‘We’d love to have you here': Pa. chamber courts NYC employers after Mamdani’s win

Progressive Zohran Mamdani’s upset win in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary has caused a stir among some in the city’s business establishment.

It’s also spurred the leader of a Pennsylvania business group to try to take a bite of the Big Apple’s outsize share of the global economy and try doing business in the Keystone state.

Luke Bernstein, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, made the case in a minute-long video posted to social media Wednesday, the day after the primary.

“We just heard that you might have a new mayor who happens to be a socialist,” Bernstein said. “We’ve been doing something radical too, and that something radical is lowering taxes, streamlining our permitting and making affordable, clean energy accessible to our businesses.”

For business owners looking for the exits, “we’d love to have you here in Pennsylvania,” he added.

Our message to NYC businesses: pic.twitter.com/4FR8uQkV6h

— Pennsylvania Chamber (@PAChamber) June 25, 2025

Mamdani, a New York state lawmaker, stunned former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary Tuesday. Though his win isn’t official until the state finishes counting ranked-choice voting results, Cuomo has conceded the race.

The young progressive has sought to embody an end to establishment politics.

Some of his signature proposals include a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments, free bus fares and a pilot program of city-owned grocery stores. He has promised to pay for much of this through tax increases on millionaires and big corporations, which would require approval from lawmakers in Albany.

Those on the political right have have been quick to brand him as radical and, more specifically, a communist. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” on Truth Social.

New York City business leaders have also piled on the criticism.

Billionaire John Catsimatidis has threatened to take his Manhattan-based supermarket chain, Gristedes, to New Jersey over Mamdani’s grocery store proposal. And financial analyst Jim Bianco described the primary results as New York “electing to commit suicide by Mayor.”

It’s unclear if this rhetoric will translate to businesses uprooting themselves. Similar chatter emerged after the election of Bill de Blasio as New York City mayor in 2013, and while he was never a star among business leaders, there’s little evidence he caused an exodus.

But if Mamdani does lead business elites to flee, Pennsylvania might not be only state on their radar.

“If this socialist mayor candidate wins in New York City, you’re going to see real estate values skyrocket in Palm Beach because people are going to get out of that city,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shortly before the primary.