New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is eyeing a run for governor amid mounting scandals faced by Andrew Cuomo, multiple sources told The New York Post on Saturday.
De Blasio has reached out to multiple labor unions to determine levels of support, sources told the Post. The mayor is currently in the last year of his second four-year-term in office, and is prevented by New York City law from serving more than two consecutive terms.
“He’s interested” in a run for governor, an operative commented. “I think that no matter what – even if the governor runs for a fourth term — de Blasio will primary him.”
When asked on Thursday whether he was considering running for governor, de Blasio told reporters “the future will take care of itself.”
Cuomo is embroiled in a scandal over his administration’s misrepresentation of the number of coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes, and is facing allegations of sexual harassment. A Quinnipiac University poll of New York voters released on Thursday showed that while most respondents didn’t think Cuomo should resign, 59 percent said the governor should not run for reelection.
In response, de Blasio, who has repeatedly clashed with Cuomo on issues concerning the city and state, has called for the state legislature to strip the governor of emergency powers granted during the coronavirus pandemic.
Karen Hinton, a former press secretary to both de Blasio and Cuomo, said she was skeptical on a potential run by the mayor.
“It’s surprising that after all this time, he would think he could be elected in New York,” Hinton said. “I’m not trying to take away anything from his accomplishments — I think he has had many — but New Yorkers writ large don’t particularly like him, and I find it hard to imagine that he could reform himself and be elected.”
De Blasio entered the Democratic presidential race in 2019, but ended his campaign in September of that year, months before the Iowa Caucuses. A poll commissioned in August 2019 found that the mayor had a lower approval rating in New York City than former president Trump.
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