Business leaders from Bill Ackman to Andrew Yang react to Mamdani’s NYC mayoral race win

• New York City elected Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as its next mayor.
• Business leaders including Bill Ackman and Andrew Yang have congratulated Mamdani on his win.
• Some high-profile figures, like Elon Musk, came out against Mamdani.

Zohran Mamdani is the next mayor of New York City, and the congratulations have started to roll in from some business leaders.

Mamdani’s progressive agenda, which includes freezing rent, establishing city-owned grocery stores, free child-care, and taxing New York’s millionaires a flat 2% tax, has put some on Wall Street on edge. The 34-year-old mayor-elect has also said he doesn’t believe billionaires should exist.

Some high-profile business leaders came out against Mamdani prior to election night, throwing their support behind former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Billionaires like Bill Ackman, Mike Bloomberg, and Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia poured millions into pro-Cuomo groups. On Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk urged in a post on X to “VOTE CUOMO!”

Wall Street, however, isn’t unanimously anti-Mamdani. An analysis by Business Insider previously found that back-office workers on Wall Street overwhelmingly donated to the democratic socialist.

Yasser Salem, a former McKinsey executive and Mamdani’s “CEO whisperer,” told Business Insider that some executives are open to a few of Mamdani’s proposals, including free childcare, which could alleviate some of their employees’ financial burdens.

Here’s what business leaders are saying about New York City’s mayor-elect:

Bill Ackman

Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, poured $1.25 million into pro-Cuomo and anti-Mamdani groups since June, giving $1 million to Defend NYC and $250,000 to Fix the City. That’s on top of the $500,000 he gave to Fix the City before the primary.

On Tuesday night, Ackman wrote on X: “Congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.”

Ackman has been a vocal opponent of Mamdani and publicly encouraged Sliwa to drop out of the race.

Mamdani singled out Ackman on the stump, naming him among the billionaires who oppose his candidacy. He has also mocked the hedge fund manager for his “1000-word tweets.”

Ackman is worth $8.44 billion, per Bloomberg.

James Whelan

In a statement on Tuesday night, James Whelan, the president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said: “We congratulate Mayor-elect Mamdani on his victory.”

He added: “REBNY is prepared to work with the next mayor to address the issue of housing affordability and other challenges facing our city.”

Among his proposals, Mamdani plans to address the city’s housing crisis by tripling its production of publicly subsidized, rent-stabilized homes, at 200,000 new units over the next 10 years.

The plan would benefit households that make less than $70,000 a year, and it would cost the city $100 billion over the next decade.

He also plans to freeze rent for the city’s one million rent-stabilized units.

Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate and the CEO of Noble Mobile, wrote in a post on X on Tuesday night: “Zohran Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City – and the hard part almost certainly lies ahead.”

In an edition of his newsletter published at the end of June, Yang said he predicted a “walkover” for Mamdani in the November election. He added that he met the mayor-elect before his campaign, and wrote: “I found him to be a good person who wants good things for people. He’s a sincere and talented messenger. He is positive and not the least bit hateful or corrupt.”

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