Photo//Billionaire John Catsimatidis-James Messerschmidt
Billionaire's Backlash: Catsimatidis Rages Over Mamdani's 'Socialist Experiment'
Newsroom
New York City’s seismic political shift—the election of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as the city’s 111th mayor—has triggered a fiery response from one of the city's most powerful Greek-American business leaders, John Catsimatidis. The billionaire founder of the Red Apple Group, which controls a vast empire including the iconic Gristedes and D’Agostino’s grocery chains, didn't mince words in expressing his utter contempt for the outcome.
Photo//John Catsimatidis casts his vote in the NYC mayoral election.LP Media
The single, startling quote captured his frustration and the depth of his anxiety: “I don’t give a s–t about grocery stores!” Catsimatidis fumed in a brief interview immediately following Mamdani's stunning victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
While the quote might seem like an unbelievable concession from a supermarket mogul, it eloquently underscores the true nature of the billionaire’s fear. For Catsimatidis and many in the city’s financial and real estate elite, the concern is no longer about one specific business threat, but the fundamental transformation of New York’s capitalist structure.
More Than Markets: A Fear of Systemic Change
Mamdani’s campaign, which galvanized a coalition of young voters, progressive activists, and working-class New Yorkers, centered on an unabashedly radical platform aimed at tackling the city’s spiraling affordability crisis. Key proposals included: a rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments, massive investment in public housing, and, crucially, a pilot program to establish city-run grocery stores to challenge the pricing power of existing chains.
It was this last proposal that initially drew Catsimatidis into the fray, with the mogul previously warning that a Mamdani administration could force him to close his grocery operations, labeling the idea a path toward Soviet-style "bread lines."
However, the post-election outburst suggests a much deeper ideological and financial terror. The 'grocery stores' issue, while an immediate threat to his sector, has become a symbol for an entire suite of policies that the new mayor intends to enact.
“His concern is much bigger than Gristedes,” noted a long-time political analyst. “The mayor-elect ran on a promise to increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to fund free childcare and free buses. He explicitly questioned the very existence of billionaires. The grocery store plan is just the most visible sign of a government attempting to replace the private sector.”
The Deterioration of 'Quality of Life' and Political Power
Beyond economic policy, Catsimatidis explicitly voiced concern about the “quality of life” deteriorating under the new administration. This phrase is a coded reference used by conservative business leaders to express anxiety over changes in public safety, criminal justice reform, and the city’s overall governance.
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, has had to moderate some of his past rhetoric, including an earlier call to "defund" the NYPD. However, his political allies and policy positions are seen by figures like Catsimatidis as a threat to the current system of law enforcement and judicial appointments. The worry is that a progressive mayor will appoint judges perceived as too lenient and will potentially roll back police funding, leading to a rise in crime that would ultimately drive businesses and high-net-worth individuals—and their tax dollars—out of the city.
Catsimatidis is not alone in his alarm. The election was characterized by a unified, albeit unsuccessful, effort from the city's traditional power brokers—including the Democratic Party establishment and much of the media—to prevent a Mamdani win, even throwing support behind a third-party run by former Governor Cuomo. The billionaire himself had been a strong advocate for Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa to drop out of the race to clear the way for Cuomo, viewing the race as a binary choice between capitalism and socialism.
A City at a Crossroads
John Catsimatidis is a product of the classic New York immigrant success story—the son of Greek immigrants who built a vast empire from humble beginnings. To him, Mamdani's victory is not just a political defeat; it is an ideological betrayal of the meritocratic system that allowed him to prosper.
Photos//Zohran Mamdani walked back controversial comments about defunding the police AFP via Getty Images
The mayor-elect, for his part, has sought to reassure the city's financial sector by promising to work with the business community, yet he remains resolute in his commitment to use the levers of city government to dramatically reduce income inequality.
As Mamdani prepares to take office, the rhetoric from Catsimatidis serves as a powerful indicator of the deep, volatile rift now splitting New York City. The wealthy elite fear an economic and social revolution, while Mamdani's supporters celebrate the dawn of a new, more equitable era. The billionaire’s furious dismissal of his own supermarket chain only solidifies one fact: for the first time in decades, the conversation in City Hall is not about the next development deal, but about which economic system will define the future of America’s largest city.
