WSJ What’s News - Business and Politics Collide in NYC Mayor’s Race

Episode Date: November 2, 2025

With the New York City mayoral election just days away, many Americans outside the city are following the race closely to see if the previously unknown democratic-socialist assemblyman Zohran Mamdani will defeat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. The results could have broad implications for the national business community and the Democratic party. WSJ reporters Joshua Chaffin and Kevin Dugan discuss what the mayoral race could mean for business and politics. Alex Ossola hosts. Further Reading Mamdani and Cuomo Trade Barbs in Tense New York City Mayoral Debate Republican NYC Mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa Faces Pressure to Drop Out Five Takeaways From the NYC Mayoral Debate New York’s Richest Ask ‘How Dare He?’ as Mamdani Closes In on City Hall Cuomo Pins Longshot Comeback on Reshaped New York Mayor’s Race Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's Sunday, November 2nd. I'm Alex Oslov for the Wall Street Journal. This is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news. by reaching out to our colleagues across the newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world. On the show this week, we're talking about the New York City mayoral election, which is coming up on Tuesday. And although it's a local race, it's being watched nationally and has nationwide implications. Its outcome could not only set a new direction for the National Democratic Party,

but also for corporate America. Today, we're talking with two Wall Street Journal reporters about what the mayoral race needs, for politics and for business. For me, living in Brooklyn, the election has been unavoidable. Canvassers have rung my doorbell and handed me flyers as I walk down the street. Candidate signs dot stoops between my home and the subway. You've surely seen signs for your own local races too. But in New York, the biggest city in the U.S., as well as the capital of finance, policies can have reverberations around the country.

And at a moment when the National Democratic Party is figuring out how it moves forward, this election could be a microcosm for where voters' heads are at. For more on the political implications of the election, I'm joined now by Josh Chaffin, senior special writer for the National Affairs team at the Wall Street Journal. Josh, for people who haven't been following the New York City mayoral race all that closely, get us up to speed here. We've got our three candidates. We have Democrat-turned-independent candidate, Andrew Cuomo, Republican Curtis Lewe. and Democrat Zoran Mamdani. Give us a very brief overview of who each of these people are. Cuomo is the democratic establishment, three-term governor, son of a governor,

close to the business community, had designs of possibly going to the White House during the COVID pandemic when he became a kind of national figure and that all fell away in a hail of sexual harassment complaints and disgrace. Sliwa has been a, New York character forever, the Guardian Angels, back in the days of when New York was a scary, violent place to be. He became a folk hero for his group, riding the subways and protecting people, stepping in where the police were not. And Zartan Mamdadi has come out of nowhere,

and he would be the city's first Muslim mayor just turned to 34. And in the capital of world capitalism, he is an avowed socialist. And he has captivated a younger generation in the city. As you kind of alluded to here, I think it's safe to say that basically no one outside of New York, or maybe even within New York, had heard of Mamdani until he won the Democratic primary in June. Why has this race captured national attention? The contrast between Cuomo and Mamdani is so stark. Momdani is just so open and he has used social media in the most clever ways.

and Cuomo is a old-school politician for better or worse. This race has played out at a time when the Democratic Party is really lost in the wilderness. The party's approval ratings are the lowest that they've been in more than three decades. And in the era of Trump, this moment in particular is the moment where the Democrats are trying to figure out who they are, what their next chapter is, which way they should be going, how do they reform themselves after Kamala Harris's defeat. And so a lot of people are saying, this Zoran guy is creating enthusiasm and excitement in a way that no one else has in some time. Josh, I'm glad you brought up the implications for the National Democratic Party because I'm curious what this label for Mamdani of Democratic Socialist means in the context of a Democratic Party that's trying to reappealue to Americans. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrats leader in the House, he came out finally belatedly and endorsed

Mamdani, but of course he also mentioned that there were key areas where he had differences. And so Democrats, the establishment to the extent that they're beginning to embrace Mamdani, they're trying to do it in a qualified way to give themselves some space to say, well, we're not socialist per se, but we agree with his goals of creating a more equitable society, improving affordability. But how socialist of a socialist he is or will be or try to be in practice is still sort of a mystery. One of the things that's changed since June when Mamdani won the Democratic primary was that President Trump has really taken on a new stance towards leaders of blue cities across the country. That includes deploying the National Guard withholding funds. He's

withheld some funds from New York, slated for some projects. And I'm curious how that conversation around working with versus taking on Trump has played out in the mayoral race in New York City? This is another reason why this race has such national dimensions because Mamdani is a kind of foil for Trump. And part of his appeal is that he has pledged to take on Trump and that he represents such a different way of being in the world that he would be the standard there in a way for this kind of opposition. And so Mamdani said in a recent debate very clearly that he would fight Trump every day. Cuomo tried to make light of that of his lack of experience and basically saying Trump would eat you for lunch. You don't have the gravitas or the standing to deal with Trump.

And interestingly, Sliwa kind of said this whole idea of fighting Trump is mistaken. It's bad for the city. We need to try to find ways where we can cooperate with him and basically do. do what we can to get the best outcome for the city. On the sort of eve of the election, what are the polls telling us about who seems likely to win this mayoral race, or also from your reporting? Well, Mamdani still has a commanding double-digit lead. The great suspense has been whether or not Curtis Slewa would drop out of the race, and if he did, if his support would then go to Cuomo. Sliwa has been really resistant, frustratingly so, to Democrats and a broad coalition of people trying to stop Mamdani, the business class.

