NJ Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli said if he and Zohran Mamdani are both elected next week, the Garden State will welcome any New Yorkers looking to leave the city to avoid the Democratic Socialist’s promised tax hikes and other lefty policies.
“We’re going to roll out the welcome mat. So anybody that wants to flee New York City, any business that wants to leave because he said he’s raising business taxes, we’re going to welcome them in New Jersey,” Ciattarelli said on “The Benny Johnson Show” on Wednesday.
He also issued a stern warning about Mamdani’s past advocating for the radical Defund the Police movement.
“But let me say this to a mayor – a potential mayor – who’s been anti-cop: There’s 400,000 New Jerseyans who work in Manhattan every day, and they don’t stop being my responsibility just because they left our borders. I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect them.”
Ciattarelli’s throwing down of the gauntlet in the NYC mayor race came in the closing days of his own bruising contest for NJ governor with Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill — which she leads by 3.7 percentage points, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
Mamdani, 34, the frontrunner to be the next NYC mayor, has pledged to raise taxes on business and wealthy New Yorkers to help fund socialist agenda wish-list items like free busing, universal childcare and government-run grocery stores.
The Big Apple has seen an exodus of both jobs and tax dollars in recent years, as financial institutions and well-heeled residents alike have fled to states like Florida, Texas and even Utah for their more welcoming economic climates.
