The former mayor of New York said the Democratic frontrunner’s plans for free buses, universal childcare and more do not ‘hold up under scrutiny’
www.thetimes.com
A key ally of Zohran Mamdani has said the mayoral frontrunner’s socialist policy agenda, estimated to cost about $10 billion annually, “doesn’t hold up” financially.
Bill de Blasio, the former New York mayor, endorsed Mamdani in early September, becoming one of the earliest establishment Democrats to publicly back the 34-year-old state assemblyman’s campaign.
De Blasio, 64, said he had since reviewed Mamdani’s proposals and concluded the sums did not work. 
“While the ambition is admirable, the cost estimates — reportedly exceeding $7 billion annually — rest on optimistic assumptions… about eliminating waste and raising revenue through new taxes,” de Blasio told The Times. “In my view, the math doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial.” 
Mamdani is running on an ambitious package of free buses, universal childcare, city-run grocery stores, rent freezes and education reform that his campaign estimates will cost about $10 billion a year.
He has proposed a 2 per cent tax increase on those earning more than $1 million per year and raising the corporate tax rate to 11.5 per cent to pay for the majority of his agenda.
Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor, posing for a selfie with a supporter.
Mamdani out canvassing in Manhattan this week
REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR
Economists have said that the true cost of enacting his proposals is likely to be billions of dollars more than estimated, and noted that the campaign had yet to publish a detailed financing plan. Several major policies, including eliminating tuition fees at the City University of New York and the capital cost of building new bus lanes, have been advanced with no accompanying cost estimates.
Ken Girardin, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said Mamdani exemplified a wider trend of politicians making “vast promises without realistic funding plans”.
“What we are watching is the peril of politicians being able to make massive programme proposals without explaining how those proposals will be funded,” he said.
“That is not a problem unique to Mamdani — it is a broader trend in government.” The campaign, he argued, “absolutely does not have a plan” to pay for the agenda.
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Many of Mamdani’s proposals also depend on raising taxes — measures that would require approval from politicians in Albany and from Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor, who has repeatedly ruled out tax increases on businesses and high earners. Hochul has more recently indicated she might seek alternative funding for some priorities, such as universal childcare, without raising taxes.
Since Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June and emerged as the general election frontrunner, criticism has mounted from across the party.
Larry Summers, the Harvard economist and former US treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, accused Mamdani in July of promoting “Trotskyite economic policies”.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives who belatedly endorsed Mamdani last week, has also expressed concerns about how he would pay for his policies. “We’ve got to figure out, moving forward, how we turn proposals into actual plans so that he is successful if he becomes the next mayor,” Jeffries said in August.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a news conference.
De Blasio with Andrew Cuomo in 2020, when both were in office
DAVID DEE DELGADO/GETTY IMAGES
John Fetterman, the Democratic senator for Pennsylvania, has called his platform wish list a “gift to the Republicans”.
David Paterson, the former Democratic governor of New York, said in a statement in July that Mamdani was offering “ideas without a plan for implementation or funding” that would not help families struggling to make ends meet.
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Mark Cuban, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and Democratic donor, likened Mamdani’s rhetoric to President Trump’s claim that Mexico would pay for a wall on the US southern border.
“This guy is walking in telling me he’s going to walk on water. He’s going to make me more money, he’s going to save me money, he’s going to make my life better,” Cuban told the Pod Save America podcast in July.
“That’s classic Trump strategy. Is it true? Does it matter?”
De Blasio was mayor of New York from 2014 to 2021 and secured his signature achievement — a free pre-school programme for three and four-year-olds — after months of wrangling with Andrew Cuomo, the then-governor and now one of Mamdani’s rivals in the mayoral race.
The policy cost about $300 million when it launched in 2014, a fraction of the $5 to $7 billion that Mamdani is proposing for childcare alone. De Blasio added that Mamdani would need multiple terms in office to bring his agenda to fruition even if funding were secured.
Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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yeah, thank god for that liz warren endorsement out of massachusetts. huge game changer
crockett.house.gov
