Debra Messing is crossing New York’s political aisle to support a Republican for governor, arguing that the city she has long loved has become too unaffordable and diminished for her to stay with the Democratic side of the race.
The “Will & Grace” actress endorsed Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), at a recent fundraiser where she described him as the kind of leader the state needs.
“I am so grateful you are running. You are what we need more than anything,” Messing told Blakeman, according to the New York Post.
Her endorsement centered on New York City’s condition and the pain she said she sees in Brooklyn, her hometown.
This is the lowest an actor has ever sunk. Debra Messing has zero chemistry with her new costar: Republican gubernatorial candidate and Islamophobia personified: Bruce Blakeman. pic.twitter.com/sB0W43cXzo
— OrangeMaxxing FreddyG (@OrangeFreddyG) October 6, 2026
“The decline in this city over the last four years has been so exponential and devastating — economically, socially and on every level. And obviously, we’ve lost so much business here. People are leaving,” she said.
Messing said her attachment to New York City remains, but she no longer recognizes what the city has become.
She called it “not the city I love anymore.”
😷 Hold Anthony Fauci accountable for the Wuhan lab, the COVID cover-up, and the questions he refused to answer. 😷 Help Freedom Watch take the fight to federal court! ➡️➡️➡️ DONATE NOW!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
The actress tied Blakeman’s pitch to everyday expenses, saying New Yorkers need someone focused on the cost pressures squeezing them.
“I believe in all my heart that you are the answer. You are the affordable campaign candidate,” Messing said.
“People are just really struggling. They need their utilities to be lower,” she continued. “It’s just too expensive to live in New York City, and I love the fact that is at the top of your mind.”
Blakeman responded by thanking Messing and crediting her for going public with the endorsement.
“She is trying as hard as she can to save New York and to make sure it’s safe for Jewish people who live in this community and in this state,” Blakeman said.
The Republican’s campaign has promised tax cuts for New Yorkers, while Hochul’s team tried to minimize the celebrity defection by pointing to the governor’s donors across the state.
“We’re proud that New Yorkers from across all 62 counties, with an average online donation of $22.38, are standing with Governor Hochul in her fight to bring down the cost of housing, childcare, car insurance and more, and stop her ‘MAGA all the way’ opponent from letting Donald Trump attack New York, jack up prices, and threaten public safety,” Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said.
For Messing, the Blakeman endorsement cuts against years of Democratic support, including past backing for Hillary Clinton and actress Cynthia Nixon, who also sought the New York governor’s office.
The actress, who is Jewish, had already shown a willingness to attack figures on the left after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Last November, Messing re-shared a post calling mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “an actual communist jihadist. A literal Karl Marx-quoting, America-hating jihadist.”
She also sided with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) over Mamdani for mayor, using the phrases “American-hating jihadist” and “Osama bin Mamdani” against Mamdani.
The governor’s race now places Messing and President Donald Trump behind the same Republican candidate, despite their long history of public hostility.
Trump is expected to appear with Blakeman later this week in upstate New York, according to the New York Post.
That twist carries its own odd celebrity-politics backstory because Trump has repeatedly talked about Messing in unusually personal terms.
In Variety writer Ramin Setoodeh’s book about Trump, Setoodeh wrote that Trump had an “obsession” with Messing and brought her up more than once during their conversations.
Trump also reportedly acknowledged that he had found the actress attractive.
“This Debra Messing, who I always thought was quite attractive — not that it matters, of course… Debra Messing was so thankful,” Trump recalled, according to Setoodeh. “And then I watch her today, and it’s like she’s a raving mess.”
Trump’s account of their relationship traces back to the NBC upfronts in May 2004 or 2005, when he was hosting “The Apprentice” and Messing was starring on “Will & Grace.”
“She came up to me with her beautiful red hair,” Trump recalled. “And she said, ‘Sir — I love you! Thank God for you! You’re saving the network, and you’re saving my show.’”
Setoodeh noted that “Will & Grace” aired before “The Apprentice” on Thursday nights, meaning the sitcom would theoretically have fed viewers into the reality competition show, not the other way around.
“A lead-in — or a lead out,” Trump corrected himself.
Trump said he remembered Messing as effusive before his entry into politics made her one of his public critics.
“She was so thankful,” Trump continued. “She said, ‘I can’t thank you enough.’ Do you believe this? I’ve been watching her. And I’m saying, ‘She’d do anything for me.’”
He claimed Messing would likely reject his version of the encounter and treated her criticism as part of a larger shift by celebrities after he became a candidate.
“Well,” Trump remarked, “it was forgotten. She was just a nasty person. Her and many others. So many people have come up to me over the years and said, ‘Thank you!’ Once I ran for office, that stopped.”
Their feud became openly political in 2019, when Trump called Messing racist and said NBC should fire her from the sitcom.
The dispute started after Messing re-shared a post from “Will & Grace” co-star Eric McCormack asking The Hollywood Reporter to list attendees of a Trump fundraiser in Beverly Hills so people could know “who we don’t wanna work with.”
Bad “actress” Debra The Mess Messing is in hot water. She wants to create a “Blacklist” of Trump supporters, & is being accused of McCarthyism. Is also being accused of being a Racist because of the terrible things she said about blacks and mental illness. If Roseanne Barr….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2019
Messing also shared a story about an Alabama church sign that read, “A black vote for Trump is mental illness,” and, “A white vote for Trump is pure racism.”
“THANK YOU #Alabama,” Messing wrote.
Trump answered Sept. 1 by calling her “Bad ‘actress’ Debra The Mess Messing” and accusing her of trying to build a “Blacklist” of Trump supporters.
“Is also being accused of being a Racist because of the terrible things she said about blacks and mental illness,” Trump tweeted.
After years of blasting Trump’s political rise, Messing is now supporting the Republican in a New York governor’s race where Trump is preparing to campaign for the same candidate.