The mayor of Dallas said he’s ready to welcome a “flood” of Wall Street firms if Zohran Mamdani follows through on his socialist agenda — and even claimed that Texas could overtake New York as the nation’s top financial hub.
In an exclusive sitdown interview with The Post, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said Mamdani’s socialist agenda for the Big Apple — including vows to hike taxes on the rich and expand government control over prices for housing, groceries, and childcare — could accelerate defections of big financial firms from the city.
The 50-year-old Republican, who majored in history as an undergraduate at Harvard, likewise floated the possibility that Wall Street is at risk of being toppled from its perch as America’s premier financial center — likening it to Venice, Italy losing its edge as Europe’s premier trading hub centuries ago.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a Republican, leads what is now the second-largest financial services hub in the US.Anadolu via Getty Images
“It’s not inconceivable at all that within a certain number of years, people look back and go, ‘Do you remember back when New York was the financial capital of the United States? Isn’t that weird?’” Johnson told The Post.
The Dallas native has worked closely with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to offer “economic incentive deals” — a mix of generous tax breaks and grants — to attract the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Canadian giant Scotia Bank to the fast-growing Texas destination long known as “Big D”.
The strategy appears to be working. JPMorgan — led by legendary Wall Street titan Jamie Dimon — already employs more people in the Lone Star State than in New York.
Dallas is now the second-largest financial services hub in the US, having added over 100,000 finance jobs in the past decade — and Johnson expects the pace to accelerate.
“What was already a trickle is going to turn into a flood of individuals and companies who have called New York home for a long time, moving to Dallas,” Johnson said.
Mamdani, who was sworn in on New Year’s Day as the new mayor of New York City, showed little sign that he would back down from his radical left-wing agenda.Richard Swafford/ZUMA
“The action isn’t here,” he said of the Big Apple. “The action is in the western part of the country.”
His comments echo a warning from Fortress co-CEO Drew McKnight, who told The Post in November that Dallas was now a serious rival to New York in terms of attracting financial talent.
Last week, Mamdani, a 34-year-old former state assemblyman, doubled down on his campaign pledges to freeze rents and hike taxes as he took office.
Johnson called Mamdani’s policies an “un-American socialist impulse” — and noted that he isn’t the only New York politician who shares blame for spurring financiers to “vote with their feet” and quit the city.
“A transaction tax was being discussed in Albany. That’s why I think we first started getting a lot of communication from New York-based firms about whether or not they wanted to come to Texas,” he added, saying the policy proposal had helped spur the creation of the Texas Stock Exchange, which will formally launch later this year.
Renderings released by Goldman Sachs show how its new Dallas campus will look once completed in late 2027.Goldman Sachs
Johnson outlined his pitch to Wall Streeters, saying Dallas was a prime spot for financial giants as there is no state income tax in Texas, falling property rates, and a pro-business administration.
“I’ve cut the property tax rate every year I’ve been in office now. So we’re talking seven straight years,” Johnson said.
“You’re talking about an environment where they’re talking about trying to find new ways to tax people, compared to one where we’re trying to push down the one tax we’ve got, and we don’t have an income tax,” he added.
Cheaper housing, strong schools, safe streets, and easy permitting for big projects like David Solomon-led Goldman Sachs’ new $700 million campus, set to employ 5,000.
Fortress co-CEO Drew McKnight told this newspaper in November that Dallas was now a serious rival to New York in terms of attracting financial talent.Bloomberg via Getty Images
Federal rules from the SEC apply to banks or financial firms wherever they are based, but Dallas offers a better life for employees, he added.
“The cost of living is lower,” Johnson said. “You can have the best of New York, but you can have it in a place where you can also afford to have a very nice home, send your kids to good schools, and be safe.”
Mamdani’s planned tax hikes — such as raising the corporate rate to 11.5% and adding a 2% personal income tax over $1 million — aim to fund his programs, which he claims will raise $9 billion yearly.
