Congress

New York’s richest aren’t opening their wallets to stop the left

Published

5 months ago

June 4, 2026

ALBANY, New York — The Empire State’s wealthiest residents are doing little to halt the left’s relentless march in New York.

That posture is playing out in a deeply uncertain political environment for New York’s billionaire class. The surprise election of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the citadel of American capitalism rattled wealthy New Yorkers, and a recent battle in Albany over taxes underscored the growing influence of the state’s left flank.

Yet even as billionaire hedge fund titans like Ken Griffin publicly feud with Mamdani and deep-pocketed real estate interests protest a new tax on high-value second homes in the city, many of Gotham’s richest people are yet to open their wallets to shape the election cycle in this deep blue state.

Wealthy donors’ decision to remain on the sidelines has alarmed Republican operatives and political leaders in what’s shaping up to be a tough year for the GOP. They’ve been unable to persuade the super rich to aid the top of the Republican ticket, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is lagging in the polls behind moderate Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Republicans need a strong Blakeman candidacy. New York is home to several swing districts that stand to determine control of the closely divided House — making those races vital to President Donald Trump’s final two years in office.

“The thing about rich guys is they like to see a pathway,” said Republican strategist David Catalfamo, a former adviser to ex-Gov. George Pataki. “The only pathway is the governor. You have to show a pathway to success in order to make that bet. What’s the pathway?”

Wealthy New Yorkers were hardly shy about spending against Mamdani last year. Many of them had locked arms with his opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, with millions of dollars flowing into a Cuomo-allied super PAC from the likes of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and outspoken hedge fund chieftain Bill Ackman.

Mamdani’s win opened the floodgates for the left — a development that stands to have profound consequences for Albany and Washington policymaking.

Democratic socialists are running to unseat mainstream incumbents, with the 34-year-old Mamdani attempting to play kingmaker after he endorsed Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s far-left challenger, Darializa Avila Chevalier.

DSA challengers are also trying to unseat incumbent state legislators — contests that may reshape an already Democratic-dominated state Capitol and apply even more pressure on Hochul to raise taxes if she wins reelection.

Business groups, including the influential Partnership for New York City, have tried to take a more measured approach by lobbying incumbents rather than unseating them — a posture that includes opposition to broad-based tax hikes. And some private-sector boosters are funding super PACs to protect moderate Democratic incumbents in Albany who have a say over the state’s tax policy.

None of these efforts, though, are directed at unseating the governor, who has forged a productive relationship with Mamdani while also opposing his more aggressive tax hikes. And the relative reluctance among the rich to write checks represents a departure from recent years when the ultra wealthy tried to shape New York’s politics with mixed results.

Financial sector leaders like Dan Loeb backed super PACs supporting pro-charter school candidates in the Legislature in prior election cycles. Billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen donated heavily to the state Democratic Committee while seeking a lucrative casino license, which he secured last year. Cosmetics heir Ron Lauder spent millions on an outside group to boost then-Rep. Lee Zeldin’s Republican bid against Hochul in her 2022 run for a full term.

That kind of spending is yet to materialize with less than a month to go until the state’s pivotal primaries.

Rather than try to halt the rising tide of democratic socialism, the most prominent of New York’s wealthy elite are renewing vows to move their investments and considerable fortunes to more economically friendly states like Florida or Texas.

The dynamic has left the state’s political class concerned that an even more troubling development is emerging for institutional candidates: The mega rich are simply checking out.

“Some of the entities that really care about this have moved to Florida or Atlanta,” said Conservative Party Chair Jerry Kassar. “They care, but they don’t care enough to take a lead. It boils down to this: You really love the city and gave up versus I love the city and I’m going to fight. What if they gave up?”

Blakeman, who trails Hochul in polling and fundraising, will need New York’s wealthy to side with him if he wants to be successful. His campaign scored a victory last week when a court ruled he could access public matching funds after Democrats tried to deny him the money, but even with that expected cash influx, he still trails significantly behind Hochul, who had $20 million in cash on hand at the start of the year. The governor is not participating in the public financing system.

The expected Republican nominee must improve both his poll position and fundraising to attract the attention of a deep-pocketed super PAC.

“Blakeman being able to properly get back into that program will be a magnet to attract other money to his campaign,” Kassar predicted. “I do think that Blakeman becomes much more appealing to individuals who want to play in New York state.”

Yet deep-pocketed help is not on the horizon, while the governor has shored up her own standing with New York’s economic upper crust.

Hochul has tried to signal to New York’s richest that she understands their concerns. She lobbied Mamdani to retain NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a member of one of the country’s wealthiest families. She also met with Griffin after Mamdani bragged in a video outside his $238 million New York City penthouse that it would be taxed under a plan the governor championed.

Hochul has not disclosed what was said in her meeting with Griffin, which was scheduled prior to the dustup with Mamdani. And the mayor has not been able to get a sit-down with the hedge funder after the video when Griffin threatened to yank his company’s Big Apple investments.

Those contrasting relationships have suited Hochul well as she navigates this populist political era. Mamdani’s February endorsement of her reelection bid helped short circuit a left-flank primary challenge by Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. The Buffalo-native governor has presented herself to the city’s monied elite as a backstop to the mayor’s more sweeping tax measures.

