Mike Tyson stepped back into the spotlight Friday night, Oct. 9, to help President Donald Trump campaign against New York’s Democratic establishment. The former heavyweight champion joined Trump at a packed Syracuse rally supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, who is challenging Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul. Tyson traveled with the president aboard Air Force One before appearing onstage. His brief remarks brought one of boxing’s most recognizable figures into the GOP’s push to flip the longtime blue state.
The rally was held at the Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center at Oncenter, where roughly 2,500 Trump supporters gathered for a program focused on the November midterm elections. Trump spoke for more than an hour while promoting Blakeman, Nassau County’s 71-year-old executive, along with Republican congressional candidates. The Syracuse stop was Trump’s third New York campaign stop of the year and his first in Upstate New York. Tyson, a Brooklyn native and longtime Trump supporter, previously joined the president at an August event in Las Vegas.
Trump pointed out Tyson standing near Blakeman and recalled watching the boxer intimidate opponents during his championship years. “I see somebody in the audience that I will never fight, I promise,” Trump said. He then joked that the Republican candidate had chosen his company wisely: “I see him standing right next to Bruce Blakeman. Bruce wants a little protection, he’s got the right guy.” Trump added, “Bruce knows who to stand near.”
As Syracuse.com reported, Trump used the rally to hammer Hochul’s record on immigration, energy and the cost of living. “The city and state are dirty, filthy places. We’re losing our tax base, and everybody wants to leave,” Trump told the crowd. “This is not the state that I remember 10 years ago when I went to Washington D.C. to be your president.” Supporters also cheered as Trump attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James and urged voters to remove the state’s Democratic leaders.
Blakeman told the crowd that he would move immediately against New York’s sanctuary policies if elected. He pledged to sign an executive order on his first day in office ending the state’s sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants while pursuing lower taxes, cheaper utilities and tougher public-safety policies. “We have to create good jobs, good benefits to keep our young people here,” Blakeman said. “We gotta look at business not as the enemy, but as a partner.”
Tyson later walked onto the stage and delivered a direct statement of support as Trump stood nearby. “I’m just happy to be up here with my president, President Trump,” Tyson said, according to Fox News. “And, there’s no way in the world I would ever be here if it wasn’t for a president like Donald Trump. Thank you. Thank you very much.” Trump answered with a laugh: “I don’t want to fight him. You look good. Mike. What the h— are you doing?”
Watch Tyson join Trump onstage at the Syracuse rally here:
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Trump also called on voters to support Republican Kailee Buller in her challenge to Democratic Rep. John Mannion in New York’s 22nd Congressional District. He backed Anthony Constantino in the state’s open 21st District contest and urged his supporters to vote Republican up and down the ballot. “Please pretend I’m on the freaking ballot,” Trump told the crowd. “And in a really, in a certain way, I am on the ballot because they can take away everything that we, that we got.”
Blakeman faces a difficult contest in a state where Republicans have gone more than two decades without winning the governor’s mansion. Hochul has served as governor since August 2021, while Blakeman has built his campaign around taxes, energy costs, illegal immigration and crime. Trump promised that his administration would work directly with Blakeman if voters send the Republican to Albany. “[Blakeman will] save this state. He’ll turn the state around and I’ll help him from the White House,” Trump said. “I’ll be helping him for governor.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.