LI's Suffolk county offering tax breaks to NYC companies who relocate if Mamdani becomes mayor
Suffolk County will offer tax breaks to Big Apple companies to relocate there if Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of New York City, the Long Island region's top official said Sunday.
'If Mr. Mamdani wins, I'm going to encourage many of the corporations that do business in New York City [to] come to Suffolk' about 70 miles east, County Executive Ed Romaine said on WABC 770 AM's 'Cats Roundtable' show.
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Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine is urging New York City corporations to relocate to Suffolk if Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor.
Dennis A. Clark
'We're going to give them tax breaks. They're going to be able to do better,' Romaine told host John Catsimatidis.
Romaine made his alluring pitch to CEOs after Catsimatidis told him that Florida officials are trying to recruit Big Apple CEOs to relocate their firms to the Sunshine State, where many New York transplants already live.
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Romaine said there's no need to travel that far south.
'Come out to Suffolk,' Romaine said.
Romaine, a Republican, said he doesn't believe that Mamdani, currently a 33-year-old state assemblyman representing Astoria and western Queens, has the experience and wisdom to run the nation's largest metropolis.
Mamdani has proposed raising taxes on billionaires and corporations in the city.
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He noted that Mamdani's proposed free-bus fare program for the city 'sounds great' — but said someone has to pay for it.
Mamdani has proposed $9 billion in higher taxes on billionaires and corporations to subsidize such initiatives as free bus fares, expanded free childcare and more affordable housing.
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'The taxpayers who pay the taxes, how much are they going to put up with?' Romaine said.
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He said New York state is already suffering from an exodus because of the high cost of living that includes hefty taxes.
Mamdani campaign spokeswoman Dora Pekec responded in a statement to The Post, 'Working people are being pushed out of the city they built, and it's because of corrupt politicians like [former Gov.] Andrew Cuomo and [current Mayor] Eric Adams,' who are running against her boss in November.
'Zohran will make this city affordable, and deliver a quality of life that ensures New York City is a magnet for workers, businesses, and opportunity,' the rep said.
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Boston Globe
5 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Mitch McConnell's legacy comes under fire in Kentucky race to replace him in the Senate
Advertisement 'We've seen 40 years of doing it the same way,' Morris said. 'And, yes, he's not on the ballot, but his legacy is on the ballot. Do you want 40 more years of that? I don't think you do.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up McConnell's blunt-force approach used against him The pushback from a county GOP chairman revealed the political risks of attacking the 83-year-old McConnell in the twilight of his career. Towering over Kentucky politics for decades, McConnell is regarded as the master strategist behind the GOP's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats. The state Republican headquarters bears McConnell's name. As the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell guided Republican policymaking and helped forge a conservative Supreme Court. Back home, his appropriating skills showered Kentucky with federal funding. Advertisement Now, his blunt-force style of campaigning — which undercut so many foes — is being used against him. Morris is running against two other prominent Republicans — U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron — for McConnell's seat. The outcome will be decided in the spring primary next year. Kentucky hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992. All three Republican hopefuls lavish praise on Trump — in hopes of landing his endorsement — but also have ties to McConnell, who mentored generations of aspirational Republicans. Cameron and Barr have chided McConnell at times, but it's been mild compared to Morris' attacks. Morris interned for McConnell but glosses over that connection. McConnell pushes back At events surrounding the Fancy Farm picnic, an event long known for caustic zingers that he has always relished, McConnell showed no sign of backing down. 'Surely this isn't true, but I've heard that one of the candidates running for my office wants to be different,' McConnell told a Republican crowd that included Morris at a pre-picnic breakfast in Mayfield. 'Now, I'm wondering how you'd want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history. I'm wondering how you'd want to be different in supporting President Trump.' McConnell received multiple standing ovations. Morris stayed seated. McConnell has consistently voted for Trump's policies more often than Kentucky's other Republican senator, Rand Paul, according to a Congressional Quarterly voting analysis. McConnell recently supported Trump's signature tax and spending measure. Paul opposed it, saying it would drive up debt. Yet Morris has taken on McConnell, who has famously had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. McConnell teamed with Trump to put conservatives on the federal bench and pass tax cuts during the president's first term. McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals. But the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for 'disgraceful' acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by Trump's supporters. Advertisement McConnell endorsed Trump in 2024, but in a biography by Michael Tackett of The Associated Press, released shortly before the election, McConnell described him as 'a despicable human being.' Running against career politicians Morris, who started a waste management technology company, says the senator has been insufficiently loyal to Trump and allowed festering issues like immigration and the national debt to grow worse during his years in Senate leadership. Morris wants to tether his opponents to McConnell while running on anti-establishment themes that his campaign thinks will appeal to legions of Trump supporters in the Bluegrass State. 