NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday teased that he may consider running for New York governor while campaigning for his universal 3-K and pre-K plan to be expanded statewide.
De Blasio appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to propose a new education plan that would create free 3-K, pre-K, afterschool and all-summer education and enrichment programs for all New York State children.
De Blasio, who is leaving office on Jan. 1, 2022, would have to be governor of New York to implement such a plan.
However, when asked, “So, you’re running for governor?” by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, de Blasio tactfully dodged the question.
“I’m going to be in public service, no matter what,” he said. “But what I’m talking about now is actually a vision – a vision of change. And I’m going to be focused on getting this done because what I really think matters here is how do we change the lives of the families of this state.”
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He added that he will continue to push his education plan in the hopes of boosting New York’s national education ranking.
“Here’s an opportunity to do something fundamentally different,” he said. “This will be a first-in-the-nation approach in this state. This state, right now, ranks 19th in education in America, it should rank first.”
De Blasio directed New Yorkers to his website, BilldeBlasio.com, to learn more about the plan – and while the website is very campaign-like (complete with a campaign-like video) the mayor remains mum on if he will be running.
WCBS 880 spoke with political strategist Hank Sheinkopf about the rumors circulating de Blasio’s potential bid, and he believes the “non-campaign campaign” makes the most sense.
“He’s doing exactly what he knows how do: he’s playing all the angles to find out what works,” Sheinkopf said.
He added that he does not think that de Blasio should announce anything just yet.
“If he does that, he loses the ability to make his last few weeks as mayor appear as kind of non-political as possible, and to do real accomplishments that he can report on,” said Sheinkopf.
If de Blasio does enter the race, he would likely join a growing field of Democratic opponents that currently includes Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
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