Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sent the strongest signal yet that he’s ready to run for president if a Democrat fails to win in November, even as top Democrats confide that Cuomo’s presidential campaign is already under way.
Senior state Democrats who have known Cuomo for decades told The Post that a speech in Buffalo last week was proof positive that the governor, once widely described as a political centrist, is seeking to use his Bernie Sanders-like “progressive’’ agenda of the nation’s highest minimum wage and a costly family leave mandate as a springboard to the presidency.
Cuomo, in a fiery speech to Democratic officials and union activists, claimed his plans for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and a family leave requirement were badly needed reforms the entire nation should emulate.
“It’s not just a New York agenda; this is a national agenda,’’ declared Cuomo.
“We want to get this done in New York for New York, but then we are going to take this justice agenda, this fairness agenda, and we are going to say to this nation, ‘We did it in New York. You can do it anywhere in this country,’ ’’ Cuomo said.
Cuomo also linked his proposals to the bipartisan anger over the nation’s economic conditions that has marked both the Sanders and Donald Trump campaigns, insisting, “When you see people talking about the anger all across the country, that is why people are angry.
“And by the way, they should be angry and you should be angry,’’ he said.
A source with strong ties to Cuomo’s inner circle outlined to The Post the game plan he said the governor already has under way.
“Hillary may not implode, but if she does, Andrew is already making course corrections to position himself more favorably to the national Democrats in light of the rapid leftward turn of the grass roots,’’ said the source.
“Andrew is to the left of Sanders on guns, will have done a $15 minimum wage and paid family leave, he’s banned fracking — his total transformation from centrist to ‘a leftist that actually gets things done’ will be complete just in time for the beginning of the next presidential cycle,’’ the source, a prominent Democrat, continued.
In addition, one of the state’s best-known Democratic activists and party leaders told The Post Cuomo’s “ideal scenario’’ for a 2020 run was having Sanders as the Democratic nominee, only to lose in November, or to have a flawed Hillary Clinton lose in the general election as well.
“Andrew wants to come into the presidential race that will take place four years from now, which is why he is willing to shift to the left so dramatically on his prior agenda,’’ the activist said.
“Before he shifted, his strategy was about making New York competitive. Now it is about making Andrew Cuomo competitive in 2020.”
State GOP Chairman Ed Cox says he agrees Cuomo is already running for national office, but he doesn’t think the governor wants to wait until 2020.
“I think Cuomo expects Hillary to be indicted on the email scandal and that he also expects [Vice President] Joe Biden to come in as the nominee and that he’d like to be his running mate,’’ Cox told The Post.