Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said he plans to launch a marketing campaign to attract more businesses and residents to Nassau County following the election of Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor. Blakeman made the announcement on Friday, Nov. 7, three days after Mamdani’s win and amid Democratic gubernatorial election victories in Virginia and New Jersey.
In a statement, Blakeman’s office said the initiative aims to “open Nassau County’s doors to New York City business owners and residents following Mamdani’s win.”
“We will take this marketing campaign not only to New York City and the metropolitan area and the tri-state area, but across the United States and internationally,” Blakeman said.
Blakeman, who was re-elected as county executive on Tuesday, said Mamdani’s election was “incredibly disappointing” at a Republican Party event that night. The county executive referred to the incoming mayor as “a communist and an antisemite.”
Mamdani has been accused of antisemitism in the past by his opponent, Andrew Cuomo, and some Jewish community leaders, including for not condemning the phrase “globalize the intifada” and for declining to say whether he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, according to The New York Times.
Mamdani has condemned antisemitism, including in an X post on Nov. 5 in which he responded to a user who said their post showed a swastika drawn on the window of a Brooklyn yeshiva.
“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city,” Mamdani said in an X post. “As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city.”
A CNN exit poll of more than 4,700 New York City voters showed that Mamdani won 33% of Jewish voters.
A separate survey of 500 registered voters in New York City by J.L. Partners ahead of the election found that 9 % of respondents said they would “definitely leave” if Mamdani were elected, and 25 % said they would “consider leaving.”
Blakeman also commented on Democratic Party wins outside of New York on Tuesday night.
“Every race is unique,” he said. “It involves issues and personalities, so I think what happens in Virginia has very little effect on what happens here in Nassau County.”
