A Battle between Gov. Cuomo and Chris Christie may start sooner than expected — in the race for New York governor next year and not, as has been widely speculated, in the 2016 presidential contest, The Post has learned.
Christie, the wildly popular New Jersey governor, new head of the Republican Governors Association and the early front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, told Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino last week that he’s ready to back him to the hilt if Astorino challenges Democrat Cuomo in next year’s gubernatorial election, said a source close to the RGA.
“Christie basically told him that he’d love nothing better than to see him beat Andrew Cuomo,” said the source, referring to an hourlong private meeting Christie held with Astorino at the RGA’s annual meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“Christie offered to do all he could to help Rob, and he was among loads of people at the meeting who were saying, ‘Run, baby, run.’ ’’
A second source confirmed Christie offered to help Astorino in what would be an uphill battle against Cuomo, but said Christie cautioned it would be difficult to raise campaign funds for Astorino unless polls showed he could defeat Cuomo.
A Siena College poll last week showed Christie beating Cuomo among New Yorkers in a race for president — while Cuomo himself had a record-low job-performance rating.
The poll did, however, show Cuomo would crush the little-known Astorino, 63 to 24 percent, if the election were held today.
A nationally prominent Republican strategist told The Post Christie, who has barely disguised his interest in running for president in 2016, would be greatly aided with Astorino as governor.
“Christie is looking for chits for the 2016 race, and he’s going to be looking for money in New York for a run for president. Having Rob Astorino as governor would really help,’’ the strategist said.
“Plus, with Astorino as governor, Christie would be able to count on his help in the New Hampshire primary, where a Republican New York governor could certainly help by putting a lot of boots on the ground there.’’
The Post disclosed this month that Astorino, who won a landslide re-election victory in a heavily Democratic county, was considering a race against Cuomo next year.
Two sources said Astorino’s visit to the RGA conference and the pledge of support from Christie had strengthened his interest, but they said a final decision was at least two or three months away.
Meanwhile, Astorino has been praised by Donald Trump, who for a while was being touted by some Republicans as a potential Cuomo challenger.
“He’s a wonderful guy, an excellent politician, and he’s done a fantastic job for Westchester,’’ Trump told The Post.
But Trump stopped short of endorsing him.
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Cuomo’s focus on winning support in the Buffalo region has led him to consider former US Rep. Kathy Hochul as his running mate for lieutenant governor, insiders say.
As Cuomo moves toward dumping scandal-tainted Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy of Rochester, Hochul, defeated for Congress last year by Republican Chris Collins, has emerged with “twofer status,” a woman with proven voter appeal.
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Unshackle Upstate, a prominent pro-business group, will weigh in Monday in opposition of a plan backed by Cuomo, liberal “good government’’ groups, left-wing billionaire George Soros and The New York Times for a statewide system of publicly financed elections.
“We believe that giving politicians a blank check for their political campaigns is a bad idea,’’ said Brian Sampson, the group’s executive director.
“This so-called reform — which is being pushed by wealthy special interests and politically connected unions — will not fix Albany’s culture of corruption.
“In fact, as we’ve seen in New York City, it opens up new avenues for corruption and abuse.”