NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman were set to clash Tuesday evening in their only debate of the race for governor with Election Day looming in just three weeks.

Polls give Hochul a healthy lead as she vies for a second full four-year term, meaning the sole face-to-face clash offers perhaps the final high-stakes opportunity for Blakeman to change the trajectory of the contest.

Hochul is likely to pound Blakeman for his alliance with President Donald Trump, who is extremely unpopular in the deep-blue Empire State, and tout efforts to lower the high cost of living.

Blakeman, who is serving a second term as Nassau County executive, will seek to attack Hochul for what he calls far-left stances on immigration, crime and other issues as well as her cozy ties to Mayor Mamdani and other self-described democratic socialists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“I’m ready to put my record of cutting taxes and making Nassau the safest county in America up against Hochul’s record of crushing New Yorkers with the highest taxes in the nation, skyrocketing utility bills, and pro-criminal policies,” Blakeman said in the hours leading up to the clash.

The debate will air on NY1 and other Spectrum News channels at 7 p.m. and will be moderated by Errol Louis and Susan Arbetter.

Hochul has succeeded in tying Blakeman closely to Trump, while the GOP underdog has had little choice but to lean heavily on the unpopular president for fundraising and political support.

The two Republicans made a joint appearance in upstate Syracuse Friday, a rally that Democrats predict will only turn independent voters away from Blakeman.

Well known for staying on message, Hochul often boasts that she has sought to help New Yorkers keep a lid on soaring costs, a key issue for voters in one of the most expensive states in the nation.

She has also championed new restrictions on data centers while Blakeman and Trump support allowing more construction of the power- and water-guzzling facilities.

Blakeman accuses Hochul of being soft on crime, even though statistics show she has presided over a dramatic decrease in most crimes, a drop that Trump often takes credit for on a national level.

He also charges her with failing to deal with undocumented immigration, a key talking point for Trump’s Republican allies nationwide.

The state has sparred with the feds over immigrant-friendly policies and Hochul has ordered counties including Blakeman’s Nassau to halt cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Blakeman has also said he would be a stronger supporter of Israel and slams Hochul for working too closely with critics of the Jewish state like Mamdani.

Hochul, 68, a former Buffalo congresswoman, became governor after ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in the face of serial sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.

She ran an underwhelming campaign for a first full term in Albany in 2022, beating ex-Rep. Lee Zeldin by around 6% as Republicans made major inroads in many NYC suburbs.

But the governor has mounted a remarkable political comeback in recent years.

Hochul has mended her once-fractious relationship with progressives in NYC and statewide, a key of the Democratic coalition, and has forged a close partnership with Mayor Mamdani after years of tension with ex-Mayor Eric Adams.

Blakeman, 71, who won the county executive race in an upset in 2021 and won reelection in 2025, hopes to replicate and improve on Zeldin’s electoral strategy to get within striking distance of Hochul in the closing days of the race.

He needs to run up the score on Long Island and other suburbs while winning upstate and limiting the damage in NYC.

Most pundits say that will be a tough task and even GOP loyalists say he needs to start by doing some serious damage to Hochul in the debate.

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