Socialist NYC Mayoral Candidate Lectures Billionaire, Claims DEI Critics Don’t Understand Business

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist candidate for mayor of New York, said on Thursday that he understood economics better than billionaire Bill Ackman, arguing that Ackman’s opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies was bad for business.

In the wake of Mamdani’s victory Tuesday night in the Democratic primary over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Ackman had stated of Mamdani on X:

 … his policies would be disastrous for NYC. Socialism has no place in the economic capital of our country. The ability for NYC to offer services for the poor and needy, let alone the average New Yorker, is entirely dependent on NYC being a business-friendly environment and a place where wealthy residents are willing to spend 183 days and assume the associated tax burden. Unfortunately, both have already started making arrangements for the exits.

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…

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) June 26, 2025

Asked by Erin Burnett of CNN about his insistence that New York City raise the top corporate tax rate, Mamdani preached, “I’d also tell Bill Ackman that I firmly disagree with his attempt to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion across the country because it’s not only against the morals of so many, it’s also against the actual bottom line for so many businesses. And as a businessman, he should understand that.”

Socialist Zohran Mamdani lectures billionaire @BillAckman on the business case for DEI.

Oh, this is rich.

“I’d also tell Bill Ackman that I firmly disagree with his attempt to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion across the country. Because it’s not only against the morals… pic.twitter.com/az5x2XOjaH

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) June 27, 2025

Mamdani, 33, a state assemblyman who grew up the privileged son of “acclaimed Marxist scholar Mahmood Mamdani and Oscar-nominated film director Mira Nair,” as The Indypendent reported, attended Bowdoin College, where he co-founded the school’s chapter of the radical activist group, Students for Justice in Palestine. His entire job history outside of politics has consisted of working as a foreclosure prevention counselor and a rapper.

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Ackman, by contrast, has invested in businesses so successfully that he is now worth an estimated $9 billion. He is a signatory of The Giving Pledge, committing to donate at least 50% of his wealth by the end of his life to charitable causes. The resident of New York City was a lifelong Democrat who crossed the aisle to support President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent this mayoral election cycle, slammed Mamdani, saying, “This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a soup silver spoon. A choice between dirty fingernails and manicured nails. … This is not a city where you use idealism to stake your giving everything to everyone for free. There’s no dignity in someone giving you everything for free. There’s dignity in giving you a job so you can provide for your family and the opportunities that you deserve. So, this is not a city of handouts. This is a city of hands up.”

Mamdani also issued a statement blasting President Trump, stating, “Zohran Mamdani will fight Trump’s attempts to gouge the working class, and deliver a city where everyone can afford a dignified life. Here’s how: Make NYC the Strongest Sanctuary City in the Country.”

After asserting his desire to “Get ICE out of all City facilities and end any cooperation,” the statement continued, “The Mamdani administration will:
 Invest $165M in funding for immigration legal defense services
. … Protect all personal data from other jurisdictions: The Mamdani administration will take seriously the threat Trump poses and will think expansively about ways to protect undocumented New Yorkers from deportation or other federal attacks.”

BREAKING: This is the memo that could be Zohran Mamdani’s downfall.

He wants to triple down on making NYC a Sanctuary City and crack down on ICE.

These two policies are extremely unpopular with New Yorkers, especially the middle class. pic.twitter.com/EuvdjFUyhH

— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) June 26, 2025

Other actions by Mamdani have also elicited harsh criticism:

Remember back in 2013 when two Islamist terrorists used a meat cleaver to try to behead British soldier Lee Rigby in the streets of London?

Zohran shared a 2013 article by Glenn Greenwald questioning whether the killing was terrorism because Rigby was a soldier pic.twitter.com/F5eMdFQo9i

— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) June 27, 2025