ALBANY – William Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, has had discussions with New York Republican officials about a possible run for governor or the U.S. Senate next year in the state where he has lived since 2000, a top GOP official said yesterday.

The party official said there have been staff-level discussions between the two camps and direct conversations between at least one other top GOP official and Mr. Weld.

The primary interest is in Mr. Weld running for governor, the source said.

The talks between Mr. Weld and New York Republican officials were first reported by New York magazine yesterday for an issue of the weekly that hits newsstands today. The magazine said Mr. Weld has been telling associates that GOP leaders approached him about running.

State GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik said yesterday that he had not met with Mr. Weld about running for statewide office in 2006. Mr. Minarik declined to discuss the matter beyond that.

There has been much speculation in New York political circles that Governor Pataki, a Republican, will not seek a fourth term next year and instead has his eyes set on a possible run for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, has announced that he is running for governor next year.

Without Mr. Pataki, some Republican leaders have expressed concern the party lacks a big-name contender to take on Mr. Spitzer. Earlier this month, Mayor Giuliani’s top political aide said the former New York City mayor was too busy with business interests to run for governor or Senate next year.

A Senate race would pit Mr. Weld against Senator Clinton, the Democratic incumbent. While the two have been friends since working together as young lawyers on the Watergate hearings, Mr. Weld did give $1,000 to the former first lady’s 2000 Senate opponent, then-U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio, according to federal campaign records.

Those records show Mr. Weld also gave $4,000 to Mr. Giuliani’s aborted 2000 Senate campaign against Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Giuliani quit the race after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Mr. Weld, a New York native, could not be reached immediately yesterday for comment. A telephone message left yesterday at the Leeds Weld & Co., the private equity investment firm where he is a partner, was not immediately returned.

Samuel Houston is the only two-state governor in American history; he served as governor of Tennessee from 1827 to 1829 and of Texas from 1859 to 1861.

Since moving back to New York five years ago from Massachusetts, Mr. Weld has kept speculation alive that he might run for governor of the state where he grew up. Raised on Long Island, Mr. Weld maintained a vacation retreat in New York’s Adirondack Mountains even while governor of Massachusetts.

“I’d be hard to stop” if I ran for governor of New York, Mr. Weld had told the AP in a 2000 interview.

Mr. Weld was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1990 and easily reelected in 1994. He was defeated in a 1996 U.S. Senate race by Senator Kerry, the Democratic incumbent, and resigned the next year to pursue President Clinton’s nomination of him to become U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. The nomination was blocked by Senator Helms, who at the time was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Since moving to New York, Mr. Weld has donated $1,000 to Mr. Pataki’s successful 2002 campaign for a third term, and that same year donated $3,000 to Republican John Faso’s unsuccessful run for state comptroller, according to state Board of Election records.