Topline
Billionaires criticized New Yorkers who voted for Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani in Tuesday’s New York City Democratic mayoral primary race—after he beat out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a stunning win despite significant support for Cuomo from wealthy donors.
New York mayoral candidate, State Rep. Zohran Mamdani (D-NY), speaks to supporters during an … More
Key Facts
Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman, who donated $500,000 to a super PAC supporting Cuomo and backed President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, reposted a series of tweets criticizing Mamdani’s win, including turnout stats from The New York Times that found Mamdani won districts with median incomes over $100,000 by 13 points, while Cuomo won those with median incomes under $50,000 by 19 points.
Ackman also lamented Mamdani received votes amounting to less than 10% of the registered voter population in New York, writing “if we allow 9.1% of registered voters [to] determine the future of New York City, then we deserve the city that we are going to get.”
Billionaire grocery store chain owner John Catsimatidis, who also backed Trump and threatened to close his Gristedes stores if Mamdani becomes mayor, retweeted Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., who sarcastically welcomed New Yorkers to “conservative Florida” in response to Mamdani’s run, suggesting New Yorkers would flee for his state.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also tweeted a crying laughing emoji in response to an X user who reposted a tweet from Zohran Mamdani that said “queer liberation means defund the police,” with the caption “you can just say things,” suggesting Mamdani’s statement didn’t add up.
Big Number
$25 million. That’s how much the Cuomo-aligned super PAC, Fix the City, raised, including $8.3 million from billionaire and former mayor, Michael Bloomberg, according to The New York Times. It’s the largest super PAC ever created in New York City mayoral campaign history.
Key Background
Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, received the largest share of votes in the city’s ranked-choice voting process, beating out Cuomo, who received 36.4% of votes, and third-place candidate New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. Mamdani’s win comes at an inflection point for the Democratic Party, reeling from the 2024 presidential election and bruising House and Senate races, and struggling to counter the Trump administration. The upset is widely viewed as a rebuke of the Democratic establishment, which largely backed Cuomo in the race despite him resigning in disgrace four years ago amid a sexual misconduct scandal.
Further Reading
Mamdani Claims Victory In New York’s Democratic Mayoral Primary After Cuomo Concedes (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/06/25/billionaires-ackman-and-musk-rebuke-zohran-mamdanis-win-in-nyc-mayoral-primary/