Republican Harry Wilson, the wealthy investor and former member of President Obama’s Auto Industry Task Force, is being talked up by GOP insiders as a possible candidate against US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2012, The Post has learned.
He ran a strong but unsuccessful race for state comptroller last year against Thomas DiNapoli.
Wilson, a native of upstate Johnstown who holds an MBA from Harvard, has been making the rounds of cable business shows lately, keeping his name before the public. GOP insiders said he has not yet decided to enter the Senate race.
“Wilson is smart and impressive and has the money to run, and if he does go for it, I think Kirsten could have a problem,’’ conceded a prominent Democrat.
Gillibrand, a still little-known former Albany-area congresswoman who once held strongly conservative views, has transformed herself into a model of liberal orthodoxy since being appointed a senator by then-Gov. David Paterson in 2009.
Several recent polls show Gillibrand is largely unknown to voters, and a Marist poll last week found just 39 percent planning to vote for her.
As a result, Gillibrand is widely seen as vulnerable, despite having won an easy victory last year to complete the two years remaining in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate term.
Other names being mentioned as possible Gillibrand challengers are former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, who sought the GOP nomination for New York governor in 2006; little-known Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, who has already “announced’’ his candidacy; state GOP Chairman Ed Cox, President Richard Nixon’s son-in-law; and former US Rep. Rick Lazio, who suffered an embarrassing loss to Carl Paladino in the gubernatorial primary last year and was defeated by Mrs. Clinton in 2000.
New York’s GOP, which once fielded such potent vote getters as Al D’Amato and Rudy Giuliani, was eviscerated as a political force by Gov. George Pataki, whose tax-and-spend policies made Republicans indistinguishable from Democrats.
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There’s loads of buzz about reconfiguring Rep. Charles Rangel’s Harlem congressional district — not so much to help him get re-elected next year, but to save his seat for the man seen as his handpicked successor, Manhattan Democratic Chairman and longtime Assemblyman Keith Wright.
“There are a lot of Hispanics in Charlie’s district, and there’s interest in carving out what could be called a ‘Dominican seat’ for them, with Charlie’s district then going north to the black sections of The Bronx and into Westchester, which would help someone like Keith,’’ said a source close to the Legislature’s redistricting commission.
Many believe Rangel, who was censured by colleagues late last year for ethics violations, will retire after completing one more term if he’s successful in winning re-election next November.