Florida business boosters are trolling New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the heart of Times Square — thanking him for sending jobs, companies and wealthy residents south as the Sunshine State looks to capitalize on a years-long migration of New Yorkers.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce on Monday unveiled a digital billboard at Broadway and West 43rd Street naming Mamdani Florida’s “Economic Developer of the Year” and declaring: “Thanks for the jobs!”
“We wanted to thank him for the jobs, the companies, the people that they’re pushing out of New York — and a lot of them are coming to Florida,” Florida Chamber CEO Mark Wilson told Fox News Digital.
The stunt comes against the backdrop of a migration pipeline that swelled during the COVID era, when remote work and a hunt for more space helped accelerate departures from New York — particularly among prime working-age and higher-income households.
Wilson said the Times Square billboard is less about celebrating New York’s losses than promoting Florida’s economic model.
“Even though Florida is winning right now, we’re not looking for New York to lose. We’re hoping that these other states will say ‘no’ to this move towards socialism and say ‘yes’ to the very policies that our country was founded on,” he said.
“This isn’t about spiking a football or looking at the scoreboard about Florida versus New York. This is really about trying to save our country from crazy.”
The Chamber is already eyeing other cities for future versions of the campaign.
“We had to start in New York City because the mayor of New York City, obviously, is pushing that community into a direction that it’s not good for the people who live there,” Wilson said.
“But there’s several runner-ups for this,” he added. “When you look at Chicago, when you look at California, Minneapolis, there’s places all over the country that come in a close second to the movement in New York City. So we’re gonna continue to highlight what works.”
Recent years have seen an exodus of New Yorkers for Florida, with experts predicting the trend will accelerate since the anti-business Mamdani took office in January.
His controversial pied-à-terre tax has prompted business titans like Ken Griffin to double down on plans to develop in Miami instead of the Big Apple.
Mamdani’s fall election prompted a huge spike in inquiries about multi-million-dollar properties in South Beach, as The Post previously reported.
Early indications suggest recent trends will only get worse — with Florida emerging as New York’s biggest single net-loss state in IRS migration data.
In 2022-2023, the most recent period for which data were available, New York saw a net loss of 21,176 tax returns from New York to the Sunshine State.
The Florida Chamber says the movement has translated into a widening tax-base gap.
Citing the IRS migration data, the group claims Florida gains roughly $2.4 million in net taxable income every hour while New York loses about $1.1 million per hour.
“What do people like Mayor Mamdani do? They want to … increase taxes on the people who are left, which just further accelerates people leaving places like New York,” Wilson said.
The Chamber’s campaign argues that Florida’s lower-tax, lighter-regulation model has helped attract businesses and residents from higher-tax states.
“Florida’s lowered taxes over 50 times in the last 15 years. And we have record revenues coming in because people want to be here. And when the economy grows, tax revenues grow. That’s how free enterprise works,” Wilson said.
City Hall pushed back on the broadsides, pointing to job growth, investment and a strengthening Manhattan office market as evidence that the city’s economy remains on solid footing.
“By any metric, New York City’s economy under Mayor Mamdani is as strong as it’s ever been. We look forward to continuing to grow the economy while ensuring that working-class New Yorkers are benefiting from that growth,” a spokesperson for the mayor told The Post.
The administration said the city has added more than 21,700 jobs over the past six months — more than double the national growth rate — while employment in the high-paying finance and insurance sectors has grown 1.9%.
The Manhattan office market is on pace for its strongest year since 2000, according to City Hall, while New York City-based companies have raised more than $21 billion in venture capital so far this year, a 102% increase from the same period last year.
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