Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman will tap an upstate sheriff known as tough-on-crime policies and a staunch pro-gun rights stance as his running mate, sources told The Post Sunday.
Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino will be announced as the lieutenant governor candidate to run alongside Blakeman, who is now serving as Nassau County executive, sources close to the deliberations said.
Giardino has an extensive law enforcement background, and is believed to be the only person in state history who has served as an elected district attorney, a supreme court judge and sheriff.
He has also served as a police officer, corrections officer and volunteer firefighter for 25 years.
Giardino will make his first public appearance with Blakeman Monday afternoon ahead of the party’s nominating convention to be held in Garden City, sources said.
It will be the Republican male ticket vs. the Democratic Party female ticket of Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul and running mate Adrienne Adams, the former New York City Council speaker and nominee for lieutenant governor.
“I’m very much impressed by him. I think that he will be a wonderful addition to the ticket,” state Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar, who was involved in the selection process, told The Post Sunday.
“He’s an excellent sheriff, well regarded statewide amongst other sheriffs as well as in the county,” he added.
Kassar said that Giardino is a great representative for upstate on the ticket, balancing the ticket with Blakeman being from downstate.
But his multifaceted law enforcement career is impressive, he said.
“He’s unique in that way in that he has experience in all three areas,” Kassar said.
Crime in Fulton County has dropped more than since 2010, according to data from the state Division of Criminal Justice, which bases its data on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.
Giardino, is a strong gun rights advocate, and has slammed Hochul and Democrats for ramming through the Concealed Carry Improvement that restricted carrying firearms in sensitive locations.
“They didn’t just decline to reach out to me when they wrote that bad law, they also neglected to reach out to other sheriffs, to city police chiefs, to judges, to probation officers, to mental-health professionals and so on. They didn’t do any studies,” Giardino told the NRA’s America’ First Freedom news outlet in 2023.
“They didn’t bring in the partners who could tell them how to actually make the system better. They just pushed through the most-egregious infringements on concealed carry they could fit into an expanded ‘sensitive-places’ exception. The state should not be calling just about everywhere a ‘sensitive area’ to prevent citizens from exercising this right, but that is what they’re doing.”
Giardino was born and raised in Fulton County, going on to graduate from Gloversville High School, Siena College and Albany Law School.
While in college and law school Giardino worked summers for the Mayfield Police Department, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the Yarmouth Police Department in Massachusetts.
After graduation, he was appointed as assistant district attorney in Nassau County on Long Island but returned to Fulton County in 1986 as a prosecutor before he was elected Fulton County District Attorney in 1991. He was re-elected DA in 1995.
He was appointed by Governor George Pataki in 1996 to fill the vacant seat for Fulton County Court judge. He was elected that year and re-elected in 2006. He spent 18 years as a judge, presiding over 4,500 civil and criminal cases.
Blakeman’s choice of Giardino is another example of the GOP ticket including a law enforcement officer on the ticket.
In 2022, GOP gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin selected Alison Esposito, a retired NYPD deputy inspector and commanding officer of the 70th Precinct, as his running mate for LG.
Blakeman is expected to easily win the party’s nomination at the convention. Party festivities are taking place Monday and Tuesday with the formal convention vote set for Wednesday morning.
Party big wigs will also likely tap Joseph Hernandez as their candidate for state comptroller.
The only contested race appears to be for the GOP candidate who will take on Democratic Attorney General Letitia James. Former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy is vying for the seat against crypto lawyer Khurram Dara.
Giardino previously considered but ultimately decided against running for retiring Rep. Elise Stefanik’s House seat.
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