by WorldTribune Staff, June 26, 2025 Real World News
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday conceded the New York City mayoral Democrat primary to upstart socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani.
The 33-year-old Mamdani’s socialist platform includes increasing taxes on those making more than $1 million a year. He has said he would make the city more affordable by freezing rents on rent-stabilized apartments, investing $70 billion in publicly subsidized housing, providing free bus service, and opening government-operated grocery stores.
Mamdani, a Shia Muslim, has staked out anti-Israel positions including support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. He founded the Bowdoin College campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
Mamdani's victory sent shock waves through Wall Street, which had backed Cuomo.
“It’s officially hot commie summer,” Dan Loeb, chief executive of hedge fund Third Point, and a major Cuomo backer, wrote on X.
In his victory speech, Mamdani claimed that democracy has been "attacked from within," and by "billionaires and their big spending, by elected officials who care more about self-enrichment than the public trust and by authoritarian leaders who rule through fear."
"For too long, New Yorkers have strained to find a leader who represents us, who puts us first, and we have been betrayed time and again. After so many disappointments, the heart hardens. Belief becomes elusive," he said.
"And when we no longer believe in our democracy, it only becomes easier for people like Donald Trump to convince us of his worth. For billionaires to convince us that they must always lead."
He concluded by pledging to remake New York "in the image of every New Yorker who has only known struggle."
Prior to the vote, negative ads against Mamdani paid for by Wall Street-funded super political-action committees blanketed airwaves and filled residents’ mailboxes.
"Cuomo’s lock on Wall Street was all but taken for granted. He had the loud backing from billionaire figures such as Bill Ackman, Loeb and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg," the Wall Street Journal noted.
Some of the financial executives spoke of backing Mayor Adams, who is expected to run in the November election under party lines he created: “Safe&Affordable” and “EndAntiSemitism.” Financial titans had found Adams an early improvement from his predecessor Bill de Blasio.
Some voiced concern about Mamdani’s plan to freeze the rent of millions of New Yorkers who live in rent stabilized apartments, saying it would deter new investment in housing, reduce supply and push up prices for everyone else.
“I can’t believe I even need to say this, but socialism doesn’t work,” said Anthony Pompliano, CEO of Professional Capital Management, a bitcoin-focused financial services company. “It has failed in every American city it was tried.”
With 91 percent of the votes counted, Mamdani had 43.5% while Cuomo received 36.4%, according to the Associated Press.
Earlier Tuesday, Decision Desk HQ projected the race would head to a ranked-choice count as Mamdani held a solid lead over the former governor. The vote counting will continue even though Cuomo has conceded in the primary.
Late last month, Cuomo's odds of winning were as high as 92.5% on Polymarket.
While Cuomo conceded the Democrat primary, he has left open the possibility of running as an independent in November.
"I spoke with the former governor, and he told me he is not ruling out running again in November," Maria Bartiromo, host of Fox News's "Mornings with Maria," said during her show's open on Wednesday.
Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels, is the Republican nominee for mayor. Current Mayor Eric Adams is running for re-election as an independent.
"Mamdani, who once said he would have Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he came to New York," Bartiromo further reacted, "and who has long pushed for defunding the police, will be the Democrat candidate in November in the mayor's election."
