Bill Ackman offers 'millions of dollars' to back any NYC mayoral candidate who can defeat Zohran Mamdani

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Billionaire investor Bill Ackman on Wednesday, June 25, vowed to invest "hundreds of millions of dollars" to back any viable New York City Mayoral candidate against Democrat Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani won against former Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, June 24, and will compete against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa in November, according to Daily Wire.

Bill Ackman vows to invest in any NYC mayoral candidate against Zohran Mamdani

Bill Ackman took to X (formerly Twitter) and penned a lengthy post expressing his thoughts on Zohran Mamdani’s win.

"I awoke this morning gravely concerned about New York City. I thought ‘What has NYC become that an avowed socialist who has supported defunding the police, whose solution to lowering food prices is city-owned supermarkets, who doesn’t understand that freezing rents will only reduce the supply of housing, who has no experience managing an organization -- let alone a city with a $100+ billion budget and a $2 trillion economy -- and who believes chants for ‘Globalizing the Intifada’ are acceptable, wins the Democratic Primary," Ackman wrote.

Moreover, he compared a potential Mamdani-led New York to "another failed major city run by Democrats alongside Seattle, Chicago, LA, and SF", and quoted Senator John Fetterman’s assessment that Mamdani’s win represented "Christmas in July for the GOP", per the outlet.

Ackman also wrote, "A mayor who disrespects the NYPD and has called for their defunding will get less effective policing, and Bratton’s 'broken window theory' will operate in reverse," while warning that NYC would become "much more dangerous and economically unviable" under Mamdani’s administration.

Furthermore, he assured potential candidates that funding would be instantly available, and added, "there are hundreds of million of dollars of capital available to back a competitor to Mamdani that can be put together overnight", mentioning that he is "in the text strings and the WhatsApp groups" organizing the effort, per Daily Wire.

Bill Ackman states any challenger would likely need to run as a write-in candidate

In his X post, Bill Ackman stated that any challenger would likely need to run as a write-in candidate.

However, he suggested that this could become "an important call to action that brings people in throngs to the polls" instead of a disadvantage, per the outlet.

Meanwhile, New York City, which has a gross metropolitan product of $2.3 trillion and a population of more than 8 million residents, is US' financial nerve center, Daily Wire reported.

The outlet added that many on Wall Street reacted with dread following Mamdani’s primary win, predicting a mass exodus from NYC if Mamdani is elected this November.

Interestingly, Mamdani has defended policies that alarm fiscal conservatives and moderate Democrats alike.

Additionally, his platform includes advocating for city-owned supermarkets, rent-freezing measures, and important reallocations of police funding to social services, per the outlet.

Ackman in his post expressed concern about Mamdani’s stance on Israel, stating that "a mayor who condones hate speech will incentivize more hate speech and violence."

He added that "words matter, and yes, they can inspire people to kill as we have recently tragically seen in our country and around the world."

Meanwhile, the Democrat had stated that he doesn’t believe Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, and refused to condemn calls to "globalize the intifada".