Top Dems push for Tish James to run for NYC mayor if Eric Adams is ousted

Top Democrats are pushing for state Attorney General Tish James to be ready for a special election run for mayor — in case embattled Mayor Eric Adams leaves before the end of his term.Party leaders are rallying behind James over fears a special election could send the Big Apple into further turmoil, as liberal lawmakers line up for a potential race and ex-gov Andrew Cuomo eyes a political comeback.“People are galvanizing around Tish.There are a lot of people interested in Tish running for mayor,” state Democratic Party Leader Jay Jacobs told The Post Monday about a “what if” scenario.Jacobs – who has not called for Adams to resign as he faces federal charges – said party leaders “don’t have much of an appetite” for Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment claims and as accusations mounted that his administration botched its COVID-19 response then covered up to avoid responsibility for the death toll.“You open a whole can of worms with Cuomo,” he said.

“I don’t know if we would want to revisit that.”One Democratic insider added that the difference between Cuomo and James is that “people actually like Tish.”“Andrew has more baggage than the current mayor,” the insider said.Some sources said Gov.Kathy Hochul’s camp reached out to James recently to see if she’d be interested in jumping into a special election if Cuomo were to step in — but James denied she had spoken to directly to the governor on the topic.“No, she didn’t reach out to me,” James told The Post as she was in the Hudson Valley stumping for Rep.

Pat Ryan (D-NY).“I don’t believe in speculation.Right now, I’m focused on the office of the Attorney General,”’ she added, though she didn’t close the door on a potential mayoral run.People close to her also haven’t denied conversations amongst their teams took place.The potential newcomer to the already crowded field for mayor comes days after The Post was first to report that Hochul’s ...