Business mogul John Catsimatidis is laying the groundwork to run for mayor again next year.
Catsimatidis, 71, a Republican whose Red Apple Group owns the Gristedes supermarket chain, a slew of energy companies and 77 WABC radio, said he’s forming an exploratory committee for a 2021 mayoral bid.
He ran for mayor in 2013, narrowly losing in the 2013 Republican primary to former MTA boss and deputy mayor Joe Lhota. Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, won the general election and was reelected in 2017.
“I want to do a coalition of Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives,” Catsimatidis said.
His announcement comes as the city grapples with looting and violence during protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
His daughter, Andrea Catsimatidis, is chairwoman of the Manhattan Republican Party.
“Last time I ran as a Republican and Liberal but I was not ashamed to call myself a Bill Clinton person after I got to know him,” he said of the former Democratic president.
The billionaire is a longtime supporter of the Police Athletic League and has spread campaign contributions to candidates from both parties.
Among the Democrats seeking to succeed de Blasio, who is term-limited, are city Comptroller Scott Stringer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
Catsimatidis would be an underdog in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.
But both Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg won five terms combined running on the Republican line as voters lost faith in Democrats to fight crime and rebuild the city after the Sept. 11 attacks.