Add Sen. Chuck Schumer to the list of Democrats who now seem to under stand that clearing the primary field for unelected Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is a slap in the face to democracy.

New York’s senior senator has said he won’t be asking Rep. Carolyn Maloney to forgo a challenge to Gillibrand.

President Obama, recall, personally pressured Rep. Steve Israel into dropping a potential run against Gillibrand, who was tabbed by Gov. Paterson to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The president caught flak on that from Rep. Charlie Rangel — and rightly so.

Schumer, of course, says he’ll do all he can to elect Gillibrand in her own right. No surprise there; he convinced Paterson to appoint her in the first place.

Yet Schumer first won his Senate seat after a come-from-behind primary victory. Conspiring to keep a potential opponent of his pick off the ballot would be breathtakingly hypocritical.

Good decision, Chuck.

Stick with it.