Mayor Bill de Blasio said he will make a decision on running for president “in the month of May."
De Blasio, who is in his second term as mayor and has been publicly toying with the idea of running for president, said his PAC has been paying for polling and he is considering that data in his decision on whether to run.
“I want to look at a lot of information. The ultimate decision, as I’ve said, is a personal one and a family one, but of course it makes sense to look at other information," de Blasio said, speaking at an unrelated news conference on Thursday. "It’s natural to take into account other factors."
He added that his family, however, is on board.
"I’m having this very, very serious conversation. I’ve traveled to four states, we’re doing a lot of things to look at this option," he said. "Obviously, that’s been an ongoing conversation with the family. If early in the process, my family had said no, I wouldn’t be doing those things."
And though he hasn’t made a final decision, he promised, "I have never run for anything without intending to win.”
In recent months, de Blasio has visited several early primary states, attended fundraising events and spoken at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the National Action Network’s convention alongside other presidential hopefuls.
New Yorkers are decidedly against a de Blasio candidacy. A Quinnipiac University poll released April 3 found that 76 percent of city residents don’t believe the mayor should run for president.
If de Blasio does decide to mount a presidential bid, he would be entering an increasingly crowded field of contenders, including former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and at least 17 other hopefuls.
While de Blasio said potential voters only need to "look at his track record" to see that he has been "an underdog" before, he conceded that "this is an extraordinarily rich field and complex dynamic, ever changing."
A potential presidential bid isn’t the only thing de Blasio has to celebrate in May: His 58th birthday and his 25th wedding anniversary both fall this month.