But even if he did, it's not clear that people would swing over to Cuomo's side. But in theory, if you put his numbers together and Cuomo's, they're just about even with Mamdani. The early voting numbers, just in terms of the age of the people who were showing up, those numbers seem to suggest that Cuomo is doing better than anticipated. Bringing around one more time to the national political influence. implications here. Let's say Mamdani takes office and he's duking it out with Trump. Where does that leave Democrats nationwide? I would expect in the way that AOC has become a kind of superstar and somebody

that the Republicans promote as much as the Democrats, the Republicans in opposition, I'm sure that Mamdani would be much the same. He has put out a more extreme platform than what Democrats have done in the past. So I think there will be so much curiosity and attention. to see how it plays out. And if he's able to deliver a few things and the city doesn't go crazy and businesses don't leave and crime doesn't soar

and a younger generation of voters feels like for once somebody represents them, that would be really powerful. And of course, in the other direction, exactly the same. WSJ Senior Special Writer for National Affairs, Joshua Chaffin. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Coming up, where the New York City business community stands on Mondani's candidacy and what his victory could mean for business nationwide. That's after the break. I'm joined now by Kevin Dugan, who covers the culture of business and Wall Street for the journal. Kevin, when Mamdani won the primary election, what was the reaction from the New York City business community? The first reaction right after he won was a lot of disbelief because a lot of people on Wall Street didn't really see him coming.

There was an expectation that Andrew Cuomo was just going to win. And I don't think that a lot of people really saw his candidacy as anything more than a lot of noise, similar to the way that Bernie Sanders ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016. So a lot of it was at first just digesting what had happened, and it has taken a little bit of time to understand what MomDani's policies were and how that could affect them. I remember back from that time, there were some pretty dire threats of businesses leaving New York. And I'm wondering whether any of that has actually come to pass. So far, no major businesses have decided to move because of Mom Dani. they want to wait and see how Mamdani's administration is going to play out should he win.

There are some people who are very concerned about taxes, and there's certainly a lot of skepticism from people in business that he would do anything to upset that balance right now, too. Where have business leaders been putting their financial support in this mayoral race? You have really big donors like Bill Ackman, who are deploying, more than a million dollars to back Andrew Cuomo. But it really is not a model list. There's a pretty big split between big business in New York,

your banks, your large employers, and your local shops. I live in Brooklyn. I can walk around. I can see here's the hot dog shop that's got a Mom Donnie sign. There's a lot of small business that is supportive of Mom Donnie. I want to talk a little bit about what has happened since Mamdani won, after that sort of first flush of the reactions to winning the primary. So since that I remember over the summer, Mamdani was making a pretty concerted effort to connect to New York City business leaders.

Do we have a sense of who he talked to and how that all shook out? What you have seen since the primary is that Mamdani has reached out to people who are in the real estate industry. He has reached out one-on-one to Wall Street CEO. He has reached out to lots of people within the partnership for New York City, which includes tech CEOs and pretty much every industry you can imagine that's in New York City. When you talk to people who have met with him, they say, you know what? He is a great speaker, he's a great politician. I got a sense that he was really listening to me.

Is it going to translate into something else, into a policy that I like? I don't know. One thing he has explicitly said is that he plans to raise taxes. Has that been something that business leaders in New York City have been able to get past in order to have a more productive conversation? Yes and no. Business leaders know that the mayor cannot just unilaterally raise taxes on businesses or on individuals in the city. That would need to go through the state. And Kathy Hochle, who has an election next year, she has said that she does not want to raise more taxes, even though she may be supportive of some of the particular proposal.

that he has put out, like expanding universal child care to children as the youngest six weeks old. Where does the business community stand now on the eve of the election? Most of the New York City business community is against mom-doney. They don't want to pay more taxes. They don't like the messaging that is anti-capitalist. These are capitalists. Some people who I've talked with, they say, I may not agree with him, but he's going to have to be politician and he will have to listen to his constituents at some point. So we are hoping to work

with him to blunt the impact of anything that they might not like. Does that mean they're going all in for a late stage push for Cuomo? Are they behind Slewa? Many of these CEOs and business leaders, they're going to be voting for Cuomo. Slewa has a pretty significant chunk of the electorate. But honestly, at this point, I cannot tell how much he is actually attracting versus people who are going to be voting for Cuomo and whether Cuomo is actually siphoning votes away from him. If it's not too big a leap, what would a Mandani victory mean for business on a national scale? On a national scale, in the short term, probably not a lot. However, when I've talked to CEOs, business executives here in New York, with they're concerned

about is that if this becomes a blueprint for Democrats going forward, then it's hard for them to see how they will be able to operate and whether they will continue to be demonized by other left-leaming politicians in the future. Wall Street Journal reporter Kevin Dugan, thank you so much. Thank you. And that's it for What's New Sunday for November 2nd. Today's show was produced by Zoe Colkin with Deputy Editor Chris Zinsley. I'm Alex Ocelah, and we'll be back tomorrow morning with a brand new show.

Until then, thanks for listening.