One of New York City’s wealthiest young entrepreneurs — the founder of job-finding powerhouse The Ladders.com — has told state Republican leaders that he wants to run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand next year.
GOP sources told The Post that Marc Cenedella, 41, a Yale and Harvard business-school graduate and native of upstate Fredonia who is believed to be worth about $150 million, is “seriously considering’’ running against Gillibrand — a flip-flopping congresswoman from the Albany area who was initially appointed to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2009 before winning election to a remaining two-year term in 2010.
Cenedella, whose Manhattan-based company employees more than 300 people, has already approached state GOP Chairman Ed Cox and Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long about challenging Gillibrand, who polls show could be vulnerable to a strong challenger.
Cenedella, described by an adviser as a lifelong Republican who favors limits on legalized abortion, opposes gay marriage and backs the death penalty, is in ongoing talks about his candidacy with E. O’Brien Murray, a GOP consultant who managed Bob Turner’s stunning victory in the special election for the Brooklyn/Queens congressional seat left vacant by Anthony Weiner’s resignation in June.
“He could beat her, he would be formidable . . . Marc Cenedella has helped millions of people get jobs,’’ said Murray, adding that the initial response from GOP leaders to a possible candidacy “has been positive.”
Cenedella describes himself on his company’s Web site as a “populist scientist on employment’’ whose “passion in life is jobs,’’ an expertise GOP consultants say forms the basis for a strong campaign theme at a time of high unemployment.
The Ladders.com also distributes a newsletter to nearly 5 million subscribers a week, suggesting to the consultants that Cenedella could have potent fund-raising ability (if even needed) and a popular political base.
Little-known Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos is the only announced candidate for Gillibrand’s seat, but GOP leaders give him virtually no chance of defeating Gillibrand.
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Minority Senate Democrats, mired in scandal and chaos during their two years in the majority that ended in 2010, still don’t know if Gov. Cuomo will campaign next year to help them regain their lost power.
Some Cuomo administration insiders say they don’t believe that the governor wants Senate Minority Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) and his team to return to power because of their poor record.
What’s more, last week’s agreement on a sweeping tax-reform measure that included retention of part of the controversial “millionaires tax’’ showed that Cuomo has a close working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Nassau County Republican.