Debra Messing Wanted Trump Donors Exposed and Then She Showed Up at a Republican Fundraiser

Debra Messing once demanded a public list of everyone attending a Trump fundraiser in Beverly Hills.

The Will & Grace star backed Hillary Clinton and gave money to socialist Cynthia Nixon.

Now she has walked into a Manhattan fundraiser for a Republican and said words Kathy Hochul never wanted to hear.

Messing Picked Trump-Backed Bruce Blakeman Over Kathy Hochul

The Republican is Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive and the GOP nominee for governor of New York.

Blakeman carries President Trump's endorsement.

He is running on lower taxes, lower costs, tougher crime policy, and a crackdown on illegal immigration.

A longtime Democrat donor and New York native has now put her name behind that platform.

The endorsement came at a Manhattan event hosted by dietitian Tanya Zuckerbrot.

Messing didn't hold back.

"You are what we need more than anything," Messing told Blakeman.

She told him she believed with all her heart that he was the answer.

No hedging, no qualifiers, no apology to her Hollywood friends.

She put the whole moment on Instagram.

Then she laid out exactly why she was crossing the aisle.

In her telling, the city's slide over the last four years has been "so exponential and devastating."

She named the utility bills and the congestion pricing fees squeezing working New Yorkers.

People are struggling, she said, and they need lower power bills and an end to the congestion charge.

"It's just too expensive to live in New York City," Messing said.

She labeled Blakeman the affordable candidate.

And she said out loud what every New Yorker already knows – people are leaving the city.

In her view, they aren't leaving for the weather.

They are leaving because they can't afford to stay.

The Woman Who Wanted Trump Donors Named Is Now Standing With Trump's Pick

In August 2019, Messing wanted the guest list for that Beverly Hills fundraiser printed for all to see.

"The public has a right to know," Messing wrote at the time.

Her Will & Grace co-star Eric McCormack made the same demand about the September 17 event.

Trump fired back and compared Messing to Joe McCarthy.

Critics on the right saw a Hollywood blacklist in the making, and fellow actor John O'Hurley said he was embarrassed for both of them.

Seven years after that fight, Messing is standing next to the candidate Trump endorsed.

The actress who played Grace Adler for a generation of sitcom fans has handed a Republican the best campaign clip of his race.

Her break didn't come out of nowhere.

Earlier in 2026, she ripped New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over how he handled a storm.

Messing has also been an outspoken voice against antisemitism, and Blakeman pointed to her fight to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.

Hochul Owns the Congestion Toll and the Mamdani Alliance

Every complaint Messing raised leads straight back to Albany.

Kathy Hochul has run New York since August 2021.

The congestion toll is her policy.

She paused it before the 2024 election, then revived it after the votes were counted.

Since January 2025, drivers have faced a nine-dollar peak toll just to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.

Plumbers, nurses, and delivery drivers pay it before they earn a dime.

Then there is Mamdani.

Hochul endorsed the democratic socialist for mayor in September 2025.

Mamdani returned the favor in February, endorsing Hochul's reelection in the far-left magazine The Nation.

"I have come to trust Governor Hochul," Mamdani wrote.

In that same piece, Mamdani admitted the two of them still split on taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers.

Hochul praised him right back, and the Republican Governors Association warned that she plans to take Mamdani's socialism statewide.

That is the partner Hochul picked while New Yorkers keep packing up and leaving.

So a Jewish actress who blasted Mamdani watched her governor lock arms with him.

She walked out of the Democrat Party's tent and into Bruce Blakeman's.

Siena College found Blakeman within single digits of Hochul among likely voters in mid-September, in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one.

That registration edge is the only cushion Hochul has left.

She should be worried about who else is quietly doing the same math Messing did.

Messing isn't a convert to MAGA.

She is a New Yorker who can read her electric bill.

That should terrify Kathy Hochul, because millions of New Yorkers are reading the same bill.

Sources:

• Misty Severi, "Liberal Actress Debra Messing Ditches Hochul for Republican Candidate in Bid for New York Governor," Just the News, October 5, 2026.
• Alana Mastrangelo, "Actress Debra Messing Endorses Republican Bruce Blakeman for New York Governor," Breitbart, October 6, 2026.
• Lauryn Overhultz, "Debra Messing Ditches Democrat for Trump-Backed Republican as She Sounds Alarm Over New York," Fox News, October 5, 2026.
• Joseph Wulfsohn, "John O'Hurley Says He's Embarrassed for Debra Messing, Eric McCormack for Their Call to Shame Trump Donors," Fox News, August 31, 2019.
• Paul Steinhauser, "Zohran Mamdani Endorses Kathy Hochul for New York Governor in 2026," Fox News, February 5, 2026.
• Paul Steinhauser, "Kathy Hochul Leads Blakeman by 9 Points in New New York Governor Poll," Fox News, September 23, 2026.