Billionaires are looking for explanations following Zohran Mamdani's election. One of them believes he's discovered a solution, courtesy of another billionaire. The 34-year-old democratic socialist's decisive win in Tuesday's New York City mayoral race makes a peculiar fact a reality. As JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon remarked at the Coins2Day Most Powerful Women summit in late October, “it is odd to have the bastion of American capitalism with a socialist” entering the mayor's office. Nevertheless, Dimon has shown willingness to interact with Mamdani, a contrast to many of the nation's richest business figures. These individuals reportedly invested an estimated $22 million in attempts to thwart the challenger from Queens and are now confronting the consequences.
TL;DR
- Billionaires are seeking explanations for Zohran Mamdani's election victory in New York City.
- Peter Thiel's 2020 memo predicted young people might reject capitalism due to debt and housing costs.
- Mamdani's platform, including rent freezes and tax increases, resonated with young voters.
- While Mamdani won, young voters' political leanings are not uniformly shifting leftward.
To be certain, several of New York's top figures in finance and technology are now offering their congratulations Mamdani, having invested substantial sums to prevent his election as mayor. A prominent detractor, activist investor Bill Ackman, extended congratulations to the mayor-elect on Tuesday, having allegedly contributed $1.75 million to his opposition. It remains unclear to what extent Mamdani's governance will be leftist, but Dimon remarked during a discussion with Coins2Day's editor-in-chief, Alyson Shontell, that “he was part of that socialist democratic thing, which literally is more Marxist than socialist—and I read it—but I don’t know what he believes in that.”
Chamath Palihapitiya, a Silicon Valley venture capital billionaire and former “SPAC king,” recognized for his special purpose acquisition company investments, is a wealthy elite concerned about the perceived rise of socialism. He shared on X a 2020 message from Thiel, which, according to Palihapitiya, discussed how “too much student debt and lack of affordable housing keeps young people with negative capital for too long. And without a stake in the capitalist system, they will turn against it.”
In emails exchanged with Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Andreessen in 2020, Thiel stated that “if one has no stake in the capitalist system, then one may well turn against it.” Thiel also suggested he was giving serious consideration to the millennial generation's widely discussed shift towards socialism, noting a “broken generational compact.”
Here is Peter Thiel’s email to Zuck and Andreessen in Jan-2020 predicting socialism.
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) November 5, 2025
Young adults face prolonged negative net worth due to substantial student loan burdens and the scarcity of reasonably priced housing. This financial disadvantage, coupled with their limited participation in the capitalist economy, could lead them to reject the system. Pic.twitter.com/BOKgwJ2cV0
Mamdami secured victory in New York City's mayoral race this week, largely due to significant backing from younger constituents. Exit polls suggest approximately 78% of voters individuals aged 18 to 29 voted for Mamdami. His win has reignited discussions about the escalating cost of housing in New York City. Data from Realtor.com indicates the city's median rent was $3,599 monthly during the third quarter, a figure that consumes roughly 55% of an average household's earnings.
Proposals aimed at addressing New York City's long-standing affordability crisis appear to resonate with his youthful supporters. Mamdami's agenda featured concepts like a freeze on rents for approximately one million rent-stabilized units, the establishment of citywide universal childcare, and increasing taxes targeting the city's most affluent individuals to potentially generate $4 billion for social programs.
Even victors with more moderate stances from Tuesday's elections have emphasized affordability. New Jersey’s Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, representing a more centrist faction of the party, stated following her win, “The reason I was so focused on affordability issues is because my communities are focused on affordability issues and how they’re going to be successful.”
President Trump himself stated on Wednesday that the U.S. Has “the greatest economy right now,” speaking onstage at Miami’s America Business Forum. “A lot of people don’t see that,” he commented, noting that if individuals don't discuss how positive things are, “then you can do not so well in elections.”
Thiel, who has not publicly commented on Mamdani, has a history of backing Republican figures, notably contributing $1 million to President Trump's 2016 campaign. While he reduced his political engagement following the 2022 elections, he has since re-engaged with the GOP and its candidates to political advocacy with donations.
Although Mamdami's victory signifies a significant advancement for progressive candidates, it's premature to assert with certainty that younger demographics are uniformly shifting towards the left. Data from The Tufts Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement indicates that President Trump saw substantial gains among young voters in 2024, securing 46% of those aged 18 to 29, an increase from the 36% he received in 2020.
Nonetheless, Thiel's 2020 memo emphasized that any young person's rejection of the American capitalist framework shouldn't be dismissed.
“I would be the last person to advocate for socialism. But when 70% of Millennials say they are pro-socialist, we need to do better than simply dismiss them by saying that they are stupid or entitled or brainwashed; we should try and understand why,” he wrote.
