GARDEN CITY – Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman tapped a Utica-area sheriff to be his running mate in the race against Gov. Kathy Hochul — just hours after a previous pick supposedly got cold feet.

Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood accepted Blakeman’s offer to run for lieutenant governor Monday, shortly after Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino was said to have declined an offer to jump into the race, Blakeman told The Post.

“Todd is a solid guy. We’ll make a good team together,” Blakeman said.

Hood previously served 22 years in the Syracuse Police Department before serving in the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office. He became Madison County sheriff in 2018.

Giardino had said he decided to decline the offer over concerns about campaigning statewide while running his sheriff’s department.

“I can’t be 24/7 campaigning across the state and effectively do my job as sheriff,” Giardino said Monday.

Rumors swirled that he’d gotten cold feet or Blakeman rescinded the offer after right-wing personality Laura Loomer revealed on X that Giardino had briefly ran in the GOP presidential primary in New Hampshire in 2024.

Blakeman said Hood is not backing out.

“His wife signed off. We have full validation,” quipped Blakeman, who was recently sworn in to a second term as Nassau County executive.

Hood, who is a father of three, now serves as vice president of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association and Chairman of the National Sheriffs’ Association School Safety Committee.

Blakeman introduced the likely GOP ticket at a rally at the start of the party’s convention festivities on Long Island Monday evening, calling Hood “a true New York hero.”

In the Syracuse PD, he served as a detective with the Gang Task Force, S.W.A.T. Supervisor/Team Leader, a firearms Instructor, and was deputized to the US Marshal NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Hood, who was born in Oneida, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Springfield College.

Hochul’s re-election campaign poked fun at Blakeman after his first choice for LG fell through.

“It was about the length of one Super Bowl,” Hochul’s campaign said in a cheeky statement. “It remains to be seen whether any of these candidates stick it out for the length of an entire work day, or a long weekend.”

The Hochul camp suggested Blakeman’s short listed included right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, MAGA rocker Kid Rock and “snow storm evader” Ted Cruz.

Republican leaders, including those involved in the selection process, were caught off guard by Giardino coming out publicly to say he had declined Blakeman’s offer Sunday evening.

Blakeman is expected to easily win the party’s nomination at the GOP convention, which kicked off Monday and will run through Wednesday. A vote set on the gubernatorial seat is expected Wednesday morning.

Party bigwigs 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.

The event featured the 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate, Lee Zeldin, who now serves in the Trump administration as EPA Administrator.

“The story from 2022 is that we came up just short,” the former Long Island congressman told the crowd of GOP faithful. “The story in 2026 is that all of you, everything we have and everyone we know all across New York is going to elect Bruce Blakeman,”

No Republican has won a statewide in New York since 2002, when Gov. George Pataki was reelected to a third term.