Gov. Ron DeSantis (left) warned Floridians about the possible consequences of Zohran Mamdani (right) winning New York City’s 2025 Democratic mayoral primary election Credit: Photos via Juli Hansen/Shutterstock (left), Richard Scalzo/Shutterstock (right)

A new poll shows Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani gaining on Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s New York City Democratic mayoral primary, and Ron DeSantis is concerned.

“I’m not a political prognosticator, not knowing what will happen in that mayor’s race that’s going on right now,” he told reporters and onlookers at a press conference in Clearwater Beach on Monday.

“But I will tell you, if that leftist does win, you’re going to see Palm Beach real estate go up another 20%. That will happen very quickly. Because as bad as some of what they’ve had, this is like [Bill] De Blasio on steroids.”

“That leftist” DeSantis wouldn’t or couldn’t name is a Queens state assemblyman who has overtaken Cuomo in the final round of ranked-choice voting in the Democratic mayoral primary election, according to a Emerson College, PIX 11, and The Hill survey released Monday.

DeSantis’ comment about more New Yorkers retreating to Palm Beach if Mamdani does win echoed comments made last week by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. She told a television station that she opposed Mamdani’s proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy, saying, “I don’t want to lose more people to Palm Beach. We’ve lost enough.”

More than 151,00 New Yorkers fled to Florida between 2018 and 2022, according to data from the Citizens Budget Commission, a New York fiscal watchdog group. A net of 30,000 New Yorkers fled the city to either Palm Beach or Miami-Dade counties in that period, taking with them a combined $9 billion in income.

“I follow these things because it affects us,” DeSantis continued. “When the current Chicago Mayor [Brandon Johnson] got elected, Naples real estate went up because it’s like they had bad and they elected worse, and so some people would say, ‘We’re just going to get out of Dodge.’”

The general election for mayor of New York City takes place in November.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

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This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2025.