The New York Post has endorsed Hillary Clinton for mayor against incumbent Democrat Bill de Blasio because "New York City needs you.

"Yes, we were highly critical of Hillary Clinton in the run-up to Election Day," the newspaper said in an editorial on Friday. "But that was the race for the White House, where she offered a program far to the left of the nation’s center."

The Post is owned by News Corp., a sister company of 21st Century Fox, which owns Fox News.

The companies all are owed by conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch and are controlled by his family.

Murdoch, 85, backed Republican Donald Trump for the White House.

In its editorial, the Post said that Clinton's agenda would put her "dead-center" in New York City's Democratic majority.

"Progressive, but not obsessed with proving it — nor with trying to use the mayoralty to become a national leader," the Post continued. "Passionate for social justice, but not an ideologue who’ll stick by homeless or affordable-housing policies that are clearly failing."

More importantly, Clinton, 69, would "actually focus on doing the job," of running Manhattan, the Post said. "Clinton is a famously diligent worker — one who shows up on time and puts in the hours.

"And New York needs a mayor who’ll run herd on city government."

The editorial slammed the first-term de Blasio, 55, for delegating the city's management "to one or two deputies, while he spends his time on politics" and public relations "stunts."

Further, "Clinton is a fighter and a problem-solver," the Post declared.

"For eight years, she was a fine senator for this state, working relentlessly on 9/11 recovery and also for constituents in areas far from the media spotlight."

Clinton, who lives in Chappaqua, N.Y., in Westchester County, would need to become a city resident "and spend months building ties to Gotham's neighborhoods," the editorial notes.

"But she’s hardly a stranger to the city, nor it to her.

"Nor does any local Democrat seem both willing and able to seriously challenge Mayor de Blasio for re-election — yet he needs to be challenged, indeed needs to be replaced."

The former secretary of state would also bring something else to New York: "national stature," the Post said.

"She’d be a lot harder for Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo to bully than the current mayor — and tougher for Washington to ignore."

The editorial also cited a key benefit for Clinton: "Her presidential run shows her appetite for continued public service.

"And while Gracie Mansion isn’t the White House, it's no consolation prize: New York's mayor is famously 'the second-toughest job in America' — and you traditionally have your own foreign policy, too.

"While it's not the glass ceiling she hoped to break," the Post concluded, "New York has never had a woman mayor.

"Isn’t it past time for that to change?"

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