Malcolm Smith (Ellis Kaplan)
Former state Senate Democratic Majority Leader Malcolm Smith is considering running for mayor — as a Republican — in a move that could shake up the 2013 mayoral contest.
The Queens senator has been in talks with Republican leaders about running on the GOP line, including a recent meeting with the state’s party chairman, Ed Cox, The Post has learned
He has also discussed the race for City Hall with state Independence Party chairman Frank MacKay.
Smith yesterday confirmed his discussions with Cox and others about a potential run for mayor next year under the Republican Party banner.
“I have had conversations exploring the possibility [of a mayoral run as a Republican] with a number of people around the city,” Smith said.
Smith, 55, is an African-American with a strong political base in Southeast Queens. But he has appeal well beyond the Democratic Party’s liberal precincts.
Under state law, Smith can run as a Republican candidate without even changing his Democratic Party registration — if three of the city’s five GOP county leaders back him.
Smith’s interest in the mayoralty comes at a time when moderate and conservative New Yorkers worry that many of the current crop of Democratic candidates have swung too far to the left on important issues.
The candidates include former city Comptroller Bill Thompson, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller John Liu and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
Compared to the crop of Democrats, Smith’s views on major city policies are far more conservative.
Smith is an unabashed supporter of stop-and-frisk to get guns off the street and he has defied the teachers union to fight for charter schools while supporting Mayor Bloomberg’s position on teacher evaluations.
The other Democratic candidates have campaigned against nonunion Walmart from opening stores in the city. Smith, who describes himself as a pro-business Democrat, does not object to Walmart.
“The crime issue is front and center. And we have to maintain New York’s status as the financial capital of the world with a pro-business, pro-growth agenda,” Smith said.
The Democratic Party has been locked out of City Hall the last two decades, with Rudy Giuliani and Bloomberg winning on the Republican line. As of now, a serious GOP threat to the Democratic field has not emerged to replace Bloomberg.
Enter Smith, whose candidacy would come with much baggage. His brief tenure as the Senate majority leader was a flop — and the Democrats subsequently lost control of the legislative body to the Republicans.
Smith has ties to a shady Queens nonprofit, the New Direction Local Development Corp., that The Post found misused charitable funds intended for Hurricane Katrina victims. And his allies and associates were involved in an embarrassing Aqueduct casino bid-rigging scandal.
But GOP insiders said Smith is right on the issues and the other candidates are scary by comparison.
“Right now we have a lot of lackluster candidates who have not wowed the city electorate,” said Manhattan GOP activist Todd Shapiro, a Smith ally.
Another GOP insider said: “Malcolm can be a real friend to the New York business community. He would find support from the business community.”
MacKay, the Independence Party leader, said he’s a fan of Smith. “Senator Smith would be a viable mayoral candidate. I happen to think he’s a great guy,” MacKay said.
For a Republican candidate to win in New York, they need to run a “fusion” candidacy with a ballot line from a minor party to attract votes from moderate Democrats who are loath to vote for a candidate under the GOP line.