The mayor of Dallas said he\u2019s ready to welcome a \u201cflood\u201d of Wall Street firms if Zohran Mamdani follows through on his socialist agenda \u2014 and even claimed that Texas could overtake New York as the nation\u2019s top financial hub.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive sitdown interview with The Post, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said Mamdani\u2019s socialist agenda for the Big Apple \u2014 including vows to hike taxes on the rich and expand government control over prices for housing, groceries, and childcare \u2014 could accelerate defections of big financial firms from the city.<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s premier financial center \u2014 likening it to Venice, Italy losing its edge as Europe\u2019s premier trading hub centuries ago.<\/p>\n Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a Republican, leads what is now the second-largest financial services hub in the US. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not inconceivable at all that within a certain number of years, people look back and go, \u2018Do you remember back when New York was the financial capital of the United States? Isn\u2019t that weird?’\u201d Johnson told The Post.<\/p>\n The Dallas native has worked closely with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to offer \u201ceconomic incentive deals\u201d \u2014 a mix of generous tax breaks and grants \u2014 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 \u201cBig D\u201d.<\/p>\n The strategy appears to be working. JPMorgan \u2014 led by legendary Wall Street titan Jamie Dimon \u2014 already employs more people in the Lone Star State than in New York.<\/p>\n Dallas is now the second-largest financial services hub in the US<\/a>, having added over 100,000 finance jobs in the past decade \u2014 and Johnson expects the pace to accelerate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat 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,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Mamdani, who was sworn in on New Year\u2019s 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 \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n \u201cThe action isn\u2019t here,\u201d he said of the Big Apple. \u201cThe action is in the western part of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. <\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Johnson called Mamdani\u2019s policies an \u201cun-American socialist impulse\u201d \u2014 and noted that he isn\u2019t the only New York politician who shares blame for spurring financiers to \u201cvote with their feet\u201d and quit the city.<\/p>\n