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WASHINGTON — The race is on to fill the congressional seat vacated by sext fiend Anthony Weiner.
Gov. Cuomo yesterday announced a special Sept. 13 election for voters in the Queens/Brooklyn district to pick their new representative to replace Weiner, who’s now trying to save his marriage with pregnant wife Huma Abedin.
The date coincides with statewide primaries and special elections to fill six vacant state Assembly seats, including two in Queens and one each in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
In the special election to fill Weiner’s seat, Democratic and Republican party leaders from Queens and Brooklyn will pick the candidates for their ballot lines because there isn’t enough time to hold a primary.
At least six Queens Democrats are lining up for the job, including City Councilman Mark Weprin; his brother, state Assemblyman David Weprin; former council members Eric Gioia and Melinda Katz; and Assemblyman Rory Lancman.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, a cousin of Queens Democratic Party boss Rep. Joe Crowley, is another possible contender.
Republican contenders include Councilman Eric Ulrich and investor Bob Turner, who received an impressive 40 percent of the vote challenging Democrat Weiner last year.
Whoever succeeds Weiner might have a short career.
The 9th Congressional District seat is a prime target for elimination in upcoming redistricting, when New York must reduce its House delegation by two members to reflect lower state population.
Weiner resigned amid disgrace and mockery last month after admitting he sent sexually explicit text messages and lewd photos of himself to several women he met online.
It not only ended his career in Congress, but it also killed his hopes of another mayoral run in 2013, when he was widely viewed as the front-runner to succeed term-limited Mayor Bloomberg.
Weiner’s political undoing began May 27, after he accidentally tweeted a photograph of his bulging underwear to the Twitter world instead of just his intended gal pal.
He first claimed his account was “hacked,” but he was proven to be a liar after more lewd photos and electronic conversations with various women were made public, prompting him to eventually ‘fess up and resign.
Despite the public humiliation, Weiner, who plans to undergo rehab for his sexting habit, tried to insert himself as a kingmaker in the political process of picking a candidate to be his successor, but struggled to be taken seriously, The Post reported.
Weiner’s wife, Huma, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is pregnant with the couple’s first child.
Filling Anthony’s seat
* Gov. Cuomo has called for a special election Sept. 13 to fill the vacancy in the 9th Congressional District (Queens/Brooklyn) after Anthony Weiner’s resignation.
* The special election will be held the same day as statewide primaries for six vacant Assembly seats.
* Special elections do not require primaries, leaving party leaders to select candidates to run on their ballot lines.
* To get on the ballot without a party endorsement, candidates need to gather at least 3,500 signatures from voters in the district in just 12 days.
* The winner of the special election will fill out the unexpired term through the end of 2012.