Hillary For Mayor 2017: Clinton Could Run For De Blasio’s Job In New York

Speculation has been swirling around Hillary Clinton’s plans for the future ever since she lost the election to Donald Trump in November, and some people are starting to talk that a 2017 run for mayor of New York is a very real possibility.

New York holds its election for mayor on November 7, 2017. The current mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, is nearing the end of his first term and it’s assumed that he will be running for a second term. He is not incredibly popular, however, and could be vulnerable if a high-profile candidate like Hillary Clinton emerges. According to the New York Post, a poll from November of 2016 found only 39 percent of New Yorkers said they want to see de Blasio return for a second term as mayor. Contrast this with the fact that Hillary Clinton received nearly 79 percent of the votes for president over Donald Trump in New York and it’s easy to come to the conclusion that Clinton would have a serious shot at unseating de Blasio, or possibly even force him to drop out of the race rather than risk a three-way race between Clinton, de Blasio, and a Republican.

According to the New York Times, a conservative website posted a story Thursday saying that anonymous sources are buzzing about the possibility of a Hillary Clinton New York run for mayor, but that people all around New York and Washington have been speculating about it for weeks. Alan Patricof is a longtime donor and friend of Hillary and Bill Clinton.

“Obviously, that’s a conversation point for everybody; it’s a logical point after you ask, ‘What is Hillary going to do next?'” said Patricof. “Whether that’s a university presidency, the head of some women’s and children’s group, something international, or even mayor of New York.”

Bill de Blasio and Hillary Clinton have a history together. He managed her campaign for senate in 2000, and she endorsed and campaigned for him when he ran for mayor in 2012. Their relationship could be strained, however, after de Blasio hesitated for several months before finally endorsing her in the Democratic primaries in October of 2015. That, in addition to de Blasio’s low popularity and the potential it has to turn New York City over to the Republicans, could be enough to compel Clinton to run.

It’s impossible to know if Hillary Clinton would even want to be the mayor of New York at this point. After the 2016 campaign, she may want to relax for a while before jumping into another political battle. It’s also possible that she’d see the mayor’s job as something of a consolation prize for the position she really wanted. However, being mayor of New York City is a far more powerful position than being a mayor in some small suburb in New Jersey, and it’s not too fantastic an idea to imagine Clinton becoming tempted by the idea once she gave it some thought.

Whether or not Hillary Clinton decides to run for mayor of New York, her plans for the future will remain the constant focus of speculation and inquiry among both her supporters and her detractors. Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by nearly 3 million popular votes in the presidential election, and having her run the country’s most important city while Donald Trump runs the country is almost like something out of a House of Cards script. New York is Donald Trump’s hometown, and with Melania and his son, Baron, living in Trump Tower instead of the White House, Trump will be in New York fairly frequently. With Hillary Clinton as mayor of New York City, it could make for some very interesting butting of political heads in the years to follow.

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]