From Politico: Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, has donated $1 million to Defend NYC, a super PAC opposing Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign.
Even as even some titans of real estate and finance are making peace with Mamdani, who held a 13-point lead over Andrew Cuomo in a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, Ackman’s donation is the biggest sign yet that other wealthy New Yorkers are still willing to spend big in an effort to block the 33-year-old democratic socialist from office.
Ahead of the June primary, Ackman gave $500,000 to Fix the City, a pro-Cuomo super PAC. His new contribution, reported to the state Board of Elections on Wednesday, makes him one of the single largest donors in the mayoral race, trailing only former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed $8.3 million to Fix the City ahead of the primary.
Defend NYC was founded by Jason Meister, a former Trump campaign adviser and insurance sales broker, Politico writes.
The report notes that Ackman, a staunch supporter of Israel, had first backed Mayor Eric Adams in his re-election campaign. Adams finally withdrew from the race, and Ackman is now backing Cuomo, saying the former governor has the best chance of beating Mamdani.
Mamdani, 33, was born in Kampala, Uganda, and immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 7 years old. He is Muslim, and a member of the Democrat Socialists of America [DSA] organization.
On Monday, Ackman shared a post sounding the alarm over a statement DSA issued about the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas. In the statement, DSA dismisses the peace deal and vows to escalate campaigns against Israel and U.S. companies.
“This is @ZohranKMamdani’s political party’s take on the @realDonaldTrump peace deal and cease fire,” Ackman warned.
This is @ZohranKMamdani’s political party’s take on the @realDonaldTrump peace deal and cease fire. https://t.co/ODeTaQaK2W
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) October 14, 2025
“Andrew Cuomo can win this election. We just need to get out the vote,” Ackman argued last week.
.@andrewcuomo can win this election. We just need to get out the vote. https://t.co/VaJN5XPrCP
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) October 9, 2025
In June, Ackman warned that the muslim activist group, CAIR, is helping to fund Mamdani’s campaign.
CAIR is the group funding @ZohranKMamdani. In other words, CAIR is aligned both with Iran and Mamdani, a dangerous and catastrophic choice for mayor of NYC. https://t.co/UoDwJTXtCY
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) June 22, 2025
Pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman gives $1M to anti-Mamdani effort https://t.co/Kt9hJCP3XQ
— POLITICO (@politico) October 15, 2025
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