Hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman plans to bankroll a New York City mayoral campaign, arguing that his affluent associates are poised to flood the election with money in an effort to defeat Democratic Socialist frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.
Ackman said he was “gravely concerned” because he believed the left-wing candidate’s policies would be disastrous, triggering an exodus of the wealthy that would endanger New York’s public services by hollowing out its tax base.
Arguing that his own support of President Trump would automatically disqualify anyone Ackman might put forward, the activist investor said he was making a public appeal: Anyone capable of taking down Mamdani in the Nov. 4 election should step forward and volunteer.
“Importantly, there are hundreds of millions of dollars of capital available to back a competitor to Mamdani that can be put together overnight (believe me, I am in the text strings and the WhatsApp groups) so that a great alternative candidate won’t spend any time,” he wrote.
“So if the right candidate would raise his or her hand tomorrow, the funds will pour in.”
It’s unclear whether New Yorkers would honor such a candidate. The recent intervention by Elon Musk in Wisconsin’s state supreme court election indicated the voting public does not always respond well to billionaires using their money to sway races.
New York mayoral races are notoriously unpredictable due to the city’s chronically low turnout. In 2017, for example, Bill de Blasio won reelection with only 14% of registered voters coming out to support him.
A large influx of New Yorkers heading to the voting booth because they are as concerned as Ackman could easily affect the outcome. If Cuomo can hold on to enough fundraisers, political pundits also point out, it’s possible he could run as an independent like Adams, splitting the left vote and spoiling the race.
Ackman, however, argued all these factors would support the emergence of a centrist candidate looking to position themself on the national stage. It could even be another businessman like Bloomberg, he suggested, although Ackman in an earlier post appeared to indicate he would not seek to run himself.
“For the aspiring politician there is no better way to get name recognition, build relationships with long-term donors, and to showcase oneself,” the hedge fund manager wrote, pitching the campaign like a business deal. “The risk/reward of running for mayor over the next 132 days is extremely compelling as the cost in time and energy is small and the upside is enormous.”
Lots of articles say that Ackman is a real bloodthirty piece of crap, a famously petty crybully, and a supremecist. So I can see why he’d be against Zohran Mamdani.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/crybullyism-bill-ackman-ruling-class/ https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/bill-ackman-war-harvard-mit-dei-claudine-gay.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzkY3NA_ZkQ
Whenever I see anything like this I remember my days working for large American companies and how difficult it was, even as a senior engineer, to get spending approval for anything. Like, even a $20 replacement headset I had to keep resubmitting applications for for three weeks because the managers had a policy of rejecting every first request on the theory that if it was important enough to spend company money on, it was important enough to fill in the form twice.
The point being, these sorts of people do not hand out a single penny without running the numbers and realising that the cost of rigging an election multiplied by the probability of success, is still lower than what they’ll financially gain from it going a certain way.
This is just blatant corruption
System working as designed. You see, Russia and China are the real problem.
I can beat him, money pleaseeeeeee
Always follow the money. Why are GOP and billionaires afraid and against this man who pledges to help the poor and struggling working class? Because they obviously have an interest in keeping the poor and struggling in the status quo conditions in which they live.
If helping the poor didn’t hurt their bottom line, they wouldn’t pay to keep it from happening.
So the TV pundits are calling this “class warfare”, right?
These guys were the first against the wall, come the revolution.
I remember the last time it was run. It’s why we got president Bloomberg. Oh wait. Why would he actually reference Bloomberg himself whilst suggesting this? Did he just forget exactly how badly this worked?
bill isnt a thoughtful boy
Ackman is also a part owner of X, and that platform will also definitely be a big part of an effort to defeat Mamdani.
Edit: a family member just asked me what I think of Mamdani wanting to put a tax on all hiring, saying he proposed a 35% tax on the salary of all new hires. I googled this, and the only results are on X. The fix is in.
35% tax on salary is fine with universal healthcare, child care, education, housing, and food. I would give you 50% rates for that.
People think this is a scare tactic but that is what people want. Instead most pay 22%-24% anf can’t afford any of the above things.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/federal-income-tax-brackets
the left-wing candidate’s policies would be disastrous, triggering an exodus of the wealthy
Is that a promise? Look dude I’m already sold on him, you don’t need to keep selling him
That is what they always claim, don’t they? You can’t tax the rich, they’ll leave!!
Cool.
Where?
Where will they leave to? Europe? Good luck, taxes are way higher there (not enough , though) either way, you’ll be gone from what made you rich in the first place. You’re not going anywhere
Florida. We have no income tax, an increasing population of millionaires, mosquitos, alligators and homeless people.
Ohh! What’s not to like? 😵💫
What a crook.
Literally buying elected officials.
A true enemy of the people
I have no clue what Mamdani ideas for NYC are, but if this pile of crap is against him, that signals to me that Mamdani has principles. Bill Ackerman will only support candidates that he can corrupt.
Free daycare, free public transit, and city-owned grocery stores. Sounds like a dream to me.
Those are the types of things that would encourage people to have kids, then get back into the workforce. Conservatives can’t even do what’s needed to obtain their goals.
No give! Only take!
There’s really no excuse for this
Billionaires trying to buy elections
Honestly, I’m really liking how this race is shaping up. Adams is refusing to drop out because, well, he can’t; the second he loses power he stops being useful to the Trump administration, and then he’s vulnerable to prosecution. Cuomo is also staying in because he’s a narcissist, and Ackman is willing to throw money at anyone else who wants to run.
So that means the centrist shit-libs and conservative ghouls are splitting their vote between at least two, probably three candidates, while the progressive vote will go entirely to Mamdani. I’m still wary of DNC fuckery, but so far, so good.
Is the NYC Mayor General also ranked choice? Vote splitting is less impactful with ranked choice.
Still, it would be nice to see what a democratic socialist executive can do with NYC.
Great question, IT IS NOT! Only the NYC primaries and special elections are ranked choice, but the general elections are still first-past-the-post! So Cuomo and Adams will most certainly hurt each other if they both refuse to drop out!
Hopefully, the DNC won’t do something stupid (e.g. support someone other than Mamdani).
