{"id":60522,"date":"2025-07-12T21:06:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T21:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/60522\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T21:06:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T21:06:20","slug":"business-leaders-pouring-cash-into-nyc-mayoral-race-to-beat-mamdani-but-unclear-who-to-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/60522\/","title":{"rendered":"Business leaders pouring cash into NYC mayoral race to beat Mamdani, but unclear who to back"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city\u2019s wealthy powerbrokers are opening their pocketbooks to try to stop Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani from reaching City Hall<\/a> \u2014 but it\u2019s still not clear which alternative is the best bet for their cash.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s mayoral race is shaping up to be the first competitive general election in years, with incumbent Mayor Adams running as an independent and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo still in the mix.<\/p>\n

The stakes have been ratcheted up as members of the business community, taken by surprise at Mamdani\u2019s upset victory<\/a> in the primary, scramble to defeat him. But it\u2019s unclear whether Cuomo, who lost by double digits to Mamdani in the primary, or Adams, whose first term was marred by a federal corruption indictment, is the better bet.<\/p>\n

Basil Smikle, a Democratic strategist, called the current situation a \u201csolution looking for a problem\u201d with the potential to backfire and wind up helping Mamdani.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a strong possibility that instead of using those resources to defeat him, they\u2019ll just encourage his base even more,\u201d Smikle said.<\/p>\n

A new political action committee<\/a> against Mamdani, called New Yorkers for a Better Future Mayor 25<\/a>, formed Tuesday. It\u2019s not yet clear who, if anyone, it will back.\u00a0Fix the City, a pro-Cuomo super PAC, has continued to rake in donations as it looks to pursue supporting a \u201cfree-market candidate,\u201d according to a rep.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Adams has collected over $1 million in just the past two weeks, as he\u2019s fundraised from the Hamptons to Midtown, according to his campaign. At a fundraiser hosted by real estate giant SL Green, he raked in nearly $1 million.<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Eric Adams. (Gardiner Anderson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Mamdani is a democratic socialist<\/a> running on proposals to make buses and childcare free and to freeze rents for stabilized tenants. To pay for that agenda, Mamdani proposes raising taxes on the city\u2019s top 1% as well as jack up the corporate tax rate. Those priorities have unnerved city business leaders while generating enthusiasm among younger city-dwellers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has focused his campaign<\/a> on populist messaging, emphasized door-to-door ground outreach and built up his campaign coffers with small dollar donations. On the campaign trail, he slammed Cuomo for sharing a donor base with President Trump and said he\u2019d be beholden to them once in office.<\/p>\n

Cuomo collected larger donations and Fix the City, the super PAC in Cuomo\u2019s support, raised a record-shattering roughly $24 million for the ex-governor\u2019s primary run, a record-shattering amount.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. (YUKI IWAMURA\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The ex-governor\u2019s primary donor base now appears to be split<\/a>, with some sticking by their candidate and others, like Bill Ackman, announcing a pivot to supporting Mayor Adams.<\/p>\n

Cuomo and Adams are widely seen as sharing a similar base of older, more moderate voters who oppose Mamdani\u2019s progressive agenda. Both men have also sharply criticized Mamdani over his views on Israel and Gaza, accusing him of taking antisemitic positions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that Cuomo and Adams could split the opposition to Mamdani if they both remain in the race until November. That has created some uncertainty among donors as they decide who, if not Mamdani, to throw their money to in the already high-spending race.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother tactic they could take is\u2026 find a way to work with him,\u201d Smikle suggested.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may have disagreements, but you know, if you see that organized labor is getting behind him, you have electeds joining him.. That should tell you everything you need to know about the importance of engaging Mamdani voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani is making his own appeals to the city\u2019s business community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision of this city is not one where any business leader leaves this city, where any real estate developer feels as if they have no place,\u201d Mamdani said Thursday. \u201cIt is a vision of this city where everyone stays, everyone thrives, and we actually make enough room for more to join us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Mamdani\u2019s primary win, labor and many elected officials have endorsed him. Powerful labor unions including 32BJ, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and the United Federation of Teachers have also backed Mamdani. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who is hugely influential among many of the city\u2019s Latino voters, threw his weight behind Mamdani on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city\u2019s wealthy powerbrokers are opening their pocketbooks to try to stop Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani from reaching…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":60523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,8988,1370,405,403,8989,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5341,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-60522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-election","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-politics","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114842303694086800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}