00:00Today on Forbes, anyone but Mamdani.
00:03These billionaires are spending big to stop him from becoming NYC's mayor.
00:09Zoran Mamdani is riding high.
00:12The 34-year-old Democratic Socialist New York State Assemblyman
00:15remains well ahead of former Governor Andrew Cuomo
00:18and talk show host Curtis Sliwa in the race for New York City mayor.
00:23This is despite making more than a few enemies in high places.
00:26At an October 13th rally, Mamdani declared,
00:29"...billionaires like Bill Ackman and Ronald Lauder
00:33have poured millions of dollars into this race
00:35because they say that we pose an existential threat.
00:39I am here to admit something. They are right."
00:42Hedge funder Ackman did indeed put $1.75 million
00:46into political groups spending against Mamdani,
00:49the official Democratic nominee, as of October 22nd.
00:53And cosmetics heir, Lauder,
00:55has contributed another $750,000.
00:58But while these two billionaires were name-checked by the mayoral frontrunner,
01:02they aren't the only billionaires breaking open their considerable piggy banks
01:06to oppose Mamdani.
01:08In fact, 26 billionaires and members of billion-dollar families
01:12from around the country have sunk at least $100,000 each
01:15into supporting Cuomo, now running as an independent,
01:19or one of the other candidates running against Mamdani,
01:22according to a Forbes analysis.
01:23In all, these billionaires have donated over $22 million
01:27to back opposition campaigns, flooding the airwaves and mailboxes
01:32of Big Apple residents with anti-Mamdani messages.
01:35Over half of those donations, about $13.6 million,
01:39came before Mamdani won the Democratic primary on June 24th.
01:44More than half of that was donated by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg,
01:48who endorsed Cuomo and flooded a group called Fix the City, Inc.
01:52with $8.3 million in cash in June.
01:56Since then, Bloomberg and Mamdani have reportedly met for what was described as a,
02:00quote, cordial discussion.
02:02Other big liberal donors, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings
02:05and media entrepreneur Barry Diller, for example,
02:09each sent Fix the City $250,000 before the primary as well.
02:13Some conservative givers and Trump allies have waded into the race too,
02:18like casino magnate Steve Wynn, who donated half a million dollars in October,
02:23and oil baron John Hess, who cut his first check in May
02:27and has since put $1 million total up against Mamdani.
02:32Mamdani, a three-term state legislator, has sketched out a left-wing populist agenda.
02:37In June, he told NBC News, quote,
02:40I don't think we should have billionaires because, frankly,
02:43it is so much money in a moment of such inequality.
02:47However, in recent months, he has apparently taken to meeting with business leaders
02:51in an attempt to win their support, or at least quell their fears.
02:55His mayoral platform does not call for the elimination of billionaires,
02:59but does promise to freeze rent in rent-controlled apartments,
03:02make city buses free, and establish universal child care,
03:06paid for, in theory, by raising the top marginal income tax rate in New York City by two points
03:11and hiking corporate income taxes from 7.25% to New Jersey's rate of 11.5%.
03:18No surprise, then, that 16 of the 26 billionaire donors that Forbes found
03:24are city residents, including Bloomberg, Diller, and the Tisch family.
03:29The latter, who are big donors to New York University
03:31and own a stake in the New York Giants,
03:34has put at least $1.2 million into groups trying to take Mamdani down,
03:39which is particularly notable in part because Jessica Tisch,
03:42a member of the family, is the New York City police commissioner,
03:46whom Mamdani has reportedly pledged to keep in his administration, if elected.
03:51Given the symbolic importance of ruling the nation's biggest city,
03:55billionaires from all over the country
03:56have sent money across state lines to bolster Mamdani opponents.
04:01Altogether, 10 of the billionaires reside elsewhere,
04:04including Texan Walmart heir Alice Walton,
04:07Floridian hedge funder Daniel Ock, a former New Yorker,
04:10and Bostonian John Fish,
04:12whose Suffolk construction's projects in the city
04:14include the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which it is renovating,
04:18and a new super-tall skyscraper at 520 Fifth Avenue.
04:21For full coverage, and to see our whole list of billionaires opposing Mamdani so far,
04:28check out Kyle Kahn Mullins' piece on Forbes.com.
04:32This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:35Thanks for tuning in.
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