The Cats not out of the bag yet on whether he’ll run for mayor.
“I’ve made no decisions yet,” billionaire John Catsimatidis told Page Six on Monday morning amid a report that New York City’s five county chairmen prefer the 77 WABC Radio owner over any potential GOP candidate if Eric Adams is ousted.
“I am digesting it,” he said, adding, “I want New York City to do well. We want to help the city. We love the city. We just want to have the city make a comeback.”
The Gristedes supermarket mogul admitted candidly: “You know what I’m most scared of? I might win.”
Catsimatidis did confirm to Page Six that he’s getting “more than hundreds” of requests to throw his hat into the ring to replace Mayor Eric Adams, and hinted he has a shot at winning.
Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams has insisted he isn’t going anywhere after he was indicted on charges connected to a federal probe. “If I am charged, I am innocent, and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit,” he previously told The Post.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has the power to remove him from office before his term is up, setting off a potential special election, though sources have said it’s an unlikely scenario.
A political insider close to Catsimatidis told us of his thinking, “Do I know if he’s going to run? Right now, he didn’t say no.”
The source added, “He’s on a listening tour, hearing what people have to say.”
The insider also told us, “Hundreds of people stop him… the county chairmen have asked him to run.”
The Washington Times reported on Sunday that Catsimatidis is getting nudged to run by the city’s county chairmen.
The tycoon’s daughter, Andrea, has been the chairwoman of the Manhattan Republican Party since 2017, and was previously married to the son of Ed Cox, chairman of the New York Republican State Committee.
A source said of her dad’s potential run for mayor, “He’s in the best position financially if he does decide.”
The supermarket mogul — who graduated from Brooklyn Tech and NYU — is also in real estate and aviation via his Red Apple Group, which has about $2 billion in holdings.
He also owns the Staten Island FerryHawks minor league baseball team.
Previous Republican mayors have included Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg — though a special election would be nonpartisan and there would be no primaries. Candidates would appear on the ballot without party affiliation.
Said a source, “When Giuliani took over back in the day, crime was at an all time high, the streets weren’t safe… We are back to those days today, and a guy like Cats is a fighter.”
The source added that politically, “Catsimatidis goes in the middle… he’s a very moderate kind of guy. You need someone who can work in the middle.”
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was among guests at Catsimatidis’ recent birthday blowout at Cipriani 42nd Street.
The source admitted of one possible high-profile Democratic challenger for mayor, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, “Cuomo does have a lot of money, if it does turn into a special election. Not many people could self-finance a campaign.”
The source said Cats could work with Donald Trump if he wins the presidential election.
“If Trump wins he’ll be able to work with both sides. He has a relationship with Trump that goes back 40 years — he’d be able to bring money into the city which the city needs right now.”
“He hasn’t announced he’s running, but if you look at it, everything about this makes a lot of sense,” said the political insider. “He loves this city [and] he has a record as a businessman of turning things around.”
He ran for mayor before, in 2013, but lost the GOP primary to onetime MTA head Joe Lhota.
Read the full article here
