Metro

Weiner House seat will be a ‘hot’ one

Two state lawmakers have emerged as the front-runners in the backroom battle to be tabbed as the Democratic candidate to replace disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner — but they were also warned this week not to get too comfortable in the seat if they win.

Queens Democratic leader Joe Crowley, who will pick the party’s nominee for the Sept. 13 special election, is anxious to carve up Weiner’s former territory when state lawmakers redraw district lines in 2012 to reduce New York’s congressional delegation by two.

The prospect of serving just 15 months has scared off some prospective candidates. But several Democratic sources said the two top contenders remaining in the hunt are Assemblymen David Weprin and Rory Lancman. Neither returned calls for comment.

Both Democrats are eyeing the congressional seat as a stepping stone for a 2013 race for citywide office. Weprin ran unsuccessfully for city comptroller in 2009 and could run again should John Liu, as expected, run for mayor in 2013.

Lancman is also considered a potential citywide candidate who would benefit from the higher-profile seat in Congress compared to a relatively obscure Assembly seat in Albany — even though it would be short-lived.

Crowley, also a congressman, is all too happy to sacrifice the seat — which straddles Queens and Brooklyn — because it would let him shift more of the district back to his base in Queens. He now serves a district that straddles northern Queens and part of The Bronx.

The 2010 Census determined that New York state would lose two congressional seats, and conventional wisdom holds that one seat upstate and one downstate will be dissolved.

“Every member of the congressional delegation wants to see the Weiner seat carved,” one source said.

Gov. Cuomo called a special election after Weiner resigned under pressure from national party leaders once he was exposed sexting raunchy photos of himself to online admirers.

The oddly shaped bi-county congressional district now runs from central Queens to the Rockaways, and through southeast Brooklyn. It has one of the largest Jewish populations of any congressional district in the country.

As a result, one Democratic source said, the candidates’ position on Israel will play a huge role in the outcome of the special election.

“If you’re not a hawk on Israel, you ain’t going to be popular in this race,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the Queens Republican Party appeared ready last night to tap businessman Bob Turner to run in the Sept. 13 special election, sources told The Post.

Turner, who got 40 percent of the vote when he ran against Weiner last year, has support from Brooklyn Republicans and the Conservative Party.

carl.campanile@nypost.com