Bruce Blakeman, the Republican ex-husband of Nancy Shevell, is considering a run for Kirsten Gillibrand‘s US Senate seat, Page Six has learned.
Port Authority Commissioner Blakeman, who split with Shevell before she began dating Paul McCartney, was spotted with Conservative Party chairman Mike Long last week at Fresco by Scotto where they were overheard “trying to hammer out a path for Bruce to run for Senate” in 2010.
Blakeman confirmed to us, “I have explored the possibility of running for US Senate against Sen. Gillibrand.
“I have been meeting with various political leaders and supporters. I expect to make a decision soon as to whether or not I will throw my hat in the ring and seek the Republican nomination as well as the Conservative and Independent party nominations.”
With Rudy Giuliani now looking unlikely to run against Gillibrand, several other Republicans are suddenly interested in her seat, including former Gov. George Pataki and Larchmont Mayor Liz Feld.
Gillibrand, the relatively unknown upstater picked by Gov. Paterson to fill out the rest of Hillary Clinton‘s term, is also exposed to primary challengers from within her own party, possibly including Thomas Suozzi, Bill Thompson, Steve Levy, Jon Cooper, and even Eliot Spitzer.
A Democratic party insider told us, “Because Gillibrand is vulnerable, a lot of people are seeing an opportunity to run for her seat. But the difficulty is fundraising, so the candidates will have to announce their intentions by January in order to start raising money.”
Our insider continued, “Blakeman doesn’t have the best track record — he lost the campaign for New York State Comptroller in 1998 — but the backing of Long and the Conservative party is important. It helped Pataki oust Cuomo in 1994.”