Whitney Tilson, a Biden-bashing Wall Street financier and one of the first Democrats to call on the president to withdraw from the 2024 race, is running for mayor of New York. The Post reported that.
The 58-year-old investor, long known for his prolific newsletters, podcasts and appearances on CNBC, filed a filing late Monday pledging to reduce crime by 50%, fight corruption and solve the immigration crisis. , he told the Post in an exclusive interview. Interview.
The married father of three said he decided to run in the June 2025 primary after Kamala Harris' disastrous performance on November 5. He partly blames the radical left, which he claims is destroying his own party.
“Our government imposes the highest taxes of any city in the country and fails to meet them,” Tilson told the Post. “The majority of those leaving the city are low- and moderate-income residents who are tired of crime and disorder and can no longer afford to live here.”
This will be Tilson's first foray into the political front, as he co-founded the Education Reform Democratic Party in 2007 to take on the powerful public school teachers unions and is on the state's charter school board. Served for over 20 years. South Bronx.
He joins a crowded field of candidates seeking to unseat incumbent Eric Adams, who has been indicted by the federal government on charges of accepting bribes, and most of his rivals are to the left of the current mayor.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo may enter the race if Adams ultimately does not run.
Tilson, a billionaire protégé of Warren Buffett, said his campaign will participate in the campaign finance committee's 8-to-1 matching program, meaning that for every $250 contribution, a candidate will receive $2,000. He said it would benefit city taxpayers.
He added that his campaign does not accept a single dollar from any organization that does business with local governments in the Big Apple, and is relying only on small donations to raise the legal limit of $7.9 million.
“I live a comfortable life by anyone's standards, but by the standards of my friends on the Upper East Side, I'm poor. I love Michael Bloomberg's policies, but his We will abide by the spending limits. No one will try to buy the mayor's office.”
Tilson's idea for cracking down on New York's most crime-prone areas is to declare a state of emergency in these high-crime areas, allowing authorities to “flood” them with police officers.
“Defund the police'' are three of the stupidest words of all time,'' he told the Post. “50% of violent crimes occur in 3.5% of city blocks.”
“What I'm talking about is increasing the police presence, having judges on hand 24/7 and issuing search warrants as quickly as possible.”
Tilson similarly accused President Joe Biden's administration of making a terrible mistake by “effectively opening the door” and allowing millions of immigrants into the United States.
“I don't support Donald Trump's proposal to round up and deport 12 million illegal immigrants. I don't think that's realistically possible.
“But I absolutely support President Trump's proposal to identify dangerous individuals who are known to be gang members and who have committed some serious crimes. We as a country need to remove them.” I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t.’ I’ll take the next flight home. ”
The former Kase Capital chief wants to maintain New York City's sanctuary city status while enforcing reforms that former Mayor Bill de Blasio blocked in 2014 and 2018 from cooperating with federal authorities. He stated that he aims to abolish the
The law prohibits the New York City Police Department, the Department of Corrections, and the Probation Department from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless the case involves a terrorist suspect or other serious public safety risk.
“This was kind of the radical left's reaction to Trump's first election. They focused on sanctuary cities,” Tilson said.
Changes to the rules have always been fiercely opposed by far-left members of the New York City Council.
But the veteran investor said he would work with the president-elect “when it comes to ridding the city of criminals who are not citizens.”
The author and investment advisor also said he wants to reform New York's building regulations to make it easier to build more affordable housing because the market is “so tight and rigid.”
“The biggest component of the general cost of living is the home you rent or buy…The price of everything is a function of supply and demand,” he told the Post. “The demand is there, but there is little new supply.”
“The city's vacancy rate is 1.4%. Housing costs are astronomical, but because of incredible regulations, especially regulations that aren't in my backyard's NIMBY zoning regulations, it's hard to build new housing. It's almost impossible,” Tilson added.
Tilson also banned New York City officials from accepting “anything more than a cup of coffee” in an effort to root out “deep-rooted corruption” that he termed “clumps” at City Hall and curb “out-of-control spending.” Then he said.
“(Mayor Adams) turned out to be corrupt, and a lot of the people he hired turned out to be corrupt,” the former hedge funder added.
New York City is “run by career politicians captured by an army of wealthy insiders.
“Activists, consultants, lobbyists, labor unions, special interests are all looking out for themselves,” he said.
“I'm a proud Democrat. Sometimes I'm not very proud. But my goal is to improve the party, to move it away from the radical left and back to the center. Because if we don't… Because the cities and states we control continue to move in the wrong direction,” Tilson said.
“I am running an insurgency campaign, going directly to voters and telling them what I believe, which is that the Democratic Party has been overburdened and underserved for decades. ” he added.
