Semafor by Liz Hoffman and Ben Smith 6/25/2025
The Scene
New York City’s business community — stunned by the apparent primary victory of socialist Zohran Mamdani and fearing a leftward shift in America’s biggest city — appears to be abandoning its grudging support for former Governor Andrew Cuomo and organizing more desperately around Mayor Eric Adams in a last ditch effort to block Mamdani in November’s general election.
Some of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s biggest backers hinted in fluid, panicked conversations Wednesday that they’ll put their money behind Adams, who was elected in 2021 as a tough-but-fair ex-cop, and now, after a federal corruption indictment and the removal of his inner circle, is running on his policy successes and frankly fun personality.
Adams’ popularity stood at an all-time low of 20% in a poll last month. The business community was largely neutral on Adams, who they saw as a welcome if occasionally tiring return to moderation after the left-leaning, rich-baiting de Blasio era; they remain nostalgic for Mike Bloomberg’s three terms.
“There is going to be overwhelming support in the business community to rally around Adams,” said Richard Farley, a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP who said he’s organizing a fundraiser for the mayor and has been speaking with some of Cuomo’s biggest donors. “This will be a street fight all the way to November.”
Adams’ path is “narrow,” acknowledged one adviser.
The business community is “struggling to understand the implications of Mamdani’s victory,” Kathy Wylde, CEO of Partnership for New York City, said in an interview. His focus on affordability tapped into “the financial insecurity young people feel and their anger that the established political class has done nothing to fix it. It’s not an endorsement of socialism but rather a rejection of the status quo, which threatens to bring on the kind of political instability that business hates.”
More:
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/25/2025/eric-adams-suddenly-finds-overwhelming-support-from-nycs-desperate-business-elites
