De Blasio may work for nonprofit after ‘humbling’ congressional race dropout

Ex-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio admits it was a “humbling” experience for him to drop out of his congressional race when he realized voters wanted to pick someone else — and says he may now work at a nonprofit. 

“It was humbling, because I had to come to grips with the fact that some of the things I did just didn’t make sense to people and left them feeling off about things,” the former House hopeful said in an interview with PIX 11 that aired Sunday.

“I could tell folks were looking for something different, and that’s humbling.”

Asked what he might want to do next, de Blasio replied, “I want to serve.

“I’ll explore nonprofits, I’ll explore being involved in any way where I could promote some of the things that we did here in New York City.”

De Blasio’s TV appearance came days after he ended his bid to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, a newly configured constituency that includes lower Manhattan and parts of Brownstone Brooklyn.

The former mayor Tuesday announced his decision in a video he posted on Twitter — the day after a poll commissioned by a left-wing group showed that he was at the back of the pack in the race.

While de Blasio brought in a decent chunk of campaign cash, a Working Families Party poll predicted he would receive just 3% of the vote.  

While de Blasio is out of contention, more than a dozen candidates are vying to win next month’s Democratic primary election, including: Daniel Goldman, who served as House counsel during former President Donald Trump’s impeachment; Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou; Congressman Mondaire Jones, who currently represents a suburban district miles away from the Big Apple, and City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera.

De Blasio, asked during the interview which candidate will win the packed race, said he had no clue, given the likely low-turnout, late-summer contest for a district with newly drawn boundaries.

“This is not like any [other] election. I literally can’t think of one like this,” he told PIX 11’s Henry Rosoff.

“Any candidate who comes on your show and say they know who is voting on Aug. 23, I would argue they are blowing smoke, because none of us know,” de Blasio added with a chuckle.

The 61-year-old longtime local politician also expressed uncertainty when queried about what he will do now that both his mayoralty and congressional campaign are over.

“I want to serve, and I really don’t have the answer today. I did not leave this race because I had some golden parachute. I certainly didn’t,” he said.

“What is the next exact step? I gotta figure that out.”

De Blasio said that while he is glad his successor, Eric Adams, has acted as a man about town during his first six months in office, he hopes the current mayor sets “very specific goals” to attempt to accomplish.

“He’s a friend, I respect him, we talk a lot, and I really want him to succeed,” de Blasio said. “I think his energy, his focus on getting out in communities, has been fantastic. What I think is important is [to] set some very specific goals … and bring them to fruition.”

“I think that’s the thing that would really add to his approach ��� show people a couple of very specific things you’re going to achieve and show you can do it,” de Blasio explained.

De Blasio — who has frequently spoken about his close relationship with Adams, and supported him behind the scenes — has tweaked his recent tone about the current mayor.

Last month, the then-congressional candidate joined protesters at a Brooklyn school who opposed City Hall’s decision to shrink public school budgets by $215 million.

De Blasio also pushed back when Adams labeled universal pre-kindergarten a “pet project” in June. His administration instituted the program in the city during his first year as mayor.