The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City has set off the usual round of panic among the business elite and on the right. “Guys like me are definitely seriously considering making moves,” one financial executive told The New York Times. The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, calling Mr. Mamdani a Marxist and an extremist, said the consequences of his win “will be felt across our entire nation.”
Under normal circumstances, cooler heads would note the city’s historic resilience and the limited power of the mayor to raise taxes and freeze rents. In fact, I wrote as much in 2013, following the election of Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat, to the same position, in a guest essay for Times Opinion titled “Chill Out, 1 Percenters.”
Unfortunately, these are not normal circumstances. We face serious threats to our city’s economy, autonomy and unique position as a beacon to the world. The menace does not come from Mr. Mamdani or from Wall Street. It comes from the president of the United States, who is hellbent on inflicting real and lasting damage to the city that made him famous.
The sooner business and financial leaders wake up to this threat, the sooner they can strategize with the mayor-elect. And the sooner he recognizes the critically important role business and industry play in our town, the better. As a start, I propose that both sides agree to a truce based on the simple proposition that when it comes to fighting authoritarianism, there is safety in numbers. United we stand. Divided we fall.
For this to happen, both sides need to acknowledge the need to work together to fend off the emergency posed by President Trump, and quickly. Business leaders must be willing to take stands on issues they have so far been silent about. Mr. Trump has sought to eliminate congestion pricing, a popular program that raises revenue for mass transit and reduces traffic and pollution. He has petulantly threatened to cancel billions of dollars in infrastructure and housing spending for the city. And Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are not only cruel and arguably illegal, they also run counter to New York City’s proud history as a haven for the vulnerable. They are a challenge to the autonomy of the New York Police Department, too.
Mr. Trump’s threats should not be dealt with piecemeal. The city’s private sector needs to work with the mayor-elect to create a plan to fight incursions against our sovereignty. The public panic over Mr. Mamdani’s proposal to raise taxes to pay for free child care is palpable. Where is the sense of urgency about the president’s intentions?
There are plenty of well-organized civic organizations to join with Mr. Mamdani. The Partnership for New York City includes the heads of virtually every investment bank, private equity firm, money manager and law firm in the city. The Real Estate Board comprises most of the city’s major property owners. And the Association for a Better New York is an assortment of corporate executives, union leaders, universities and other groups that serves as a booster for the city’s interests. Each is populated by civic-minded men and women, many of whom seem willing to speak out privately but not publicly about the collision course the city is on with Mr. Trump.
Guess what will happen once business and City Hall unite around a single purpose? Mamdani fence-sitters like Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries will have little choice but to step up and embrace the mayor-elect’s agenda and strengthen the pro-New York coalition. Labor unions, churches, synagogues and mosques will want to join the chorus.
The private sector will realize that it has more riding on Mr. Mamdani’s success than it expected. If the Bloomberg, de Blasio and Adams years teach us anything, it is that in the digital age, companies can situate themselves anywhere they want. The essence of Mr. Mamdani’s message is that we have to make New York City affordable to attract the next generation of talent.
With the paint barely dry from the election, it might seem unfair to ask Mr. Mamdani to make nice with the very people who demonized him during the campaign, but if he wants to achieve his goals, he will have little choice. He won by advocating a more affordable city; he cannot make this happen without private-sector partners. He will have to tone down the anti-business rhetoric, such as when he said, “I don’t think we should have billionaires.” And he will have to do a better job of demonstrating how these programs are in the interests of business and finance. Prosperity and affordability need not be zero-sum — the measures Mr. Mamdani is proposing will help all New Yorkers, and he needs to do a better job selling them to the people who will wind up paying for them.
What about the elephant in the room, Mr. Mamdani’s call for higher taxes on the wealthy? I believe high taxes on high earners are the price we pay for living in a democracy that allows individuals to earn millions while benefiting from a tax code that favors capital over labor. But my opinion doesn’t matter, and in some ways neither does Mr. Mamdani’s. Income taxes are controlled by Albany, and it is a stretch to think that Gov. Kathy Hochul will agree to raise taxes while she is running for re-election. If higher income taxes are the reason folks are considering fleeing New York State, they should stay put — it almost certainly is not going to happen.
In the interest of healing, it would be healthy for certain members of the business community to own up to the bigotry that emerged during this election campaign. I happen to disagree with many of Mr. Mamdani’s views on Israel and Palestinians, but the Islamophobia and bigotry triggered by his candidacy, particularly by his well-funded opponent Andrew Cuomo, was sickening. Lest we forget, Mr. Cuomo’s campaign and groups aligned with it were largely funded by business leaders, including former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who reportedly donated over $13 million. At a minimum, can we agree that New Yorkers should feel safe wearing hijabs, yarmulkes and saris on our streets?
Mayors come and go, and New York City’s economic engine has historically proved more powerful than its leaders. The administration of the once-feared David Dinkins stemmed the corporate exodus, helped rebuild Times Square and hired thousands of cops. Mr. de Blasio rezoned midtown Manhattan to allow for bigger and higher office towers, implemented universal pre-K and oversaw the building or preservation of 200,000 affordable housing units. Eric Adams, tainted as he was by corruption, passed the pro-development City of Yes program, and crime has fallen on his watch. As long as New York City remains a magnet for talent, including domestic workers, investment bankers, artists, cabdrivers and delivery workers, it will thrive.
Mr. Mamdani’s early appointments, including Dean Fuleihan, a veteran of city and state government, and the former first deputy mayor Maria Torres-Springer, show he understands the importance of attracting excellent public servants to his administration. (Ms. Torres-Springer is the incoming president of the Charles H. Revson Foundation, on whose board I sit.)
Looming is Mr. Trump, who wants to divide and conquer New York City. This cannot be allowed to happen. Our mayor and our business titans are guardians of a gift. To the rest of the world, New York City remains a symbol of cultural and racial diversity, economic opportunity and boundless creativity. It is in everyone’s interest to resist federal intervention and authoritarianism. Our next mayor must not go it alone.
Neil Barsky is a former investment manager and the founder of the Marshall Project, an independent news site. He also directed the documentary “Koch.”
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