Nassau County Director Laura Curran and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman closed an expensive and often controversial campaign on Sunday, attacking each other’s records of taxes, public safety and truthfulness.

In one of her latest voter calls, Curran, a first-term Democrat, showed up to a local Valley Stream office on Sunday with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and State Attorney General Letitia James.

The Valley Stream appearance was the first to feature Hochul and James since James announced his candidacy for governor on Friday in 2022. Hochul, who became governor in August following the resignation of former Governor Andrew Mr. Cuomo, running for a full term.

Blakeman, 66, of Atlantic Beach, is a member of Hempstead City Council and a past speaker of the Nassau County Legislature. On Sunday, he repeated the main message of his campaign by denouncing Curran’s program to reassess more than 385,000 residential units as a burden on many taxpayers.

Curran, 53, of Baldwin, introduced herself as the only candidate with law enforcement support and said she helped keep Nassau residents safe during her tenure.

“What does Democratic leadership look like? I’ll tell you what it looks like. It means we’re America’s safest community for two years in a row,” she said, referring to a designation in 2020 and 2021 by US News & World Report.

“Do not believe the false news of my opponent. I will simply remind you that I am the only candidate in my race with the approval of the police,” she told her supporters.

Republican candidates held a Zoom call from Freeport on Sunday with around 800 supporters before campaigning at a nearby church.

Blakeman said, “Look at your tax bill, your school tax bill, if your taxes have gone up you need me to fix the broken reassessment.” He added: “My message is that we are going to fix the broken reassessment, lower the county’s taxes and we will work with our new District Attorney Anne Donnelly to make this neighborhood a safer area.”

Blakeman referred to Republican candidate for the open seat of Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly. The 32-year-old veteran of the office is running against State Senator Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), a former federal prosecutor who has overseen high-profile corruption cases with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York .

Curran also has a proven track record in helping residents navigate the coronavirus pandemic, Nassau’s high vaccination rate, low crime rates and successive budget surpluses.

Blakeman attempted to make Curran’s reassessment program the sole focus of his campaign and attempted to portray the county as having a crime problem.

Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo pushed voters to elect Blakeman and Donnelly, referring to the bail reassessment and reform law that came into effect in 2020.

Donnelly, former deputy bureau chief of the Nassau District Attorney’s Office Organized Crime and Racketeering Bureau, said: “I hope people realize that being a career prosecutor gives you a different outlook on the office. of the prosecutor.

The state legislature passed a bail reform in 2019 as part of the state budget. The reforms took effect in 2020 and eliminated the cash bond for most misdemeanors and non-violent crimes.

Kaminsky served on the legislative committee that introduced the bail bill to the entire Senate. He voted for the state budget.

But he has since spoken out against the bill and pushed for more stringent reforms.

“It’s all about reassessment, tax hikes for Democrats and, of course, the absurd no-release law drafted by Todd Kaminsky,” Cairo said on why voters should vote for Blakeman and Donnelly.

Kaminsky accused Donnelly of misrepresenting his record. Donnelly and Republicans referred to a video of Deputy Majority Leader State Senator Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) thanking Kaminsky after the bail reform law was passed, claiming Kaminsky put “words on paper to get this bail law passed.”

Kaminsky said on Sunday: “The choice on Tuesday is clear.”

“We must choose between honesty, integrity, justice and fairness [versus] dishonesty and someone who doesn’t have the background to do this job, ”he said. “I will work hard for you every day and protect you to protect your taxes and ensure we have a fair justice system. “