The powerful Brooklyn Demo cratic organization may be about to throw open the door for Harold Ford Jr.’s challenge to US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, The Post has learned.
Kings County Democratic Chairman and Assemblyman Vito Lopez has agreed to meet with Ford at Cono’s Restaurant in Williamsburg Friday, with an eye to eventually endorsing the former Tennessee congressman-turned-New Yorker’s bid to upend the likes of US Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Paterson by challenging the little-known Gillibrand, who was named by Paterson a year ago to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“I’m looking for a candidate,” Lopez told The Post.
“I just think that somehow, Gillibrand doesn’t connect to the voters, and I believe that’s what’s making her as vulnerable as she is. Harold Ford seems very gracious, he’s a very nice talker, and is an impressive personality,” Lopez said.
“I want to meet with him and begin a dialogue. He called me last week and asked if we could talk. If he decides he is running, and if the dialogue we have with him is a good one, we’re going to move ahead,” Lopez continued.
He said he had no current plans to meet with Gillibrand.
Lopez, meanwhile, said he had agreed to meet with Ford after “polling eight or nine of our elected officials in Brooklyn, and all but one of them said they would like to meet with him.”
Brooklyn could play a decisive role in making a Ford candidacy possible, since the borough controls about 13 percent of the vote at the Democrats’ spring nominating convention.
If Ford can get at least 25 percent of the convention vote, he could avoid the costly and time-consuming process of circulating nominating petitions to get on the primary ballot.
Democratic insiders say Bronx Democratic Chairman and Assemblyman Carl Heastie also is “open” to endorsing Ford, providing yet another large source of convention votes.