Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino leaves on an important fund-raising trip to the Republican Governors Association meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tuesday as he takes a big step closer to challenging Gov. Cuomo in next year’s election, The Post has learned.
Astorino, 46, was invited to the event to discuss potential RGA help in raising cash for a race against Cuomo, 55, as well as to discuss his success in winning a landslide re-election earlier this month in a county that’s Democratic over Republican by 2 to 1, said a source close to Astorino.
“The RGA is interested in Rob, and if they weren’t interested in helping him run for governor, they wouldn’t be inviting him out.
“Rob is seen as potentially a New York version of [New Jersey’s] Chris Christie, a fiscal conservative with a real appeal to Democrats,’’ said the source.
And, like Christie, should Astorino defeat Cuomo in a heavily Democratic Northeast state, “he’ll be an overnight sensation, one of the most important figures in the national Republican Party’’ and be “potentially’’ seen as a candidate for president, the source added.
Astorino believes he needs between $20 million to $25 million to mount a potentially winning campaign against the popular Cuomo, who, with nearly $30 million already in the bank, would likely have a $50 million war chest for his re-election effort, according to the source.
Besides being offered funds by the RGA, Astorino has heard from “several major potential backers, including some prominent Democrats,’’ since The Post disclosed his interest in running for governor last week, the source said.
Two sources told The Post that Astorino was strongly leaning to taking on Cuomo, with a final decision hanging in part on the willingness of his wife, Sheila, mother of their three young children, to give the go-ahead.
“If he decides to run, and I believe he wants to, he’ll likely make it clear in January or February, with a more formal announcement to follow,’’ said a source.
The sources said the changing national and New York political landscape — brought about by the ObamaCare fiasco and the election of confirmed leftist Bill de Blasio — had convinced Astorino that there’s a strong chance he could defeat Cuomo next year.
“Cuomo backed ObamaCare to the nines, and by his own admission, he’s a good buddy of de Blasio, whose class-warfare rhetoric and high-tax policies directly contradict what Cuomo claims he wants for New York,’’ said a source with direct knowledge of Astorino’s thinking.
“The ObamaCare meltdown and the political problems de Blasio is going to cause Cuomo change the dynamic in New York to the benefit of a moderate Republican like Rob.”
Al Sharpton and the Legislature’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus are slated to fire a shot across Cuomo’s bow Monday morning at Baruch College, unveiling what’s being billed as “The People’s Priorities to set the Progressive Agenda for the 2014’’ legislative session.
A caucus insider says the gathering is a not-too-well disguised warning to Cuomo, who says he wants a tax cut and spending restraints when he runs for re-election in 2014, to get behind Mayor-elect de Blasio’s tax-and-spend leftist platform or face a rebellion of minority lawmakers next year.
Cuomo’s last minute endorsement of ill-fated Nassau County executive contender Tom Suozzi left considerable bitterness among local Democratic activists, who remain convinced the governor actually backed the re-election of Republican Ed Mangano.
“Cuomo’s endorsement of Suozzi a week before the election was as tepid as you could get,’’ said a key Nassau Democrat.
“The sense was that the more confident Cuomo was that Mangano was going to win, the more willing he was to help Suozzi — because he knew it wouldn’t make a difference.
“The governor did nothing to call on Mangano to stop airing TV commercials indicating Cuomo was endorsing Mangano, despite efforts by Suozzi’s people to get him to do that,’’ the prominent Democrat continued.