Mamdani campaign criticizes Trump billionaire Bill Ackman $1 million donation to Andrew Cuomo

Billionaire hedge fund manager and prominent supporter of Donald Trump Bill Ackman has given yet another $1 million to a Super PAC opposing Mamdani and boosting Cuomo. The Super PAC Defend NYC, is run by a former Donald Trump campaign adviser, Jason Meister, who told the New York Post that January 6th should be a national holiday.

In the primary, Ackman gave $500,000 to a super PAC boosting Andrew Cuomo’s run for mayor. Now, even after voters delivered Zohran Mamdani a historic primary win and his grassroots movement has grown to more than 87,000 volunteers, Ackman and Cuomo are still trying to buy an election that New Yorkers already settled at the ballot box.

But it’s not just Ackman, in the general, former Governor Andrew Cuomo has received numerous new donations from Trump-affiliated billionaires, including from:

John B. Hess, billionaire oil executive, donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration in 2017. Then in August, John B. Hess donated $500,000 to Fix The City in August. In total John Hess has donated $1 million to Cuomo’s Super PAC.

Zohran Mamdani, New York City Mayoral candidate

Ronald Lauder, billionaire heir to Estée Lauder, gave $750,000 to Cuomo’s Super PAC. Lauder also gave Trump $5 million in 2024. The New York Times has documented how the Lauder family used philanthropy to dodge taxes.

Billionaire Walmart heiress and Republican, Alice Walton doubled down with $100,000 to Cuomo’s Super PAC in August — after already giving $100,000 in April. She’s also bankrolled Republicans like Greg Abbott to the tune of $750,000

In response to Bill Ackman’s new million dollar gift to Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec issued the following statement:

“Bill Ackman cannot stand the idea of New Yorkers being the ones to choose their next mayor, so he’s doing the only thing he knows how: throwing money at this race. Zohran defeated the billionaires once, and he’ll do it again because we can’t be bought and New York City is not for sale.”

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Ray Hanania

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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