Billionaire Bill Ackman said Thursday he will back a candidate in the New York City mayoral race to counter the candidacy of New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, an avowed democratic socialist.
Mamdani is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for the New York City mayoral race after he declared victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and City Comptroller Brad Lander. He is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party.
Mamdani ran on a platform that included economic policies aligned with progressives and socialists in the Democratic Party, such as a higher minimum wage, tax hikes on businesses and the rich and other policies, like creating city-owned grocery stores and imposing a rent freeze for stabilized tenants.
Ackman wrote in a post on X he is "gravely concerned about New York City" after Mamdani's apparent victory and went on to ask, "Who is your best centrist candidate who could go toe-to-toe with Mamdani on the campaign trail and on the debate stage? Let's crowdsource the names and then do a poll. If someone is ready to raise their hand, I will take care of the fundraising.
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"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the right candidate. More importantly, it is an opportunity to save our City and be a superhero. Life is short and you must dare to be great," he added. "The time is now."
The billionaire founder of Pershing Square Capital Management said the New York City mayoral race presents a significant opportunity for the right candidate to defeat Mamdani.
"In my experience, opportunities with minimal downside that don't require huge investments of time while offering massive upside get filled. If you were ever thinking about running for office, or running for a higher office than you currently hold, this is likely the best opportunity that you are going to have," he said.
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Ackman suggested that while he has a candidate in mind he thinks would be able to prevail over Mamdani and any other contenders in the mayoral race, he is soliciting suggestions because he doesn't want his support for President Donald Trump to taint the electorate's view of his unnamed prospective candidate.
"All of the above is not just theory, as I have a superb candidate who I believe can win who meets all of the criteria, but if I were to say his name or even reach out to him, it would have a negative effect on his candidacy, as I am a supporter of President Trump, and that alone taints anyone I would recommend for many and perhaps most NYC Democratic Party members. So rather than my making suggestions, I welcome yours," Ackman explained.
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He also discussed why he thinks Mamdani won, saying he believes it was the inspirational tone, calls for unity and his ability to downplay controversial social media posts from his past that helped him prevail rather than his policy platform.
Ackman added that the "competition was very weak," and Mamdani's best competitor failed to run an aggressive enough campaign and instead relied on name recognition and early polling in a bid for the nomination.
"The problem, however, is that his policies would be disastrous for NYC. Socialism has no place in the economic capital of our country," Ackman said.
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"The ability for NYC to offer services for the poor and needy, let alone the average New Yorker, is entirely dependent on NYC being a business-friendly environment and a place where wealthy residents are willing to spend 183 days and assume the associated tax burden. Unfortunately, both have already started making arrangements for the exits."
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