“Absent the governor I think you have a left-leaning legislature that would have pushed more significant tax increases who are not grasping how we’re losing the competitive race,” said Steve Fulop, the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a business-boosting organization.

The DSA, meanwhile, stands to become the biggest winners of the upcoming June Democratic primaries. Candidates backed by the group are supporting primary challengers across New York, and their success would complicate state budget negotiations next year.

There are, however, some exceptions.

One group, Next NYC PAC, has received support from real estate interests like the Real Estate Board of New York’s political arm. The super PAC New York Forward, a group supported by the Albany-based lobbying firm Brown & Weinraub, is backing moderate Democrats in city races including those running against DSA-backed candidates.

“Our clients know they won’t win on every policy issue,” said Evan Rantzaklis, the PAC’s senior adviser. “But they are looking for leaders who will sit down, have real conversations, and find practical solutions — not just try to score political points. This effort is about supporting that kind of legislator.”

Congress

Elon Musk pours another $76 million into boosting Republicans

Published

6 hours ago

October 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave another $76 million to boost Republicans in the first two weeks of October, bringing his total giving this cycle to more than $442 million.

The additional funds, which Musk gave to his super PAC, America PAC, make the group one of the biggest super PACs this cycle. America PAC has already spent tens of millions of dollars on digital advertising, mailers and text messages as it targets competitive House and Senate races across the country.

Musk — the world’s wealthiest man — is by far the biggest single donor this cycle, with his political giving this year far exceeding even the roughly $290 million he spent in 2024. There is no precedent in modern American history for any donor spending as much as he has.

While the Tesla CEO and former DOGE lead has spent significantly to help Republicans, he has not been joining GOP candidates on the campaign trail this fall like he had in the past. Republicans privately acknowledged Musk could be politically toxic after the party lost a major Wisconsin judicial race in the spring of 2025 where Musk had become both the biggest funder and a campaign issue.

Still, Musk’s money has been instrumental for Republicans this fall. His earlier giving this cycle includes $158 million for Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, which was transferred to a super PAC boosting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is locked in a tight Senate race against Democrat James Talarico. Democrats have looked to make his money a campaign issue: Talarico recently responded to an attack from Musk on the Musk-owned X social media site by saying that there was “deeply wrong with a political system that allows one trillionaire to buy his own personal U.S. Senator.”

Musk has also given to House Republicans’ super PAC arm, President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, and a group seeking to repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, along with a smattering of GOP candidates.

Congress

Senate Democrats’ campaign arm takes out $15M loan

Published

7 hours ago

October 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats have taken out a $15 million loan as they hope to expand their map in the final days before the midterms.

The party’s campaign arm took out the loan earlier this month, according to a report submitted Thursday to the Federal Election Commission.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent $32 million in the first two weeks of October, with half of those funds going toward coordinated expenditures in 10 states. That includes: $4.7 million Ohio; more than $1 million in each of Iowa, Michigan, Kansas, Alaska and Maine; and additional funds in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and New Hampshire.

The committee reported just over $20 million cash on hand as of Oct. 14, according to its FEC report.

Its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, previously took out $20 million in loans in September, according to an FEC report filed earlier this week. The DSCC has slightly trailed the NRSC in fundraising for most of the cycle, but Democratic candidates have largely outraised GOP ones across the map — in some cases, several times over.

Democrats’ candidate fundraising advantage has helped offset the GOP’s massive super PAC cash advantage since candidates, and parties working with them, get better rates for broadcast ads.

It’s not unusual for party committees to take out loans late in an election cycle to power last-minute spending. In 2024, the DSCC took out $20 million in loans.

“In the face of being outspent by GOP megadonors, Senate Democrats remain in the best position yet to win the majority, after we strategically and effectively expanded the map and sent Republicans scrambling to play defense in red states everywhere,” DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle said in a statement. “We will continue to use every tool at our disposal and we will win in November.”

Congress

Kevin McCarthy predicts GOP will lose House majority

Published

12 hours ago

October 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted Republicans will lose the House in two weeks, citing historical midterm trends while also criticizing the sitting GOP leadership for how they’ve managed the chamber.

“In the last 100 years, all off-year elections, whoever is the party in power has the White House, has lost seats, and it’s only a few seats for the majority,” McCarthy said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday.

Democrats, he added, will “get a majority” in the House: “I’m not quite sure how big it is, but they will probably win the majority.”

The former speaker, who ushered in the current GOP House majority in 2022 but only led the conference for less than a year before being booted from the speakership, went on to fault his own party for giving the election away.

“It’s not that the Democrats are going to win this election,” he said. “Republicans are going to lose it.”

He pointed to the skimpy House legislative calendar as a factor. Speaker Mike Johnson and his deputies have routinely canceled scheduled session days amid member revolts that have undermined his grip on the razor-thin majority.

“You’re only given 24 months in a majority to manage it. They were in the fewest amount of days. They let the Democrats dictate,” McCarthy said. “You have to give a reason why to win. What are the three things Republicans will do if they win the majority? I can’t tell you what that is.”

Still, McCarthy cautioned that if Democrats win the House, it won’t be because they have laid out their own agenda and warned that he believes that Democrats will face their own hurdles.

“Democrats are not popular. They haven’t laid out an agenda on what they’ll do,” McCarthy said. “So they’ll have a really hard time governing in the next Congress.”