Bruce Blakeman to stump in upstate NY as he weighs taking on Rep. Elise Stefanik in GOP gov’s race

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is heading out of Long Island Thursday to stump upstate as he weighs whether to jump into the race for governor.

Blakeman, who won re-election by a convincing 12 points last week, will start his tour on his home turf in Massapequa — where he kicked off his campaign for county executive — before heading up to the Hudson Valley and Albany.

He’ll then leap to the North Country, the home turf of Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has announced her bid to take on Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“At the urging of many people around the state, I am heading up to the Hudson Valley, Capital District and North Country in order to gauge the level of support for a potential candidacy for governor,” Blakeman said in a statement to The Post.

“I am looking forward to meeting a diverse group of people and hearing from them how we can best save New York.”

Blakeman would be an underdog if he sought to challenge the better-known Stefanik in a Republican primary, according to a poll The Post published earlier Wednesday.

Stefanik captured the support of 74% of Republican primary voters compared to 5% for the lesser known Blakeman, the survey conducted by J.L. Partners found.

She’s also garnered a lot of support from GOP officials, activists and donors, including state Republican Party chairman Ed Cox.