Billionaire grocer and developer John Catsimatidis is again mulling another mayoral campaign.
The founder of the Red Apple Group is creating an exploratory committee for a bid in the 2021 race, the New York Post reported.
Catsimatidis ran for mayor in 2013 and lost in the Republican primary to Joseph Lhota, former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani. Lhota then lost the general election to Bill de Blasio.
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New York
Déjà vu: Catsimatidis thinking about running for mayor again
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New York
John Catsimatidis on why he should be mayor
Politics
New York
John Catsimatidis says he will not run for mayor in 2017
Catsimatidis said, if he runs this time, he wants to build support across party lines.
“I want to do a coalition of Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives,” he told the Post. “Last time I ran as a Republican and Liberal but I was not ashamed to call myself a Bill Clinton person after I got to know him.”
Catsimatidis considered running in 2017 and broached the idea again in January, saying that “a lot of people are urging me to do it because of the fact that we need a lot of common sense in our city.”
The Democratic ticket for the 2021 mayoral race already has three high-profile candidates vying to succeed de Blasio, who cannot seek re-election because of term limits. Mayoral hopefuls include City Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. [NYP] — Erin Hudson