Zohran Mamdani: ‘We are an existential threat to billionaires who think their money can buy our democracy’
Zohran Mamdani defeated a Republican, a fellow Democrat, and an army of billionaires when he emerged victorious in the New York City mayoral election on Tuesday.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, will be the first Muslim to ever hold the position, and the youngest mayor in over a century.
More than 2 million New Yorkers voted in the closely watched race, making it the largest turnout for a mayoral race in more than 50 years. With around 90% of ballots counted on Wednesday morning, Mamdani had won just over 50% of the votes cast.
The 34-year-old campaigned during a time of rising financial insecurity on making the city more affordable for most of the city’s residents through rent freezes, free buses and universal childcare. To pay for those policies, he promised a modest tax increase for New York City’s millionaires and a rise in the corporate tax rate.
Spooked by the prospect of paying slightly higher taxes, and by his often-repeated belief that billionaires shouldn’t exist, more than 20 billionaires pulled out their checkbooks to stop Mamdani from becoming mayor of the United States’ most populous city, beginning during the Democratic primary campaign, when he faced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the first time.
Most of the money was poured into three main super PACs, both pro-Cuomo and anti-Mamdani. Fix the City, the PAC supporting Cuomo’s bid since the primary, spent millions on television ads for the former mayor and against Mamdani. Anti-Mamdani PACs Defend NYC—started by former advisor to President Donald Trump, Jason Meister—and For Our City, have also taken in giant sums from billionaire donors like former mayor Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.
During his campaign, Mamdani often remarked on the huge amounts of money being spent to defeat him.
“They’re spending more money than I would even tax them,” he said in an interview with MSNBC last week.
He also agreed with the billionaires that his agenda posed a threat to their power.
“Billionaires like Bill Ackman and Ronald Lauder have poured millions of dollars into this race because they say that we pose an existential threat,” Mamdani said at an Oct. 13 rally. “And I am here to admit something. They are right. We are an existential threat to billionaires who think their money can buy our democracy.” [Continue reading…]