Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Politics

Pataki Labors in New Hampshire, Just Outside the Spotlight

Former New York Governor George Pataki speaks at the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) 2015 Alfred K. Whitehead Legislative Conference and Presidential Forum in Washington, DC, March 10, 2015.

Former New York Governor George Pataki speaks at the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) 2015 Alfred K. Whitehead Legislative Conference and Presidential Forum in Washington, DC, March 10, 2015.

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Terrence Dopp

George Pataki, the three-term governor of New York who’s twice toyed with presidential politics, hasn’t declared himself a candidate for 2016, but he’s sure acting like it.

Pataki, a Republican who led the state at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, said recently he’s “leaning toward” a run. He spent Thursday traveling the back roads of New Hampshire and opened a campaign office in Manchester, its most-populous city. On Friday, he’s scheduled to address a party summit alongside frontrunners such as Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in the state that holds the first primary.