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Some 300 capitalists and a socialist are about to work out their problems, or at least try. New York’s biggest CEOs will meet on Tuesday with Zohran Mamdani, whose win in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary stunned a business community that had somewhat grudgingly backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and are wary of the 35-year-old’s ambitious tax and spending plans.
Mamdani will be interviewed by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla — who told Semafor in January that Democrats had been “ideologically committed to hurt business” — and real-estate boss Rob Speyer at an event open to CEO members of the Partnership for New York City, said Kathryn Wylde, who runs the group. PFNY members will also meet Thursday with Eric Adams, whose independent bid is seen as the best shot to beat Mamdani in November.
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Mamdani “called me and said he was very interested in introducing himself to the business community,” Wylde said. “They don’t know him.” What they do know, they don’t like: Mamdani’s promises of free buses and childcare, refurbished schools, and new housing have to be paid for somehow. Some billionaires have threatened to leave, though the loudest alarms are coming from New York’s real-estate crowd, whose assets are stuck.
“They want to hear that he’s not an ideologue,” Wylde said, “and that he’s willing to call on business expertise to deal with the challenges the city is going to face.” Those will be exacerbated by funding cuts in President Donald Trump’s new spending law.
New York’s business elite are also grappling with a new political reality made clear by the surge of Mamdani, who was outspent four to one by Cuomo: Wealth no longer buys influence. “It’s clear that money is no longer the key to winning elections,” Wylde said.