Sen. Elizabeth Warren vehemently defended Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy for New York City Mayor against millionaire/ billionaire supporter CNBC host David Faber.
The constant refrain from Republicans is that if you raise taxes on the rich, they will leave your state, so please coddle them at the expense of the entire working class.
Warren didn’t buy into that meme. I posted a five minute segment, but only included a small portion of the transcript.
FABER: You mentioned Mamdani and you are in New York sort of talking, speaking on behalf of him to a certain extent.
You know, I wonder though, often we see this, and this is a local election, New York does not operate in a vacuum, it competes with other cities.
And so this idea of somehow raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, who by the way I would point out pay roughly 15% of their income right now between city and state.
Raising taxes on them will simply drive them away.
Shouldn’t the focus of a mayor be on delivering services to the constituents of the city and doing that by raising the most revenue as possible without chasing businesses and the high income taxpayers out of the city? Because they can go to Austin, they can go to Dallas, they can go to Atlanta, they can go to Nashville.
This is your issue.
It’s a national issue, not a local issue.
WARREN: The issue is affordability. Do you know how many working families are chased out of New York City every day? Because they can’t afford housing, they can’t afford groceries, they can’t afford childcare.
What Zohran is saying is, I want people to be able to afford to live in New York City.
That’s what keeps it a vibrant city.
That’s what makes people want to live here.
FABER: Nobody disagrees with that, Senator, but raising taxes in order to do it?
Why is that the answer?
WARREN: Oh my goodness. Oh dear. Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?
FABER: No I’m worried that they’re going to leave and spend their money elsewhere.
By the end of their debate, Faber asked if “a 33 year-old socialist, is going to succeed as the mayor of New York?”
Warren said she does because he will focus on working class families instead of billionaires.
It’s interesting to see the wealthy flip out over Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy.
