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New York’s financial elite have offered cautious support to Zohran Mamdani after the Muslim democratic socialist won the city’s mayoral election after a record voter turnout.
Many on Wall Street have viewed the 34-year-old Queens assemblyman with suspicion for his criticism of the moneyed class in a city where finance and real estate titans loom large, and for his pledges to impose additional income tax on salaries over $1mn.
But in the final weeks before the election, Mamdani intensified his courtship of New York’s business class, attending a series of meetings with chief executives as he sprinted towards what appeared to be an inevitable victory.
Ralph Schlosstein, chair emeritus of investment bank Evercore and one of the most influential Democrats on Wall Street, said it was time for New York to come together after a bitter electoral race.
“The turnout is great. Amazing. The biggest turnout, I think, ever for a mayoral election. So a massive credit to him for enthusing the electorate,” Schlosstein told the Financial Times.
“He offered hope and opportunity . . . it’s time for everybody to pull together and help him be as successful as possible.”
Yasser Salem, chair of OneNYC, an independent committee that backed Mamdani, has helped organise a business advisory council that will begin working with the new mayor over the coming weeks. “My phone has been ringing off the hook,” he said.
Many financiers remain sceptical of Mamdani, however. One hedge fund manager said his biggest concern was that crime would rise if Mamdani became mayor. “We cannot have a socialist in the greatest capitalist city in the world,” he said.
Another top dealmaker, who said he appreciated the mayor-elect’s outreach, said “his movement to the middle it seems to be a bit insincere”, adding that Mamdani’s views on economics and the Israel-Palestinian conflict were inflexible.
Wall Street titans such as hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and former mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as business leaders such as Palantir co-founder Alex Karp, donated millions to campaign funds aligned with Mamdani’s main opponent, Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary and stood as an independent in the mayoral race.
Ackman, who has been particularly critical of Mamdani, on Tuesday evening offered an olive branch to the new mayor and congratulated him on his victory.
“Now you have a big responsibility,” the billionaire wrote in a social media post. “If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.”
Mamdani’s Wall Street opponents in recent weeks became increasingly pragmatic in the face of what became an increasingly likely victory, deciding it was better to support the new mayor.
Robert Steel, the longtime Wall Street executive who had served in the mayoral administration of Mike Bloomberg, said what mattered most now was the few dozen agency heads at city hall selected by Mamdani. “There are 30 to 50 people who really run the city,” said Steel.
One Wall Street heavyweight even expressed his support for higher taxes.
“He has been effective at reaching out and expanding his coalition, which should build confidence in how he will govern,” said Antonio Weiss, the veteran Wall Street financier and former US Treasury adviser who has been active in advising on New York City fiscal matters.
“There should be no argument with a small tax increase that’s paired with a real effort to make government more efficient, and then invested in a programme like childcare that allows more young families to stay in the city.”
