'Terrified': Full-on panic hits NYC's rich as they await mayoral vote

As New Yorkers head to the polls Tuesday to vote on the final day of the city's Democratic mayoral primary, support for democratic socialist state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is surging and billionaire backers of disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo are in panic mode, with some even threatening to leave the nation's largest city should Mamdani prevail.

Polls showed Mamdani and Cuomo running neck-and-neck down the home stretch into primary day. An Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll published on the eve of the election showed Cuomo with a slight lead in the first round of the city's ranked-choice primary, with Mamdani ultimately winning the race after eight simulated ranked-choice elimination rounds.

The prospect a Mamdani victory is deeply worrying to many of the Wall Street bankers, corporate executives, real estate developers, mega-landlords and others who are bankrolling Cuomo—who resigned as New York governor in 2021 amid an accelerating impeachment push driven by sexual harassment allegations from at least 11 women, which he denied.

Backers include billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg; financiers Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb; Wall Street titans Blair Effron, Steve Rattner, and Antonio Weiss; Palantir founder and co-CEO Alex Karp; and former President Bill Clinton.

Responding to a June 20 social media post by Mamdani backer Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asking why billionaires are pouring money into Cuomo's campaign, Loeb retorted that "they love New York and don't want it to turn into a hellscape like San Francisco, Chicago, or Portland."

Billionaire John Catsimatidis has threatened to sell or close his Gristedes supermarket chain should Mamdani become the city's next mayor, a threat that some observers view as hollow. Other tax-dodging billionaires have vowed to leave the city altogether if Mamdani gets elected.

Asked Monday by City & State New York reporter Sahalie Donaldson how the city's business community feels about Mamdani possibly being the next mayor, Kathryn Wylde, who heads the pro-corporate Partnership for New York City, replied, "terrified."

Mamdani—a 33-year-old first-generation U.S. citizen born to Indian parents in Uganda—would be New York's first Muslim mayor if elected, a possibility that has fueled Islamophobic bigotry in the five boroughs and beyond. The New York Police Department's hate crimes unit said last week that it is investigating several death threats against the candidate.

Endorsed by progressives including Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, the Sunrise Movement, and New York Working Families Party, Mamdani has represented the 36th State Assembly District in Queens since 2021. His platform calls for free public childcare and city buses, a rent freeze on stabilized housing, and city-owned grocery stores.

Appearing on CBS' "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" Monday night, Mamdani called the race "a referendum on where our party goes."

"What we're talking about is a race that has now seen the most-funded super PAC in New York City's municipal history, a race that is, you know, one that billionaires and corporations want to buy," Mamdani continued. "And this is a tale that we're seeing across this country, where it's a battle of organized money versus organized people."

"And ultimately, it's a question for our own party of how do we move forward," he added. "Do we move forward with the same politicians of the past, the same policies of the past, that delivered us this present, or do we move forward with a new generation of leadership, one that is actually looking to serve the people?"

Addressing Mamdani's surging poll numbers, Sanders said Tuesday on social media that "the New York establishment is running scared."

"Despite spending millions against him, Zohran was ahead in the last poll," the senator noted. "If New Yorkers come out in good numbers today, Zohran Mamdani can become New York City's next mayor. Let's make it happen. Please vote."