ALBANY – A former governor of Massachusetts, William Weld, is “very interested” in running for governor of New York next year and is expected to make an announcement on the race sometime in early September, according to a Republican insider who is familiar with Mr. Weld’s thinking.

Mr. Weld’s name first surfaced in late April as a potential opponent of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, but dropped from circulation as Governor Pataki mulled another run. Mr. Pataki’s recent decision not to run has sparked renewed interest in Mr. Weld, a veteran campaigner with proven cross-party appeal.

“He likes the race,” the Republican insider said, after demanding anonymity, citing the potential damage that news of a candidacy might have on Mr. Weld’s business interests. “He doesn’t think there’s any political obstacle to taking on the race.”

Elected to two terms as governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Weld lost a very hard-fought campaign to unseat Senator Kerry and later resigned in the middle of his second term in the statehouse to push his nomination by President Clinton as ambassador to Mexico. Senator Helms, Republican of North Carolina, scuttled the bid, saying Mr. Weld’s support of medicinal marijuana made him an unsuitable envoy to a key ally in the war on drugs.

Mr. Weld returned to his native New York and is now a principal in the private equity firm Leeds Weld & Co. The chairman of the company’s board of advisers is Mayor Giuliani, another Republican whose name was floated as a possible candidate for governor. Mr. Giuliani recently ruled out a 2006 run for statewide office.

The executive director of the Republican State Committee, Ryan Moses, confirmed that Mr. Weld, 60, recently contacted the party’s chairman, Stephen Minarik, but Mr. Moses declined to provide specifics on the conversation.

“Yes, they’ve talked,” Mr. Moses said, “but we keep private conversation private.”

A Republican insider with close personal ties to Mr. Weld said the former governor and U.S. attorney is scheduled to attend a meeting of Republican county chairmen September 8 at Rockland County. The meeting will be the third of several get-togethers at which party leaders are vetting candidates for statewide office. “He’s expected to be there,” the Republican said.

Mr. Minarik has expressed an interest in gubernatorial candidates who could self-finance a campaign. A Republican source familiar with Mr. Weld’s thinking said Mr. Weld had not decided whether to run or how much he might be willing to spend on a race from personal funds. Mr. Weld is thought to be heir to the fortune of White, Weld & Company, a brokerage firm that merged with Merrill Lynch in 1978.

Should he be elected as governor of New York, Mr. Weld would be only the second American to serve as governor of two states. Sam Houston led Tennessee and Texas.

Other names that have surfaced as potential gubernatorial candidates include New York’s secretary of state, Randy Daniels; a former minority leader of the state Assembly who narrowly lost the comptroller’s race three years ago, John Faso; an assemblyman from Dutchess County, Patrick Manning; and a state senator from Utica, Raymond Meier.

Another potential candidate, whose name has privately circulated with greater intensity in recent days, is a congressman from upstate Saratoga County, John Sweeney. Mr. Sweeney, a former official in the Pataki administration, is someone the governor is said to like as a potential opponent of Mr. Spitzer.

Mr. Manning said he would welcome Mr. Weld into the pool of potential Republican candidates going forward in the nomination process, but he said the former Massachusetts governor would probably have a difficult time winning Conservative Party endorsement because of his liberal social views. Mr. Weld is a longtime supporter of abortion rights and gay rights.

“I think for the sake of the party, the more the merrier,” Mr. Manning said. “Obviously, he’s a very capable man. But I think he might find it to be a very hard road on the way to putting together a fusion ticket between the Republican and Conservative parties. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it might be a hard road.”

The chairman of the Conservative Party, Michael Long, said that Mr. Weld recently called him about his interest in the race and that the two plan to meet face-to-face soon. “I did get a call from William Weld, and he said he was taking a look at the governor’s race,” Mr. Long said. “I agreed to meet with him.”

Mr. Long, whose party’s backing is though to be crucial to winning any statewide office, told The New York Sun in April that Mr. Weld’s position on social issues would make it difficult for him to win Conservative Party support.

“We would have to have a conversation,” he said at the time.

A Republican business executive and the founder of the influential political discussion group Monday Meeting, Mallory Factor, predicted Mr. Weld would be one of several credible candidates to put up against Mr. Spitzer, whom polls have shown burying any potential opponent other than Mr. Giuliani.

“If he does run, I have no doubt that he and a number of other people could beat Spitzer,” Mr. Factor said.