Eliot Spitzer had politely declined all spring. When other reporters called, wanting him to weigh in on the New York City mayoral race, especially because his longtime antagonist Andrew Cuomo seemed headed for an improbable comeback win, the ex-governor said no. When Vanity Fair called last week, though, Spitzer talked.
Spitzer, 66, has largely retreated from public political life. In 2008, he resigned, in the midst of a prostitution scandal, from the state’s top job. Spitzer reemerged to host a CNN show, and he made a losing run for city comptroller in 2013. Since then, however, he has spent most of his time running Spitzer Enterprises, the real estate development company founded by his father, Bernard, in 1952.
Spitzer has crossed paths with Donald Trump for decades. And he was once the hottest establishment-rattling thing in Democratic politics, a status now enjoyed by mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani. Also like Mamdani, Spitzer has clashed with Cuomo—who, like Spitzer, resigned in disgrace as New York’s governor. All of which gives him expertise on the current moment. “I don’t know about ‘expert,’” Spitzer says with a laugh. “But I do have opinions.” Including that Mamdani has correctly identified affordability as the greatest threat to the city’s future, “but his answer may make the problem even worse,” and that Trump’s tariff drama can be explained as “the myopic behavior of somebody who enjoys being at the center of attention.” Spitzer spoke to Vanity Fair from his Manhattan office during a break in closing a property transaction.
Vanity Fair: You’re finishing a deal. Is this a good time to be in the New York real estate business?
Eliot Spitzer: Real estate is doing fine. The demand at the high end is real. Our structure of rent laws has, unfortunately, inhibited the creation of the supply that we need to keep the city viable. What we need to do is a very significant upzoning that would permit more housing in areas where transportation permits people to get access to the job centers.
We live and die based on our capacity to attract young, smart, creative, energetic generations of kids. Look, Mamdani is absolutely right, affordability is the issue. I happen to think his answer is not one that will solve the problem. Freezing rent won’t do it, unfortunately. What it will do is inhibit capital inflow and lead to the significant deterioration of our capital stock. And that’s not going to be good for the city.
If your taxes go up as a result of his proposals, are you going to leave town?
No. A two percent shift shouldn’t make people leave. On the other hand, there is data that a significant number of wealthy taxpayers have left. And it is also a reality that a very significant piece of the tax receipts of the city come from that upper strata. But I think the other part of the equation is, if you’re going to raise taxes, the quality of life in the city has to improve commensurate with that. You can’t become the San Francisco model.Your three daughters are in Mamdani’s target audience, at least by age. Did they vote for him?
I don’t think it’s my place to reveal their votes. You certainly have to admire his capacity to do what is so essential to politics, which is to have people look at him and like him. Mamdani has created an emotional momentum that, at this moment, I think is almost impossible to defeat.
If someone who is considering voting for Cuomo asked for advice based on your history with him, what would you say?
How many hours do you have? [Laughs] Look, I think it’s been chronicled. He and I are not drinking buddies.
You have also interacted with Trump many times over the years. What’s your favorite story?
None of them is a favorite. Trump used to come over to my dad’s office and talk about real estate. My dad, who began without anything, he didn’t have two nickels to rub together, did quite well, and did it by dint of hard work and intelligence. One time, Trump left my dad’s office, and my dad said, “He has not read a book in 30 years.” Which was fine and kind of irrelevant as long as Trump was just a real estate developer, right? But when he’s the president of the United States, the lack of understanding of either history or society or broader social issues is…problematic.
How do you think the Democrats become relevant nationally again?
Part of it is generational. Part of it is that—when I was [New York state] AG and I was doing the Wall Street cases, the leadership of the party wanted absolutely nothing to do with it because they were afraid. They were afraid to challenge the economic structures that were both the donor class and important to keeping things turning and moving. So I understood that, but they also refused to recognize that there was and continues to be a fundamental inequality built into those systems and an unfairness, and hence the appeal of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and many others. But you don’t need to go as far to the left as Mamdani. There is a way to say, “Wait a minute, these structures are unfair,” but still say, “I’m a capitalist because look what we’ve created, it’s pretty damn good.”
You have expanded your father’s company and done well for yourself. Is any of your money in crypto?
No. I don’t understand it, and I’m not afraid to say that. I get the concept of a currency that is disassociated from a sovereign nation. But I never quite can get my arms around what then stands behind this crypto stuff. I am obviously wrong if you look at the markets. There are people who have made fortunes. It is becoming mainstream to the extent banks and the US government may embrace it—whether that is for the most grotesque, avaricious reasons of the tenant of the Oval Office or not. I did see a weird thing that AI was going to figure out how to break the secret code of the blockchain. I don’t know if that is true, but if that happened, that seems it could be an earth-shattering problem for the whole crypto world.
You resigned as governor in 2008. Now Cuomo, who left office in 2021 under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations, is a mayoral contender. And Trump, a convicted felon, was elected president a second time last year. Do you think voter tolerance for scandal has changed radically?
This will sound odd coming from me, perhaps, but unfortunately, yes. Probably. I think voters are a bit calloused now to the personal failings of candidates. And so, a bit more tolerant, or they look to other issues to determine their vote. Some of the issues that were outcome-determinative 15, 20, 30 years ago no longer are.
Given that change in standards, do you ever think, “If I had the same scandal today, I could have stuck it out?”
I refuse to let myself waste time thinking about that. It’s simply not a fruitful thing to do.
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