Mamdani courts Wall Street leaders as he pushes tax hikes

Zohran Mamdani is opening a direct channel to Wall Street even as he presses ahead with tax hikes on million-dollar earners and corporations, an early test of whether New York’s new mayor can turn confrontation into coexistence.

Mamdani was sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor on January 1, 2026, after winning the 2025 election with 1,114,184 votes, or 50.8 percent. He became the first Muslim elected to the office and drew more votes than any New York City mayoral candidate in more than 50 years, giving his administration unusual political weight as it faces the city’s most powerful business interests.

His latest outreach includes planned individual meetings with JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon. He had already met with Blackstone president and chief operating officer Jonathan Gray and held separate City Hall sessions with Bank of America and Chobani executives. JPMorgan alone employs more than 24,000 people in New York City, a reminder of how deeply the finance sector is tied to the city’s labor market and tax base.

At the same time, Mamdani is still pushing a city personal-income-tax surcharge on residents earning $1 million or more and a rise in the state corporate tax rate from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent. Those changes would require action in Albany from the state legislature and the governor, putting his agenda at the mercy of state-level politics even as he tries to build goodwill with executives who would bear much of the cost.

The business community has been wary since Mamdani’s primary win, especially because of his tax plans and socialist branding. In July 2025, roughly 100 CEOs met with him at a Partnership for New York City gathering, while another session drew more than 200 tech executives, startup founders and venture capitalists. Some leaders left saying he seemed more serious and less alarming than they had expected, and Mamdani’s team cast the meetings as an effort to show he would work in partnership to make the city more affordable.

One of the most sensitive exchanges centered on the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Kathy Wylde, who helped broker a meeting with about 130 business leaders, said Mamdani said he would discourage others from using the phrase while still supporting the underlying ideas. Wylde also said the discussion went in depth on his relationship with Jewish New Yorkers, and that some executives left with a more favorable impression.

The pressure point is becoming sharper. Mamdani recently highlighted Citadel chief executive Ken Griffin’s $238 million penthouse at 220 Central Park South in a video promoting the new pied-à-terre tax, prompting Griffin to call the message “creepy and weird.” Citadel reportedly considered pulling back from a Midtown Manhattan development, while Mamdani said City Hall had reached out to Griffin even though no meeting had been scheduled.