'Let's face it, folks, career politicians have run this country off a cliff,' Morris said. Morris' rivals sum up the anti-McConnell attacks as an angry, backward-looking message. Cameron called it a diversionary tactic to obscure what he said is Morris' lack of both a message and credibility as a supporter of Trump's MAGA movement. 'He can't talk about his actual record. So he has to choose to pick on an 83-year-old,' Cameron said. At Fancy Farm, where candidates hurl insults at one another against a backdrop of bingo games and barbecue feasts, Morris took a swipe at McConnell's health. 'I have a serious question: who here can honestly tell me that it's a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. senator?' Morris said. 'It seems, to me, maybe just maybe, Mitch's time to leave the Senate was a long time ago.' Advertisement McConnell had his customary front-row seat for much of the event but wasn't there for Morris' remarks. He typically leaves before all the speeches are delivered and exited before his would-be successors spoke. Living by the sword McConnell complimented Trump in his speech, singling out Trump's bombing of Iranian nuclear sites. 'He turned Iran's nuclear program into a pile of rocks,' McConnell, a steadfast advocate for a muscular U.S. foreign policy, said to cheers. At the GOP dinner the night before in Calvert City, where candidates typically are more politely received, party activist Frank Amaro confronted Morris for his anti-McConnell barrage. 'He keeps bashing Mitch McConnell like he's running against Mitch McConnell,' Amaro, a county Republican chairman, said afterward. 'Overall, he's helped Kentucky and the United States, especially our Supreme Court, more than any other U.S. senator in this country.' But Morris' blistering assessment of McConnell hit the mark with Trump supporter Patrick Marion, who applied the dreaded Republican-in-Name-Only label to McConnell. 'Personally, I think Mitch has been a RINO for way too long,' Marion said later. 'I don't think he was a true MAGA supporter of President Trump.' Afterward, Morris was in no mood to back off. 'He's the nastiest politician maybe in the history of this state if not in the history of this country,' Morris said of McConnell. 'Look, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.'
Axios
5 minutes ago
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What happens if fleeing Texas Democrats don't return
Texas Democrats may have fled the Lone Star State to avoid a critical redistricting vote, but potential problems await them once they return. The big picture: Political backlash, fines and legal challenges are all on the table if the departed Democrats don't make their way back to Texas soon. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has given Democrats a 3 p.m. CT deadline to return or face "legal consequences." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) threatened to arrest the Democrats who left. "We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law," he wrote on X Sunday. Driving the news: More than 50 Democratic lawmakers left Texas to prevent the GOP from holding a vote in the state House on a new congressional district map. A good chunk of Dems traveled to three blue strongholds —Illinois, New York and Massachusetts. The vote — a response to a President Trump -led move to rewrite the districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections — could net Republicans up to five seats. Texas House rules require two-thirds of lawmakers — or 100 out of the 150 elected positions — to be present for any vote. Republicans hold 88 of the seats, Democrats have 62 and none of the representatives are Independents. What happens to Texas Democrats who left? By the numbers: Democrats face a $500 daily fine for each day they are absent without leave. If they run out the clock on the special session — which ends on August 19 — that would mean thousands of dollars in fines for each member. The punishment was added in 2023 after the Democrats left the state for three weeks in 2021 over a voting rights bill. The fines can not be paid "from funds in the member's operating account or from funds accepted as political contributions," according to Texas law. Political risks exist, too. The redistricting vote was set to take place during a special session that would have featured discussions on flood management over the July 4 deadly flooding in Central Texas, as well as THC regulation. Redistricting was added after Abbot held a phone call with Trump, Axios' Alex Isenstadt and Megan Stringer report. Will Texas Democrats be removed from office? Context: Abbott said in a Sunday statement that he planned to "remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House" if they weren't back by Monday afternoon. Abbott cited a 2021 opinion from Paxton which said legislators who intentionally break quorum could be removed through a quo warranto legal proceeding. The Texas governor also said anyone who solicits or accepts funds to cover the fines could be subject to the state's bribery laws. "I will use my full extradition authority to demand the return to Texas of any potential out-of-state felons," Abbott said. Reality check: It's unclear if Abbott would (or could) really remove the lawmakers from office. Any potential removal from office would be met with legal challenges, and opinions issued by an attorney general are not considered legally binding. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, joined by fleeing Texas Democrats at a Sunday press conference, said that the state would work to help the lawmakers however possible. "We're going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them," Pritzker said. What happens to the Texas special session? If they don't return on or before August 19, the 30-day special session would conclude without any votes, and it would expire. Abbott would have to call for another one. What's we're watching: Paxton said on the "War Room" podcast with Steve Bannon, that he believes the Democrats will eventually return to Texas.
