Vivek Ramaswamy warns of ‘citywide identity crisis' if Zohran Mamdani becomes NYC Mayor

Indian Express

17-07-2025

The former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Vivek Ramaswamy is taking an aim at New York City's political future warning that the city's 'soul' is at risk if a Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani wins the mayor's office.
Ramaswamy, now a 2026 gubernatorial candidate in Ohio, claimed in his X post that Mamdani's rise signals the death knell for the city that once stood as a symbol of ambition and success.
'If a guy like this becomes mayor… the identity of New York City as we know it will be erased,' Ramaswamy warned. He also added, 'the spirit is receding, and under someone like Mamdani, it could be gone entirely.'
Ramaswamy, who made his fortune in biotech before entering politics, said he moved to New York after college in 2007 because it celebrated ambition. But today, he says, that spirit is vanishing under what he calls a 'radical left' agenda.
I moved to NYC after I graduated college in 2007 because it was a place that still celebrated success, but that spirit receded in New York & soon could be gone altogether. We're reviving that American Dream in a new place: Ohio. The revival starts next November. pic.twitter.com/vLZ8fwOZUb
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 16, 2025
'We're reviving that American Dream in a new place: Ohio,' he wrote. 'The revival starts next November.'
That revival is already being advertised in Times Square. Earlier this week, a massive digital billboard lit up the Manhattan skyline urging residents to 'flee' Mamdani's 'radical socialist' politics and relocate to Ohio, the heart of Ramaswamy's campaign for 'Victors, not Victims.'
The Republican has built his campaign on the ideological chasm between conservative red states and progressive blue cities. His latest comments accuse Mamdani of harbouring an anti-capitalist worldview that could 'destroy America's greatest city.'
'Instead of ending billionaires, we should be focused on giving every American what billionaires have: a world-class education and financial independence from government,' Ramaswamy said.
Instead of 'ending billionaires,' we should focus on building a country where every American can enjoy the most important thing that billionaires do: a world-class education & financial independence from their government. pic.twitter.com/wyL7AuyrfF
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 16, 2025
Ramaswamy also addressed a sensitive suggestion in the political discourse: race and religion. Mamdani, a Ugandan-Indian Muslim and son of filmmaker Mira Nair, has been the subject of both admiration and attack. But Ramaswamy urged critics to stay focused on ideology, not identity.
'The real problem with Mamdani isn't his race or religion. It's his anti-capitalist worldview,' he wrote in an op-ed for The New York Post.
Still, Ramaswamy admitted the racism he himself has faced. 'Every time I post a photo, I'm asked to 'Go home',' he noted, slamming what he calls the 'race-obsessed fringe of the right' for targeting figures like Mamdani and Usha Vance, wife of Vice President JD Vance.
'It's a shame to watch the race-obsessed fringe of the right try to outdo the race-obsessed woke left,' he posted earlier this month.