Amid tension and investigations into Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is weighing a gubernatorial run in 2022, according to insiders.
The turmoil has the equally embattled mayor considering a "bold" challenge to the disgraced governor amid a nursing home data cover-up investigation and allegations of sexual harassment of a number of former female aides.
"I fell out of my chair laughing — he is honestly thinking about it," a former senior adviser told the New York Post. "Because of all this Cuomo s**t, he is feeling bold."
The prospects are no joke, despite de Blasio's own public relations struggles amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"I've heard it raised in more than a joking manner," one source told the Post. "It doesn't shock me. This is a guy with a huge ego, an inflated sense of self importance. He's someone who ran for president even though it was clear he was never going to gain traction.
"It fits a pattern of delusion of grandeur," a source added. "Sure he'd love to be a political commentator, but if there's a route to run for elected office, he will pursue it."
De Blasio leaves his office this year due to term limits and he teased a challenge Thursday, saying "the future will take care of itself," while the mayor's team has contacted labor unions to weigh support for a run for governor, according to Post sources.
"As reported a few weeks ago, the mayor is having ongoing discussions with friends in the labor movement about the future of progressive politics in New York City," de Blasio press secretary Bill Neidhardt told the Post.
It will not even matter if Cuomo has a change of heart in running again in 2022, per Post sources.
"He's calling his labor friends," one source said. "He's interested. I think that no matter what – even if the governor runs for a fourth term — de Blasio will primary him."
The controversies of the nursing home death data and sexual harassment allegations have de Blasio seeing an opening against his party and state rival.
"The more he talks about it, the more he's like, 'maybe this isn't such a crazy idea; maybe I have a shot,'" a former senior de Blasio adviser told the Post. "The way it's been described to me is, he is like talking himself into it."
A former press secretary for both New York Democrats said de Blasio's prospects are more dim than he realizes.
"It's surprising that after all this time, he would think he could be elected in New York," Karen Hinton told the Post. "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. That's harsh, but I just think that's obvious."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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