By: Andre Malo
John Catsimatidis, the Billionaire grocer, real estate mogul and owner of WABC radio is looking to run for NYC mayor for a third time, although it’s not official.
The entrepreneur who is known as a liberal Republican is not looking to switch parties to run as a Democrat.
With NY politics dominated by the Democrat party and a movement underway for independents and Republicans to switch to the Dem party to vote in the primary, the big question of Cats switching parties was finally addressed.
The Real Deal reported: the billionaire grocer, oil refiner and developer said he would not change his party affiliation to run in the Democratic primary June 22. The deadline to switch was Feb. 14, and was later changed to today by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but Catsimatidis did not see much chance for victory as a Democrat, although he used to be one.
“Due to the fact that 38 candidates are declared at this time, I will not be seeking to run on the Democratic line,” he said in a statement.
Catsimatidis added that if he does run, it would be on the Republican and Liberal party lines.
In 2013, he spent $12 million of his own money — roughly 0.4 percent of his $3 billion net worth — on a mayoral run but lost the Republican primary to Joe Lhota, a former deputy mayor, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief executive.
Most people tend to forget Catsimatidis was a Democrat and Clinton supporter who switched parties in a failed 2009 bid for Mayor. Catsimatidis immediately dropped out of the GOP primary when Bloomberg announced he changed the rules and ran for a 3rd term.
“The progressive flank of the Democratic Party seems to be controlling common-sense Democrats through fear and intimidation. I stand by my belief that the so-called Progressive movement is actually REGRESSIVE, taking our City back thirty years,” Catsimatidis told The Post in a statement.
Cats, who now hosts a weekday radio show on the station he bought last year, WABC 770 AM, is being asked constantly by callers and fellow radio host Julia Huddy if he will make an official announcement, thus far he has evaded the speculation, but the word is he is going to jump in.
N.Y Post leaked: Catsimatidis hasn’t officially declared his candidacy, but insiders say he is definitely running.
The statement provided to the Post was not subtle. It came under the heading: “Catsimatidis for New York City Mayor”.
“In 2013, I ran as a Republican-Liberal. If I run again, I will probably do the same,” said Catsimatidis.
