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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Politics
Chris Sommerfeldt

De Blasio ‘seriously considering’ run for Congress in light of NYC’s new district map, sources say

NEW YORK — Bill de Blasio may have found his new calling.

The former mayor has in recent days 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 that could prove politically advantageous for him, according to two people familiar with the matter.

De Blasio, who announced a couple of weeks ago that he would not run for governor despite teasing a campaign for months, 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.

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 include a deep blue chunk of northwestern Brooklyn, including Sunset Park, Gowanus and Park Slope, where de Blasio lives.

De Blasio, who got an abysmal 25% favorability rating among New York voters in an October poll from Sienna College, did not return a request for comment via a spokesman.

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