A bit of double trouble may have been just what congressional wannabe Suraj Patel needed to double his pleasure.

Patel says he raked in more than $1 million in recent months — almost matching the money he raised during the entire 2020 election cycle, when he last ran against veteran NY Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

The 38-year-old lawyer and adjunct professor at NYU is making his third attempt at ousting Maloney, who has been a member of the House of Representatives for almost 30 years.

But this time around, the House hopeful faces an Aug. 23 Democratic primary that also includes another political heavyweight — Rep. Jerry Nadler of the Upper West Side, because the two sides of Central Park were placed in the same seat in the court-ordered maps that replaced the so-called “Hochulmander” boundaries.

Since launching in February, Patel’s campaign says he has brought in almost $1.1 million — slightly less than the $1,261,620 Federal Election Commission records show he received throughout his entire eight-month 2020 bid.

A rep for Maloney, 76, who has repped the Upper East Side for 30 years, declined to divulge her campaign’s haul for the most recent filing quarter — figures that are required to be publicly disclosed by July 15. A rep for Nadler, 75, who has repped the Upper West Side for as long, didn’t return inquiries.

In a phone interview, Patel told The Post his haul “confirms” that “people are ready for change.”

“People are hungry for generational change,” he said Monday.

Establishment Democrats with old ideas “are in disfavor,” he said. He referenced recent Supreme Court decisions and sky-high rents as two of the likely sources of the discontent among members of his party.

Patel ripped “1990s Democrats” like Maloney and Nadler for what he says has been an ineffective strategy for taking on Republicans.

“I’m the only candidate in this race who has put out a comprehensive plan on inflation, on public safety, on a new economic argument for Democrats, and I think we are seeing the fruits of that labor from the standpoint of seeing people gravitate to new ideas,” he boasted.

“1990s Democrats have been trying to do the same thing over and over.”

“The atmosphere and mood for change is remarkable at this moment in our country’s history,” he said. “I think people are very hungry for new energies and ideas to make a new case for New York values. 

“Doing the same thing for 30 years and expecting a different result is the definition of not just insanity but incumbency.” 

Patel said that he expects to garner support from younger voters who live south of Central Park and east of Park Avenue — neighborhoods in which he performed well during his pair of prior unsuccessful Democratic primaries against Maloney.

“We are very competitive in every single part of this district,” he said. 

“Below 57th Street, we know we’re very competitive on the East Side,” he added, noting he earned more votes than Maloney in neighborhoods like Yorkville, Gramercy Park and Murray Hill.

“I think we’ll repeat that success close to the rivers and where middle-class [people live].”

But notably, non-Manhattan parts of the prior iteration of Maloney’s district where Patel outperformed her — such as Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Astoria — are not in the newly drawn version. 

His campaign’s internal polling shows him trailing Maloney and Nadler, though within striking distance of the pair of longtime pols. A survey obtained by The Post that was conducted in early June of likely Democratic voters in the district recorded Maloney with 30% of the vote, Nadler with 28% and Patel with 19%.  

But when respondents were read messaging about the contenders that aligns with Patel’s rationale for his candidacy, the insurgent tops the field with a 27% share of the vote, with Maloney and Nadler both garnering 26%.

Local experts told The Post beating Nadler and Maloney would be “tough” and “an uphill battle.”

“He has shown himself to be an aggressive campaigner and strong fundraiser. It’s always going to be an uphill battle for a non-incumbent … running against elected officials with constituencies, but that doesn’t make it impossible,” political consultant Jake Dilemani, who is not affiliated with any of the trio of campaigns.

He noted that the duo of sitting members of the House of Representatives “have strong bases of support.”

Fellow consultant Trip Yang, who is also not working for any of the candidates, explained that fundraising “can be a great equalizer” during elections, and that Patel “outperformed expectations” during his 2018 and 2020 congressional bids.

“While most New York politicos are giving him zero chance, I would say those facts give him at least a puncher’s chance,” he said. “That said, the endorsements, polling, and electoral history heavily favor Nadler and Maloney, and that has not changed.”

“Is anything possible in 2022? The answer is yes,” Democratic communications pro Hank Sheinkopf told The Post Monday, noting that Patel’s campaign is wise to attempt to connect with younger voters who are further left than Maloney and who don’t like Nadler.

“Is that gonna be enough? The answer is it’s very hard to beat an incumbent, and that’s why it doesn’t happen that frequently — and now you have two incumbents, both who are very well-funded with very long-term constituencies.”

“Can he do it? It’s gonna be tough,” Sheinkopf — who gave Patel a 30% chance “at best” at pulling off a victory next month — added.

“Is three times the charm? We live in an area when anything can happen, so is it possible? Yes. But is it easy to defeat any incumbent? The answer is no,” the veteran political operator went on. “If it were, [US Rep.] Tom Suozzi would be on his way to the Governor’s Mansion.”