In 1980, the “forgotten middle class” elected me to the U.S. Senate.
In 2025, that “forgotten middle class” is going to need to find its voice once again if its families want to stay in a New York City that is safe, functioning, capable of rewarding those who work hard, and have elected officials competently delivering essential services.
That means New York City’s middle class is going to have to recognize the hardcore ideological threat that is wrapped within the online telegenic theatrics of Zohran Mamdani. Failure to defeat this progressive socialist at the polls this November will generate an exodus of essential middle-class New Yorkers so stunning it will make our city an urban nightmare.
Staring down his most dangerous plan, Mamdani has recently pivoted on his previous commitment to defund the police. Now he is seeking to suggest that he really didn’t mean “defund” but rather, he now proposes to reallocate dollars into a “Department of Community Safety.” And just what does that mean for the working middle class families of New York? As a U.S. senator who stepped around crack vials in Times Square in 1981, I have seen what happens when a city slips into lawlessness.
But the economic impact from Mamdani’s cynical class warfare also puts the city at risk.
He has repeatedly stated he intends to tax businesses and high-income earners. Yet the COVID pandemic shutdown taught us that companies are not wedded to geography. If Mamdani’s high wealth targets decline his instruction to pay more taxes — much more — they will simply leave New York. Middle class professionals who depend on their jobs, contracts, and spending will feel the immediate impact from Mamdani’s socialist campaign against New York wealth.
The financial services professional, the marketing executive, the tech entrepreneur, the restaurant employee — all risk seeing their sectors contract as firms relocate to more business-friendly environments.
Mamdani’s other ideological pursuits — including rent freezes, free buses, city-owned grocery stores, and universal child care — comes with a projected $10 billion price tag, funded by new taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals. But in New York’s interconnected economy, these costs won’t stay confined to the ultra-wealthy. The middle class is invariably going to be stuck with a portion of that the bill.
Yet there’s more consequences for New York’s middle class. Consider Mamdani’s intent to freeze what tenants pay for rent-stabilized apartments.
Middle-class families, who typically earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing but too little to afford luxury apartments, will find themselves caught in an impossible squeeze. With rent-stabilized units frozen and market-rate apartments becoming even more expensive due to reduced supply, the middle class will face stark choices: accept deteriorating living conditions, pay unsustainable rents, or leave the city entirely.
Then there is Mamdani’s intent to raise New York City’s minimum wage to $30 an hour within five years. Who pays? Small businesses — the backbone of New York’s diverse economy — will face impossible choices. Some will try to automate. Others will reduce their hours. And then many will simply close their doors because these middle class owners will find that capitalism just died.
I once asked a political ally “How can I help you? Do you want me to endorse you or your opponent?” The same might be asked today as one considers the campaigns of Mayor Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa. The reality is that Mamdani’s general election opponents are still engaged in a “high noon” showdown as to who will oppose and defeat a candidate who now holds a 6-to-1 registration advantage in New York City.
All of them need to consider that far more than their political careers are at stake. The future of New York City is at risk and with it the question of whether it will become uninhabitable for the working families who form the city’s economic backbone. The candidate I believe who can successfully defend our city from the Mamdani agenda is Andrew Cuomo who has the authenticity to effectively connect with the one voting bloc that has most to lose from a socialist City Hall and one that has proven time and again their enormous political power: New York City’s “forgotten” middle-class.
D’Amato was a U.S. senator representing New York from 1981 until 1999.
