In the days since Zohran Mamdani trounced Andrew Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination for mayor, a number of billionaires (and a few mere millionaires) have begun publicly panicking about the prospect of a self-described Democratic socialist leading New York City. Some have threatened to flee, at least one has claimed he may close his chain of terrible grocery stores, and questions like “Is this Lenin?”—as in Vladimir Lenin, a.k.a. the father of Soviet Russia—and “Do [the rich] get shot?” have been asked. As Mamdani looks ahead to the general election and a possible move into Gracie Mansion, is he attempting to quell the fears of the very rich? Does he want them to know he sees them, he hears them, and he appreciates their unique place within the world and the five boroughs? Not exactly!
Instead, he took the opportunity this weekend to let billionaires know he thinks society would be better off without them. During Mamdani’s appearance on Meet the Press, host Kristen Welker asked the candidate if he believes billionaires “have a right to exist,” to which he responded: “I don’t think that we should have billionaires—because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality, and ultimately what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country.” In the same interview, Mamdani said he wants to “work with everyone, including billionaires,” though it was probably the bit about how the world shouldn’t have people with three-comma net worths that the billionaires heard.
Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb responded to Mamdani’s remarks by calling him “Little Fidel.” Venture capitalist David Sacks told Silicon Valley to “wake up” and proclaimed, “Get on board with MAGA or prepare to be on Mamdani’s dinner menu.” Following Mamdani’s win, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman claimed that the candidate’s “policies would be disastrous for NYC,” that the city could not function without wealthy people who are “willing to spend 183 days [a year here] and assume the associated tax burden,” and that his rich-guy group chat could put together “hundreds of million of dollars” in an instant for the right centrist candidate. (He later offered a “point of clarification,” writing: “I simply meant to suggest that fundraising was not going to be a barrier to entering the race…I didn’t intend to suggest that I or anyone in particular was going to write $100 million checks as some in the media have suggested.”) Billionaire supermarket owner (and failed mayoral candidate) John Catsimatidis threatened to pull his Gristedes chain from the city, warning: “If the city of New York is going socialist, I will definitely close, or sell, or move or franchise the Gristedes locations.”
Mamdani has proposed raising New York’s top corporate tax rate from 7.25% to 11.5% and levying a 2% tax on individuals earning more than $1 million per year, changes that his campaign has said would raise $9 billion in tax revenue. Of course, Mamdani would need Governor Kathy Hochul’s buy-in for these moves, and she’s already shot them down. To that end, Mamdani-as-mayor is not at all a sure thing at this time. While he’s been endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others, House minority leader and Brooklyn Democrat Hakeem Jeffries has yet to back his campaign, saying Mamdani must “clarify his position” on the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which Jeffries called “not…acceptable.” During his interview on Meet the Press, Mamdani declined to condemn the saying, opting to declare, “That’s not language that I use.”
According to the Financial Times, “hedge fund investors, private-equity titans, corporate lawyers, and investment bankers” are now “gaming whether Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who lost to Mamdani but who could still run as an independent, or Eric Adams, the current mayor, would be the best candidate to back.” As a reminder, Adams was indicted on a host of corruption charges (until they were dismissed at the behest of the Trump administration), while allies of Andrew “Cultural Shifts” Cuomo have expressed worry that he might phone in a campaign during the general election, like he did during the primary. But beggars, choosers, et cetera!
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