Bill Ackman, fundraiser-in-chief edition

I suspect that Zohran Mamdani is about to have a well-funded, charismatic, articulate challenger for the New York City mayor's job. I suspect that because Bill Ackman has made a generous offer. In his tweet, Ackman said "If you were ever thinking about running for office or running for a higher office than you currently hold, this is likely the best opportunity that you are going to have." Best of all, he said "Who is your best centrist candidate who could go toe-to-toe with Mamdani on the campaign trail and on the debate stage? Let’s crowdsource the names and then do a poll. If someone is ready to raise their hand, I will take care of the fundraising."

A young, articulate candidate would be foolish not to step into that type of opportunity. That candidate would step into a well-built campaign that's already well-financed. Last night, Hannity announced that former Gov. Cuomo has decided to stay in the race, presumably to siphon votes away from Mamdani. I suspect that thew real reason is to force fundraisers to pay him off.

A frightening thought

And there is a defensive reason for a politician to run. For the more centrist Democrat politician, a Mamdani win is very bad for your next election. As the Party veers further to the left, the Party’s backing for your future candidacy deteriorates substantially as Mamdani and AOC take control of the Party.

Make no mistake. If you think that AOC and Mamdani don't have higher ambitions, you're naive.

The snake oil salesman emerges

Mamdani is pitching himself as the person who will restore affordability to NYC. The truth is that socialism creates poverty. Fre day care must be paid by someone. ()Bill Clinto was right in stating that there's no free lunches. The fatal flaw with Mamdani's plan is that he's relying on 'the wealthy' to stick around to pay for his socialist pie-in-the-sky programs. Mamdani hasn't admitted that capital and labor are mobile. He hasn't admitted that Wall Street is already moving to Dallas, TX and Miami, FL. This should wake everyone up:

His Covid lockdowns and tax hikes fueled the flight of high earners and businesses. New York City’s population declined by some 320,000 between 2020 and 2024, despite an influx of foreign migrants. Why didn’t more Wall Street bankers vote this week for Mr. Cuomo? Perhaps because they now live in Miami.

New York, it's time you woke up. It's time you noticed that the goose that laid your golden eggs moved to Miami, FL or Dallas, TX.