Los Angeles Times
5 minutes ago
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Mitch McConnell's legacy comes under fire in Kentucky race to replace him in the Senate
CALVERT CITY, Ky. — Republican Nate Morris had deftly warmed up a crowd of party faithful, gushing about President Donald Trump and recounting his own life's journey — from hardscrabble childhood to wealthy entrepreneur — when he turned his attention to the man he wants to replace, Sen. Mitch McConnell. That's when things got feisty. While bashing Kentucky's longest-serving senator at a GOP dinner on the eve of Saturday's Fancy Farm picnic, a tradition-laden stop on the state's political circuit, Morris was cut off in midsentence by a party activist in the crowd, who noted that McConnell isn't seeking reelection and pointedly asked Morris: 'What are you running on?' Morris touted his hard line stance on immigration and defended Trump's tariffs as a boon for American manufacturing. But he didn't retreat from his harsh critique of McConnell. 'We've seen 40 years of doing it the same way,' Morris said. 'And, yes, he's not on the ballot, but his legacy is on the ballot. Do you want 40 more years of that? I don't think you do.' The pushback from a county GOP chairman revealed the political risks of attacking the 83-year-old McConnell in the twilight of his career. Towering over Kentucky politics for decades, McConnell is regarded as the master strategist behind the GOP's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats. The state Republican headquarters bears McConnell's name. As the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell guided Republican policymaking and helped forge a conservative Supreme Court. Back home, his appropriating skills showered Kentucky with federal funding. Now, his blunt-force style of campaigning — which undercut so many foes — is being used against him. Morris is running against two other prominent Republicans — U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron — for McConnell's seat. The outcome will be decided in the spring primary next year. Kentucky hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992. All three Republican hopefuls lavish praise on Trump — in hopes of landing his endorsement — but also have ties to McConnell, who mentored generations of aspirational Republicans. Cameron and Barr have chided McConnell at times, but it's been mild compared to Morris' attacks. Morris interned for McConnell but glosses over that connection. At events surrounding the Fancy Farm picnic, an event long known for caustic zingers that he has always relished, McConnell showed no sign of backing down. 'Surely this isn't true, but I've heard that one of the candidates running for my office wants to be different,' McConnell told a Republican crowd that included Morris at a pre-picnic breakfast in Mayfield. 'Now, I'm wondering how you'd want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history. I'm wondering how you'd want to be different in supporting President Trump.' McConnell received multiple standing ovations. Morris stayed seated. McConnell has consistently voted for Trump's policies more often than Kentucky's other Republican senator, Rand Paul, according to a Congressional Quarterly voting analysis. McConnell recently supported Trump's signature tax and spending measure. Paul opposed it, saying it would drive up debt. Yet Morris has taken on McConnell, who has famously had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. McConnell teamed with Trump to put conservatives on the federal bench and pass tax cuts during the president's first term. McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals. But the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for 'disgraceful' acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by Trump's supporters. McConnell endorsed Trump in 2024, but in a biography by Michael Tackett of The Associated Press, released shortly before the election, McConnell described him as 'a despicable human being.' Morris, who started a waste management technology company, says the senator has been insufficiently loyal to Trump and allowed festering issues like immigration and the national debt to grow worse during his years in Senate leadership. Morris wants to tether his opponents to McConnell while running on anti-establishment themes that his campaign thinks will appeal to legions of Trump supporters in the Bluegrass State. 'Let's face it, folks, career politicians have run this country off a cliff,' Morris said. Morris' rivals sum up the anti-McConnell attacks as an angry, backward-looking message. Cameron called it a diversionary tactic to obscure what he said is Morris' lack of both a message and credibility as a supporter of Trump's MAGA movement. 'He can't talk about his actual record. So he has to choose to pick on an 83-year-old,' Cameron said. At Fancy Farm, where candidates hurl insults at one another against a backdrop of bingo games and barbecue feasts, Morris took a swipe at McConnell's health. 'I have a serious question: who here can honestly tell me that it's a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. senator?' Morris said. 'It seems, to me, maybe just maybe, Mitch's time to leave the Senate was a long time ago.' McConnell had his customary front-row seat for much of the event but wasn't there for Morris' remarks. He typically leaves before all the speeches are delivered and exited before his would-be successors spoke. McConnell complimented Trump in his speech, singling out Trump's bombing of Iranian nuclear sites. 'He turned Iran's nuclear program into a pile of rocks,' McConnell, a steadfast advocate for a muscular U.S. foreign policy, said to cheers. At the GOP dinner the night before in Calvert City, where candidates typically are more politely received, party activist Frank Amaro confronted Morris for his anti-McConnell barrage. 'He keeps bashing Mitch McConnell like he's running against Mitch McConnell,' Amaro, a county Republican chairman, said afterward. 'Overall, he's helped Kentucky and the United States, especially our Supreme Court, more than any other U.S. senator in this country.' But Morris' blistering assessment of McConnell hit the mark with Trump supporter Patrick Marion, who applied the dreaded Republican-in-Name-Only label to McConnell. 'Personally, I think Mitch has been a RINO for way too long,' Marion said later. 'I don't think he was a true MAGA supporter of President Trump.' Afterward, Morris was in no mood to back off. 'He's the nastiest politician maybe in the history of this state if not in the history of this country,' Morris said of McConnell. 'Look, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.' Schreiner writes for the Associated Press.
