Weiner says he's running to fight for the middle class. | Screengrab Weiner announces N.Y.C. mayoral run

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose career in public life came to an abrupt end when he sent lewd pictures to a college student on Twitter, jumped back into politics on Wednesday by announcing a bid for mayor of New York City.

“Look, I’ve made some big mistakes and I know I’ve let a lot of people down,” the Democrat said in a two-minute video announcing his bid. “But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it for my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you.”


Weiner’s wife, longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, also appears in the video endorsing her husband’s run.

“We love this city, and no one will work harder to make it better than Anthony,” she says.

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The announcement comes only six weeks after Weiner, 48, emerged from political hibernation with a profile in The New York Times Magazine portraying him as contrite and lacking the “burning, overriding desire” to run for mayor. Weiner starts the race for mayor as an underdog but appears to be counting on a middle class-focused message and a formidable war chest to put him over the top.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday morning found City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the longtime front-runner, drawing 25 percent of the vote to Weiner’s 15 percent in the multi-candidate Democratic primary. Twenty-seven percent of Democratic primary voters were undecided. Nearly half the city’s voters said Weiner shouldn’t run for mayor, including 52 percent of women and 44 percent of Democrats.

An April poll found only 46 percent of the city’s Democrats would even consider voting for him — bad news when a Democrat needs 40 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff election.

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The city’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio, and comptroller, John Liu, are also running to succeed three-term Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as is the party’s 2009 nominee, Bill Thompson. Former MTA chief and Rudy Giuliani aide Joe Lhota is the GOP front-runner.

Weiner has had some trouble recruiting staff for his run, with many longtime consultants taking a pass, but he hired a campaign manager last week. It’s also unclear whether allies built up over Weiner’s and Abedin’s long careers in politics will stand by them. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who gave Weiner his start as a congressional staffer, declined to comment when asked in April about a Weiner bid. And both Clintons said they wouldn’t endorse a candidate in the crowded Democratic primary.

Throughout the video, the Brooklyn native turned Manhattan resident repeatedly suggests he is the candidate who can keep New York City from turning into a playground for the rich.

“The very people who put everything they had into this city are getting priced right out of it,” he says in his campaign announcement video, before pitching his 64-part plan to save the city. “But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Toward the end of the video, Weiner declares that New York City “should be the middle-class capital of the world.”

Weiner resigned from Congress in June 2011 after sending a picture of his underwear-clad crotch to a 21-year-old college student in Seattle. He intended to send the photo as a private message, but it was posted publicly. The Democrat first claimed his account was hacked, but later admitted he had developed a habit of sending risque photos to young women over Twitter and resigned after a weeks-long media circus and under pressure from top Democrats.

Last month, Weiner admitted there could be other lewd photos of him out there.

Overcoming the circumstances of his resignation — which New York City’s tabloids are likely to remind voters of on a nearly daily basis — will be Weiner’s first challenge. Abedin repeatedly appears in the video, as does the couple’s young son, Jordan. The first shot is of Abedin and Weiner feeding Jordan. Abedin’s presence — and forgiveness — could perhaps convince voters that they, too, should forgive Weiner.

Weiner’s biggest advantage may be the $4.3 million he has in a city campaign account, money raised mostly before his resignation. He will also be eligible for $1.5 million in public matching funds if he runs for mayor.

Weiner previously ran for mayor in 2005 but lost in the Democratic primary to former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, who was subsequently defeated by Bloomberg.