“Worried About Zohran?” reads a Times Square electronic billboard: “Ohio Is Waiting For You.” Wait a few seconds, and the faces of New York City's mayoral election lineup appear along with another pointed question: "Ready to flee NYC?"
"Move to Ohio! Protecting freedom —Vivek Ramaswamy."
The $50,000 signage is paid for by Ramaswamy's Super PAC — Victors not Victims (VPAC) — established to support his effort to become Ohio's next Republican governor in 2026.
VPAC's Andy Surabian told Fox News that New Yorkers concerned about Mamdani's "radical socialist policies" should move to a state like Ohio "that is about to elect a conservative trailblazer committed to liberty and prosperity for all."
I'm not sure how well "Move to Ohio!" plays with New Yorkers. I'm less sure how well it plays with understandably wary Ohioans. As a Coloradan for three decades, I can tell you in blistering terms what happens when blue state refugees become settler-colonists in a red-leaning state.
What I do know for sure is that Ramaswamy seems to be having a blast tweaking Big Apple residents while they're playing electoral footsie with Democrat-Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
The neo-Marxist, pseudo-African American nominee promises a four-year rent freeze on two million units, eliminating bus fares, a $30 minimum wage, at least five city-run grocery stores, free universal child care, expanded public housing for parents, $65 million for "gender-affirming care," and making NYC an LGBTQ+ "sanctuary city," and replacing cops in high-crime areas with social workers.
In short, "Welcome Back, Koch-era."
Mamdani says he'll pay for it all with a massive $10 billion tax hike on businesses and households earning $1 million or more annually. That's just one reason why several prominent New York businessmen said last month that they "plan to exit the city with their businesses if Mamdani wins."
I say: "High taxes, crushing regulations, and tons of freebies for freeloaders? What's not to love?"
Sorry, that should have read, "What's not to leave?"
Ramaswamy's message is even more timely now, after concerned business leaders gave Mamdani the side-eye at an uncomfortable business summit on Tuesday.
PJ Media's own Matt Margolis has one angle on the meeting — the one where Mamdani promised attendees that he would discourage further use of the slogan “globalize the intifada,” but only until after the election.
Surprised? Yeah, me neither.
Mamdani addressed more than 100 New York City business execs at an event hosted by the influential Partnership for New York City, and according to the Wall Street Journal, about the nicest thing any of the attendees had to say was, "It could have been a lot worse."
Also from the WSJ report: "Many in attendance said they walked away impressed by the 33-year-old candidate’s ability to work a crowd but no more comfortable with his ideas."
"The event came hours after Mamdani held a private breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow democratic socialist and a longtime foe of Wall Street," the Journal not-so-subtly added.
Over at HotAir, friend and colleague Ed Morrissey wonders if business leaders' time "may have been better spent planning to move operations out of the jurisdiction of a city that may make the movie title 'Moscow On the Hudson' a literal reality."
Ohio — even under Vivek Ramaswamy — might not be the first choice for the "Escape from New York" crowd, but Wall Street's biggest firms already have well-established outposts in Florida and Texas.
And they're ready to expand.
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