{"id":2592327,"date":"2026-04-18T12:38:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mayor-mamdani-says-exodus-from-new-york-is-just-your-imagination\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:40:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:40:53","slug":"mayor-mamdani-says-exodus-from-new-york-is-just-your-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mayor-mamdani-says-exodus-from-new-york-is-just-your-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Mamdani Says Exodus From New York Is Just Your Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmayor-mamdani-says-exodus-from-new-york-is-just-your-imagination%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2592327&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the debate over whether New York City is experiencing a \u201cwealth exodus\u201d due to high taxes.It centers on Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and self-described socialist, who denies that there is a mass departure of wealthy residents and argues that the city is actually losing working-class people who cannot afford to live there. The piece notes that, before his 2025 primary win, reports of affluent New Yorkers moving to tax-pleasant states like Florida were widespread, while Mamdani advocated large tax increases to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lightfoot-goes-down-and-a-moderate-liberal-faces-a-leftist-in-chicago\/\" title=\"Lightfoot Goes Down, and a Moderate Liberal Faces a Leftist in Chicago\">fund social programs<\/a>. He contends that there are more millionaires today than before the tax changes, suggesting the supposed exodus is \u201cimagined.\u201d The article also places Mamdani\u2019s stance in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-department-asks-court-to-deny-steve-bannon-prison-delay\/\" title=\"Justice Department requests court to reject Steve Bannon&#039;s request to postpone prison time\">broader political context<\/a>,referencing remarks by gov. Kathy Hochul and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on migration patterns, and cites a 2023 Siena College poll showing a notable share of New Yorkers considering leaving the state.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Democrat and socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday the city is not actually experiencing a much-reported exodus of wealthy residents over high taxes.<\/p>\n<p>A surge of affluent New Yorkers leaving the city and moving to places with lower taxes such as Florida was a major story in the run-up to the 2025 mayoral election. Mamdani repeatedly called for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-white-house-confirms-3t-infrastructure-bill-will-be-in-two-parts\/\" title=\"Biden White House confirms T infrastructure bill will be in two parts\">massive tax increases<\/a> to pay for a slew of social welfare programs and reports of the exodus exploded as his win looked increasingly likely.<\/p>\n<p>But when speaking at his Tax Day event on Wednesday, Mamdani denied there has been any such exodus, calling it imaginary and arguing that the opposite was true.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So for all of the discussion of the imagined exodus that would take place were we to tax the wealthiest New Yorkers by the appropriate amount &mdash; I say imagined because before I was a mayor I was a state legislator and I was part of an effort to increase taxes on millionaires at that time &mdash; we were told the same thing then &mdash; and what we find now is that we have more millionaires today than we did at that time even after having passed that tax,&rdquo; Mamdani said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And so for all of that conversation about this imagined exodus, we have to reckon with the very real exodus that we are seeing in the city, an exodus of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-taste-of-the-future-global-elites-at-world-economic-forum-promote-fake-meat-produced-from-a-3d-printer-video\/\" title=\"\u201cA Taste of the Future\u201d \u2013 Global Elites at World Economic Forum Promote Fake \u2018Meat\u2019 Produced From a 3D Printer (VIDEO)\">working class people<\/a>, an exodus of those who cannot afford to live here,&rdquo; Mamdani continued.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pleaded on March 11 for wealthy Americans to return from Florida to help fund the state&rsquo;s &ldquo;generous social programs,&rdquo; noting that a significant portion of the state&rsquo;s tax base had moved to Palm Beach.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;For many who work here who now find their residence in Jersey City or in Connecticut or in Pennsylvania, anywhere else where their dollar can go a little bit further,&rdquo; Mamdani said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And we&rsquo;ve seen just in a snapshot from 2000 to 2020, the city lost 200,000 of its black residents.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Following Mamdani&rsquo;s primary win in June 2025, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quipped his left-wing agenda could lead to migration from the Big Apple, causing Florida&rsquo;s real estate market to &ldquo;skyrocket.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If this socialist mayor candidate wins &ndash; you&rsquo;re gonna see real estate value skyrocket even more in Palm Beach, because people are gonna get out of that city,&rdquo; DeSantis said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As bad as DeBlasio was, this guy is like going to be way, way, worse.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>There has been an exodus of citizens from blue states like California and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-11968949\/New-York-exodus-10-000-people-flee-Florida-1-3-planning-leave.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York<\/a> to Florida, which has no state income tax and has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flgov.com\/eog\/news\/press\/2025\/governor-ron-desantis-signs-florida-fiscal-year-2025-2026-budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">budget<\/a> roughly the size of <a href=\"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/budget\/fy2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York City&rsquo;s<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>An April 2023 Siena College <a href=\"https:\/\/scri.siena.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ICS0323-Crosstabs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">poll<\/a> showed 27 percent of New York residents were planning to leave the state in the next five years, with 31 percent saying they would leave when they retired.<\/p>\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/union-membership-plummets-to-record-low\/\" title=\"Union Membership Plummets to Record Low\">legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact <a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a paraphrase of the main points in the piece:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and socialist, said there isn\u2019t really a mass departure of wealthy residents because of high taxes. He argued that stories of rich people leaving for tax-friendly places like Florida are overstated.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Instead, Mamdani claimed the city is actually seeing an exodus of working-class people who can\u2019t afford to stay, contradicting the idea of a wealth-based flight.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; At a Tax Day event, he defended his push for higher taxes on the wealthy to fund social welfare programs, arguing that the supposed \u201cimagined exodus\u201d has been used in political discourse for years, including when he was a state legislator.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; He noted that, despite past tax increases, the city now has more millionaires than before, suggesting the tax narrative doesn\u2019t hold up.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The article also references statements by Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who urged wealthy residents to return from Florida to support the state\u2019s social programs, highlighting a broader debate about who pays for public services.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; It mentions that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis teased that a left-wing mayoral victory in New York could spur people to move to Florida, potentially affecting Florida\u2019s real estate market.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The piece situates these discussions in a wider trend of people moving from blue states to Florida, which has no state income tax and a budget similar in size to New York City\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A Siena College poll from April 2023 is cited, noting that about 27% of New York residents planned to leave the state within five years, with 31% planning to leave upon retirement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The article includes notes about content licensing and other unrelated technical content embedded in the page<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2592328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7666.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[74647,78042,74682,78043,77102],"class_list":["post-2592327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-city-politics-2","tag-exodus-new-york","tag-mayor-mamdani-2","tag-nyc-demographics","tag-urban-politics-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_7666.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2592327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2592331,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592327\/revisions\/2592331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2592328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2592327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2592327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2592327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}