other Democrats in 2020, and previously backed actress Cynthia Nixon when Nixon challenged then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York’s 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

She has also been an outspoken Trump critic.

That history gives Blakeman’s campaign something Republicans rarely receive from Hollywood: an endorsement from a celebrity closely associated with Democratic politics.

Blakeman quickly embraced the support, arguing that concerns such as utility bills, taxes and public safety can outweigh traditional party loyalty.

The endorsement also comes during a competitive stretch in the governor’s race.

Recent polling has continued to show Hochul ahead, although at least one late-September survey placed the Democratic governor at 48% and Blakeman at 41%, with 11% undecided. Like all individual polls, those numbers represent a snapshot rather than a prediction of the final result.

More importantly for both campaigns, affordability remains a potent issue.

New Yorkers have faced continued pressure from housing costs, taxes, energy bills and other everyday expenses, while congestion pricing has become another political flashpoint. Supporters say the Manhattan toll reduces traffic while raising money for mass transit. Critics, including Blakeman, argue it places another financial burden on commuters and businesses.

For Messing, those concerns appear to have outweighed partisan loyalty in this particular race.

Whether her endorsement persuades other traditionally Democratic voters to do the same is another question.

New Yorkers will make that decision on November 3.