Copyright The New York Times
Wall Street financiers greeted the news of Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City with a mix of trepidation and pragmatism. In interviews on Tuesday, many described the election result as a threat to their business interests, but vowed to work with the new mayor. Others reacted to his ascendancy in more visceral terms, lamenting the victory of a democratic socialist who supports higher taxes and has expressed anti-Israel views. Mr. Mamdani’s resounding victory showed that, in this election at least, the city’s business elites were not calling the shots. New York City’s business leaders spent more than $25 million on efforts to defeat Mr. Mamdani. Undaunted, some of them are already thinking about how they could blunt his most liberal initiatives, turning their attention to Albany, which has the power to block many of his proposals, like raising corporate taxes. “Guys like me are definitely seriously considering making moves,” said David Modiano, a managing director at Thales Capital in Manhattan. Mr. Modiano, a Jewish immigrant from France, said he was principally worried about Mr. Mamdani’s enthusiastically pro-Palestinian views, and to a lesser degree the prospect of higher taxes and rising crime. He is already shopping for homes outside of the city, he said. On a practical level, the business community is not only nervous about whether Mr. Mamdani will raise tax rates. They are wary, too, about the city’s relationship with President Trump, whose federal government controls a little more than 6 percent of the New York City budget and who threw his support behind Andrew Cuomo, who was running as an independent. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
