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.”
Sounds like he is a frightened douche-canoe. Fuck that guy.
Somebody more left-wing than Mamdani has the chance to do something hilarious
Hollowing out the tax-base? Of what? Billionaires who have turned tax evasion into a sports championship?
In most places in the world, tax is primarily paid by the working people, not by the rich.
Which obviously leaves them with to much money that they squander on anti-citizen political campaigns like this. When they have the money for bribery on that level, they have the money to pax taxes like everyone else.
It’s wild that they billionaires are openly just saying “whoops, we can’t be letting the people elect someone good for them, here let’s fix that”.
Okay, but Cuomo spent triple what Zohran spent, and got his ass kicked.
Tell you what, just distribute all that money to your employees, and the result of the election will be the same as if you blew it all on a loser.
by hollowing out its tax base
As if the wealthy pay taxes. GTFO with that BS.
Gimme a hundred million dollars to lose to Mamdani. Sounds like a cushy gig.
You leaving NYC Ackman? Gonna take Wall St. with you?
Fuck off to Ireland, see if I care.
Leave Ireland out of this.
Stop being a tax haven?
He can stuff all his money right up his ass
Official donation page for Mamdani
So kind of this guy to give Mamdani an incredible basis for an ad campaign.
Like, for real, does this rich fuck not understanding that the vast majority of the American populace wants to see more blue shells? Honestly, how could it be more clear? All Zohran has to do is something like:
There’s an old proverb that says you should judge a person by the enemies they’ve made. Well, I’ve made an enemy of the billionaire Bill Ackman, and he’s pledged a blank check to whoever runs against me. But, there’s good news: votes decide elections, not money. I’m not listening to the money. I’m listening to the voters. I’m listening to you. Let’s win this together.
Ok where can I find a crochet blue shell because that’s pretty rad
Yeah. Mr. Mangione would be the only person who I think of who could be competitive against Mamdani, on a campaign to “deny, defend, depose” corrupt billionaires and corporations from NYC.
Lmao holy shit, could you imagine if the other Mario brother gets acquitted and then Mamdani gets him to sign on as some sort of high-level city official? Honestly, considering the caliber of human that the current regime is appointing at the national level, we could do a damn sight worse than “some random engineer who got thrust into the spotlight, likely framed, and is now the patron saint of Healthcare as a Human Right”
Billionaires are against Mamdani, eh? Something tells me he is the right guy for the job then.
Surely this billionaire Trump supporter cares about the interests of democratic voters
Surely, the billionaires have the common people’s best interests at heart, right?
Right?!?!
A billionaire just causally announcing that he can influence, finance and promote an election using his money in order to get what only interests themselves … rather than in allowing democratic processes elect someone the people actually want and need.
Billionaires are scared. That’s a good sign …
What’s super ironic to me is that taxing them actually makes them safer because if they pay their fair share people wouldn’t want to murder them as much as they do now.
They think they can buy enough guards to keep this from happening to them.
