Add The New York Post on Google A Democrat running in a heated primary for a New York congressional seat works for a close business associate who has faced unsettling claims of violence — including accusations he beat his toddler son and tried to punch his pregnant girlfriend, court records showed.
Candidate Michael Blake’s boss, André Gudger, has faced several domestic claims from an ex since 2019 in cases that were ultimately dismissed, according to the records.
Blake — who is primarying incumbent Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres for his seat — has publicly called Gudger, who currently serves as CEO of Maryland-based defense contracting company Eccalon, a “visionary.”
The revelation comes after the lefty former Assemblyman — who ran a failed 2025 campaign for mayor of New York City — also recently praised former Virginia Gov.Justin Fairfax, who shot and killed his own wife in a murder suicide.
Blake took to social media in a head-scratching post, urging his followers to remember Fairfax’s “legacy.”
Blake’s ties to Gudger are financial — as Eccalon owns Next Level Sports & Entertainment, where Blake serves as president. The candidate has faced scrutiny over his moonlighting as an executive.
Public financial records from 2024 show that Blake earned between $100,000 and $250,000 in his role as president, despite telling Politico that he had stopped working for Eccalon in 2020.
Records also show that Blake began taking advisory payments from the Eccalon in 2018, when he was still a sitting New York State Assembly member.
Since Blake’s hiring, a slew of stomach-churning allegations have followed his boss, Gudger.
Court records dating back to December 2019 showed an ex accusing Gudger of shoving and attempting to punch his pregnant girlfriend — then forcefully try to yank their 1-year old from her arm.
“The verbal argument following his assault of me, I was holding our then 1-year-old….who A. Gudger made several attempts to forcefully remove from my arms by yanking on him,” Gudger’s then partner wrote in a petition, claiming the act was witnessed by three other children.
A separate 2022 complaint filed by his partner alleged he “repeatedly struck his 3-year-old with a belt”. A court commissioner found “reasonable grounds” that Gudger caused serious harm to his young child – resulting in a temporary restraining order.
The case was dismissed later that year via a mutual agreement that hinged on Gudger taking an anger management and parental discipline course.
A third complaint filed later that year alleged that Gudger and his brother inappropriately touched Gudger’s own children on their rear ends.
The filing described the horrific behavior as an “ongoing issue” leading to the affected children refusing physical contact of any kind from the grown men in an act of self-preservation.
“(The child) has told (their) father of how this makes (them) uncomfortable and has been told that this is how family is,” the petition said.
The case resulted in temporary restraining orders against Gudger and his brother after the court found reasonable cause – but the case was later dismissed on account of statutory basis for relief.
The mother of Gudger’s children stated in the petition that three of the children named were under the care of a therapist “to deal w/ disregulations for mood & behavior due to the mental abuse & intentional gaslighting of Andre Gudger.”
Most recently, Blake gave a hat tip to Gudger in an April press conference for the National Action Network.
“Next Level Sports & Entertainment, our owner is a black man named André Gudger, and I’m happy to talk to anyone in this room about that,” said Blake, who is black.
“Because at the end of the day, we cannot just be the players, we have to be the owners.”
Gudger and Blake did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
