As North Country residents face rising costs, we examine why some are backing Bruce Blakeman for Governor to bring change to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid.
Opinion
Every other year, North Country voters are told that Albany has our best interests at heart. Every year, we pay more to live here: more for heat, more for gas, more for groceries and more in taxes. Meanwhile, the young people we raise leave for states where a paycheck goes further.
The rankings are hard to ignore. The Tax Foundation's 2026 index ranks New York dead last, 50th of 50 states, for tax competitiveness, and last in the nation for individual income taxes. The Cato Institute ranked us the least free state in America. We are 50th in homeownership. We are 47th in property taxes and 49th in opportunity. And in the year ending July 2025, New York lost a larger share of its residents to other states than any other state in the country, about 137,000 people in a single year.
That's why we're voting for Bruce Blakeman for governor.
Decisions that shape life in the Tri-Lakes, from energy mandates to regulations on land, housing and small business, are made by people who have never plowed a driveway in January or tried to keep a main street shop open through a slow winter. After years of one-party control, there is little pressure on the Capitol to change. When one party holds every lever of power, "accountability" stops meaning anything.
Families here don't need another program announced in a press release. They need relief on the things that eat their budgets: income taxes, property taxes, utility bills and the cost of doing business. New York's combined state and local tax burden sits at or near the top of the country. Blakeman has made lower costs and a friendlier climate for employers the center of his campaign. For a region that depends on small businesses, seasonal work and a shrinking tax base, that matters more than any slogan.
As Nassau County Executive, he has had to balance a budget, manage a large workforce and answer directly to taxpayers. Governing a county of more than a million people is not the same as running a state, but it is real executive experience, and it's the kind that teaches you where the money goes. His supporters point to his focus on public safety and on keeping spending in check. Voters can judge for themselves whether that record is the one they want in Albany.
Rural communities depend on strong local law enforcement and a justice system that works. Many of us believe state policy has tilted too far from the concerns of victims and the officers who protect them. A governor who prioritizes safety and gives local leaders more say deserves a hearing.
You don't have to think the current governor is a bad person to believe the state needs a new direction. Fresh leadership forces tough questions, opens the books and shakes up habits that have gone unchallenged for too long. After years of rising costs and shrinking opportunity, it's reasonable to ask whether more of the same will produce different results.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Whatever your politics, vote. If you want an Albany that is more affordable, more accountable and more attentive to the North Country, Bruce Blakeman earns our support.
Tax Foundation 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index (overall, individual income and property tax ranks). Cato Institute, Freedom in the 50 States (2022 policies). WalletHub 2026 Best States to Live (homeownership). U.S. News Best States (opportunity). U.S. Census estimates via PolitiFact (migration, year ending July 2025).