Wealthy New Yorkers, including rapper 50 Cent, are desperate to get rid of Zohran Mamdani, the NYC mayoral candidate who may be elected to power this November. Amid all the backlash emerging against the Indian-original assemblyman, a new Times Square advertisement has taken the hate train against to another level altogether.
The billboard made headlines after a Monday debut, urging New Yorkers to “flee” a city with Mamdani as its potential mayor. In the same breath, the $50,000 ad – paid for by “Vivek Ramaswamy PAC — Victors, not Victims” presents Ohio as a viable alternate, especially in light of his 2026 GOP gubernatorial candidacy. Although both are men of Indian descent in US politics, their starkly opposing ideologies and party alliances place them at the extreme ends of the political spectrum.
Zohran Mamdani vs Vivek Ramaswamy
The pro-Vivek Ramaswamy PAC in favour of the 39-year-old says, “Worried About Zohran? Ohio Is Waiting For You!” Asking people if they’re “Ready to Flee NYC?” with “Radical Socialist” Mamdani in the mayoral race there, as opposed to a “Move to Ohio” where Ramaswamy is all for “Protecting Freedom.”
The chief strategist behind the political action committee, Andy Surabian, described the Trump-endorsed American biotech entrepreneur he’s backing as a “conservative trailblazer committed to liberty and prosperity for all.” He also hailed Ramaswamy as someone who is “ready to unleash freedom, supercharge the American dream and make Ohio a state of excellence.”
On the contrary, Surabian referred to the Democratic NYC mayoral candidate as someone who “will further crush New York City with his job-killing socialist tyranny.”
Surabian’s VPAC clear goal behind putting up the Times Square billboard was to present a stark vision of “The Mamdani path of socialist totalitarianism versus the Vivek path of American freedom,” he divulged.
The New York mayor hopeful, born in Uganda, hopes to raise income taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers by 2%. His official campaign website says he is “running for Mayor to lower the cost of living for working class New Yorkers.” His campaign promises include freezing the rent for all stabilised tenants, use every resource possible to bring down the rent and permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus, with focus on making buses reliable and safe, and improving safety for riders and operators.
Among other goals, he seeks to bring down the cost-of-living by raising the corporate tax rate and taxing wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers—those earning above $1 million annually—a flat 2% tax.