By Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Any day now, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will announce that he is running for governor. And when that happens — and maybe before — it will set off a chain of similar announcements that will open up new choices for voters in Inwood, Washington Heights and Harlem.
Several people are planning to run for Cuomo’s current job, including state Sen. Eric Schneiderman, whose 31st district snakes along the western edge of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
Schneiderman is expected to make his aspirations official as early as this weekend. After that, state Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat will be among a herd of local politicians who will jockey for Schneiderman’s seat.
“I am all but ready, very ready, right not to make that move,” Espaillat said. He said Schneiderman has promised to endorse him.
Espaillat’s decision will in turn open up the race for his 72nd district seat, which covers Washington Heights, Inwood and the Marble Hill section of the Bronx. Espaillat is pushing his chief of staff, Aneiry Batista. Former city councilman Guillermo Linares is also among the possible candidates.
Some of that could change if embattled Rep. Charles Rangel decides not to seek re-election. Some of those who’d be part of the post-Cuomo free-for-all also want Rangel’s Congressional seat, which he has occupied for nearly two decades and his predecessor, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., had for over a quarter of a century.
Adding to the potential upheaval is a fight brewing over state Sen. Bill Perkins’ seat, which covers parts of the Upper West Side, Harlem and Washington Heights. Harlem’s black leaders are reportedly recruiting people to challenge Perkins. They are angry that Perkins said that Gov. David Paterson shouldn’t run for re-election.
Perkins himself is considering running for Rangel’s seat.
Though all of this may seem confusing for voters, Espaillat said that chain reactions like these are fairly routine.
“It happens all the time, and it’s not going to be any different this time around,” he said.
