Perhaps it didn’t initially register far beyond the room, but insiders buzzed a little bit in the aftermath of an appearance by Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh at a Somerset Dems event two weeks ago.

Sayegh showing up at Monday night Paul Juliano’s Bergen County bash – he did – was one thing.

Bergen sits in the vicinity of Paterson.

If Sayegh only had an interest in a congressional seat in a district that includes part of Bergen, going to Bergen makes sense.

But Somerset?

For him to appear there suggests something more – maybe.

In any event, whatever it means, Sayegh regaled a bunch of the guests of Somerset County Democratic Committee Chair Peg Schaffer, along with Steve Sweeney, Steve Fulop, and Nick Scutari, among others.

Tom Malinowski was in the room, too, rekindling the likelihood of his running for that 7th District Congressional seat he lost last year in a tilt with Tom Kean, Jr.

“He’s running,” a source told InsiderNJ, on the heels of the event.

But what about Sayegh running for governor?

“I don’t think so,” a second source said. “I don’t see it. I think he’s more geared for congress.”

His roadrunnering into Central Jersey probably has more to do with expanding fundraising outside the confines of his backyard, the source added.

Still, Sayegh does come up more than occasionally when Democratic Party insiders  kick around names from North Jersey.

If Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill implode for some reason during a statewide feeling-out phase, “Keep an eye on Andre,” more than a few people have told InsiderNJ. He might be that North Jersey alternative to stave off the likes of Sweeney or Craig Coughlin, or Fulop and Ras Baraka, operators argue.

Just the same, the Paterson mayor made some jokes at the front of the Somerset room that apparently went over well, as Sayegh tries to extend his footprint southward, and not just eastward.