Donald Trump Weighs 2006 Run for New York Governor

Real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump is considering a run for governor of New York on the Republican ticket, according to highly placed sources.

Report: Trump Weighs Run for N.Y. Governor (AP)

Donald Trump is considering running for governor, a leading Republican said Friday. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno on Thursday suggested that a big-name candidate could be flirting with entering the 2006 contest. On Friday, he confirmed to News Channel 10 in Albany that he had been referring to Trump. Bruno told the station he had spoken to the real estate developer and TV personality about a possible run.

Trump’s office in New York had no immediate comment. State GOP Executive Director Ryan Moses said neither he nor state party Chairman Stephen Minarik have had discussions with Trump about running.

Said Frank McKay, state chairman of the Independence Party: “(Trump) is a formidable candidate for anything he decides to run for. We would love to see him run for president of the United States in 2008 as a third-party candidate. I’d do what I could to help give him a strong base here in New York and everywhere else in the country.”

Trump flirted with a run for president on the Reform Party ticket in 2000. He has given money to Republicans and Democrats in state races.

Republicans are looking for a candidate with name recognition and money to take on the only announced Democratic candidate, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer is far ahead of all candidates for governor in the early polls.

[…]

Spitzer is the lone Democrat in the race, although some Democrats say Thomas Suozzi, executive of Nassau County on Long Island, is considering entering the race. Announced Republican candidates include former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, former Assemblyman John Faso, former Secretary of State Randy Daniels and Assemblyman Patrick Manning.

Mario Cuomo and George Pataki, the only two governors the Empire State has had the last 22 years, had traditional political resumes. Still, others, notably Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, have made their political debut as large state governors and managed to not only win but succeed. I’m not a fan of either Spitzer or Trump but it would be a colorful race.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Sooooo, does this mean that there will now be an “Apprentice: Politics”?

    Will this be how Trump picks potential cabinet members?

  2. mary fisher says:

    DON’T YOU THINK THIS COUNTRY SHOULD BE SPARED ANY MORE “DUMB” IN THE POLITICAL VENUE..TRUMP NEEDS TO REMAIN IN THE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS…WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE JESSE VENTURA AND ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER PERSONALITIES…OUR COUNTRY NEEDS TO HAVE PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND GOVERNMENT…THAT WOULD BE REALLY HELPFUL…ENOUGH OF THE W’S AND THAT IS ENOUGH SAID.

  3. Herb says:

    New York deserves Donald Trump.

  4. KHL says:

    New York State needs one giant enema. We are on the brink of a California style bankruptcy. Medicaid is draining the state. The corruption of the current budgetary process is monumental. Businesses are leaving the state in droves to avoid an ever escalating confiscatory tax burden. In short, the liberals are intent upon destroying the state. Don’t believe it, take a look at Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Ithica and numerous upstate counties. They have seen most of their industry leave for warmer, friendlier climes. The state just views its business residents as dollar signs with targets on them. How can we take them for more?

    Medicaid is the most corrupt government program in the nation. We spend more on this bankrupt program than any other state in the nation. We pay for these parasites to get a limo ride to the doctor, see the doctor, get drugs and get a limo ride home. Then the drug addict users sell their drugs in the marketplace and go buy crack. Then we pay for nursing home care so that the heirs can get their parents money and have the tax payer fund their nursing home stay. We pay for adult day care and physcial therapy for people in vegatative and semi-vegative states.

    If we truly get the government we deserve then NY’ers are one lost crew.

    Trump, a guy with demonstrated management acumen and guts enough to take on the entrenched interests may be the only person who has a chance of saving the state.