NEW YORK — Bill de Blasio may have found his new calling.
In recent days, the former mayor has told political allies and labor leaders that he’s mulling a run for Congress in light of the state legislature approving a new House district map, according to two people familiar with the matter.
De Blasio, who announced a couple of weeks ago that he would not run for governor, made his potential congressional aspirations clear in one call Wednesday afternoon to a prominent city union leader, one of the sources said.
“He basically said he’s seriously considering it and to keep him in mind,” the source told the Daily News, speaking only on condition of anonymity to divulge details of a private conversation.
The other source said de Blasio has also called up longtime campaign donors and civic leaders connected to the 11th House district he’s considering running in as part of this year’s congressional midterm elections.
The traditionally conservative district — which is currently represented by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the city’s only congressional Republican — used to cover all of Staten Island and a sliver of southern Brooklyn.
But under a new congressional map approved by state lawmakers in Albany on Wednesday, the 11th district will also encompass a heavily Democratic chunk of northwestern Brooklyn, including Sunset Park, Gowanus, and Park Slope, where de Blasio lives and retains some political support.
De Blasio, who got an abysmal 30% favorability rating among New York voters in a January poll from Siena College, did not return a request for comment via a spokesman on Wednesday.
The redrawing of New York’s congressional map is part of the state legislature’s controlling majority of Democrats to ice out Republicans by including more liberal constituencies in their districts.
But in the case of the 11th district, de Blasio’s interest in running could pose a thorn in the side of ex-New York Rep. Max Rose, a fellow Democrat who has already launched a campaign to run against Malliotakis after losing the seat to her in the 2020 election.
If de Blasio jumps into the fray, Rose would have to contend with the former mayor in a primary race that has only included one other Democratic candidate.
Rose, a moderate Democrat who has for years been sharply critical of de Blasio, saw the writing on the wall Tuesday and blasted out a fundraising email to supporters asking them for donations amid speculation that the ex-mayor was considering challenging him in the primary.
“Bill de Blasio has never been my biggest fan, but now he might be my primary opponent. I know I laughed at first too, but the implications aren’t funny,” Rose wrote to his supporters. “He’s a former mayor who has raised millions of dollars over the course of eight very, very long years. We need to show strength now; this race is heating up every day, and we need to stop this from gaining any steam.”
Meantime, Malliotakis, who unsuccessfully challenged de Blasio as a Republican in the 2017 mayoral race, seemed giddy about the prospect of the ex-mayor running against her.
“Malliotakis-de Blasio rematch??” she tweeted. “Democrat leadership, in their desperate attempt to cancel me and silence our voice in Congress, are redrawing our district to connect #StatenIsland to Park Slope, creating an opportunity for the disastrous mayor to run against me this November!”
De Blasio is widely disliked on Staten Island, the only borough in the city where a majority of voters backed ex-President Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Sal Albanese, a former Democratic member of the City Council who lives on Staten Island, said he believes a de Blasio bid for the 11th district would energize voters in the fifth borough — but not in the way the ex-mayor would want.
“If Bill de Blasio throws his hat in the ring u can expect a huge turnout to reject this unemployable politician,” Albanese wrote on Twitter.
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