Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not

Summary

In the weeks since Zohran Mamdani’s New York City Democratic primary win on June 20, a slew of tech executives who do not have a primary residence in the city or state of New York have been panicking about the prospect of him becoming mayor.Every member of the popular All-In podcast, including current White House “AI and crypto czar” David Sacks, has raised alarms on X about the prospect of a Mamdani mayoralty.“Wake up, Silicon Valley,” Sacks posted on June 29, sharing a video of Mamdani on Meet the Press. “You basically have two choices now: Get on board with MAGA or prepare to be on Mamdani’s dinner menu.”Gemini cofounders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, former X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and Y Combinator president and CEO Garry Tan have also posted about Mamdani with some combination of anger, fear, and dread since his primary win. Even Elon Musk has weighed in, though with less frequency and intensity than his posts on many other topics.Generally speaking, these tech leaders' slights are mostly concerned with Mamdani identifying as a Democratic Socialist—though, they often describe him as a plain “socialist,” which is meaningfully different, or a “communist,” which is completely different.But some tech leaders who live or have corporate headquarters in New York City tell WIRED that they don’t agree. Several executives who attended an approximately 200-person private meeting on July 16 with Mamdani tell WIRED that they were impressed by Mamdani’s eagerness to listen to their concerns, his thoughtful answers to their questions, and his charisma, which eased the tension in a room with a diverse set of opinions.One attendee, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, tells WIRED that the makeup of the people at the tech-focused event, cohosted by Partnership for New York City (PNYC), appeared to be primarily company founders, general partners, and senior executives. Among them, they claim, were William F...