Anthony Weiner, former Queens congressman ensnared in sexting scandal, explores run for City Council

Former Queens Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose sexting scandal roiled the 2016 presidential campaign, ultimately forcing the disgraced ex-lawmaker to prison for 18 months, is attempting to resurrect his political career.

The once-rising star in the Democratic Party told Newsday Tuesday that he has opened an exploratory committee to run for City Council in Manhattan's soon-to-be-vacant District 2 seat.

"It's only an exploratory committee," Weiner said. "I opened it because the local Democratic Club said they'd only let me participate in their forum if I had a committee."

Records show "Weiner 25," a political committee with no contributions to date, was registered Friday with New York City's Campaign Finance Board.

But the 60-year-old Weiner faces tough competition for the seat currently held by term-limited Councilwoman Carlina Rivera — as many as five others have expressed interest in the seat — as well as the prospect of persuading voters to forgive his past indiscretions.

Weiner, who served in Congress for nearly a dozen years, had an astonishing fall from grace in 2011 when he was forced to resign for sending sexually explicit images and texts to a college student and at least six other women — all while married to Huma Abedin, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton. The couple, who have a son together, divorced in 2017.

He became ensnared in a second sexting scandal in 2013 while running for New York City mayor after his alias, "Carlos Danger," which he used to send explicit photos to another woman, became the source of countless late-night jokes and headlines.

Fresh allegations into Weiner's communications with a 15-year-old North Carolina girl rocked the 2016 presidential campaign. Emails that Clinton, then the Democratic nominee, sent to Abedin, were on the same laptop that contained Weiner's messages and was seized by the FBI. Then-FBI Director James Comey announced just days before the election that he was reopening the agency's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state.

Even though Clinton was not charged with a crime, the former secretary of state has blamed the 11th hour disclosure, in part, for her loss to Donald Trump.

Weiner pleaded guilty in May 2017 to transferring obscene material to a minor and was released from prison in 2019.

While some Democrats continue to blame Weiner for Clinton's 2016 defeat, the former congressman, who now hosts a weekly podcast, said he has no plans to change his party affiliation.

"I would chew my arm off before I ran as anything else," Weiner told Newsday.

District 2 includes Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, East Village, Midtown South, the Flatiron District, Union Square, Gramercy Park, Murray Hill and Kips Bay in Manhattan.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.