'I’m depressed and sad': Wall Street melts down over NYC mayoral contest upset

A number of Wall Street bankers, executives and hedge fund managers expressed panic and disbelief Wednesday after the upset victory of Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary election Tuesday night.

“I’m depressed and sad,” said Rick Sandler, who runs the Midtown Manhattan hedge fund Eminence Capital, speaking with The Wall Street Journal. “If Mamdani becomes mayor, I will likely move my business and family out of New York.”

What began as an 11-person race to lead the Democratic Party ticket ultimately became a showdown between Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Mamdani has run a progressive campaign, pledging to implement rent freezes, build more public housing, increase taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents, launch city-owned grocery stores and raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030, among other initiatives.

Voters reacted positively to Mamadani’s campaign Tuesday, granting him 43.5% of the vote share to Cuomo’s 36.4% in the first round of ranked-choice voting. To Wall Street’s elite, however, Mamdani’s agenda has only sparked fear, and in some, depression.

“I was a bit depressed when I woke up this morning,” wrote Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager and founder of Pershing Square Capital management and strong ally to President Donald Trump, on X Wednesday, formally known as Twitter.

Others took aim at Mamdani’s agenda, labeling it as socialism and communism.

“I can’t believe I even need to say this, but socialism doesn’t work,” said Anthony Pompliano, CEO of the bitcoin-focused financial services company Professional Capital Management, speaking to The Wall Street Journal. “It has failed in every American city it was tried.”

Despite no American city in history having enacted a socialist economic policy, which would mandate full employee ownership of all means of production, Wall Street financiers continued to voice fears of New York City transforming into a communist takeover.

“It’s officially hot commie summer,” wrote Daniel Loeb, co-founder of the hedge fund Third Point, which as of last year managed approximately $11.5 billion in assets, on X Wednesday.

While Mamdani came out on top on the Democratic primary election night, because he failed to receive more than 50% of the vote, additional rounds of ranked-choice voting will take place over the coming weeks, though with his strong lead, Mamdani is expected to ultimately secure the nomination.

He will still have to compete in the general election come November, however, where he’ll not only face off against the Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, but also incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, this time running as an independent, and potentially Cuomo, who hasn’t ruled out a November run as an independent.