Wealthy Radical Californians Funding Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign

California donors make up about 78% of the nearly $2.4 million raised by super PAC “New Yorkers for Lower Costs” backing Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral campaign, the New York Post reported Saturday.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is somehow attracting millionaires backing his candidacy amid his calls to tax the wealthy to fund expansive social programs, Fox reported.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board shows California leftists and radicals made substantial contributions totaling $1,831,706 out of the $2,358,381.20 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, as of Friday.

“New York residents provided $526,675 — or just 22% — of the political action committee’s funding.”

There were 26 California donors, out of a total of 321 contributors, with $600,000 coming from just three donors.

The Unity and Justice Fund, located in Sacramento, which made two contributions to Mamdani’s super PAC totaling $100,000, is more commonly known as the Super PAC of The Council on Islamic Relations, CAIR.

Elizabeth Simons, President of the Heising-Simons Foundation, contributed $250,000.

Omar Hasan, retired, of Redwood City contributed $250,000.

Syed Qadri, a NVIDIA engineer, made two contributions totaling $25,000.

Afar Ahmed of Atherton, CA contributed $25,000.

Wisfe Aish of South San Francisco, contributed $50,000.

Susan Elmasry of Palo Alto, contributed $10,000.

There were several contributions of $5,000, $3,500, $2,000 each.

Most of the remaining contributions were $1,000 each.

Since most of the contributions were from contributors with Arabic surnames, Elizabeth Simons with her $250,000 contribution stood out.

Influence Watch reports that The Heising-Simons Foundation “primarily funds organizations that work on environmentalist policy, climate change, scientific research, education, and human rights issues. Since its founding in 2007, the foundation has donated more than $618 million to these causes. In 2019 alone, the Foundation awarded over $113 million in grants.”

“Liz Simons sits on the board of the Learning Policy Institute, a left-of-center education policy research organization. She also sits on the board of the Foundation for a Just Society, a private foundation founded by her half-sister, Audrey Cappell, that funds left-of-center organizations to advance LGBT interests internationally. Simons’s brother, Nathaniel Simons, is the founder of the Sea Change Foundation, a left-of-center private foundation that funds climate change and clean energy causes.”

The irony of the big money donors isn’t lost on many given that Mamdani has publicly claimed the wealthy need to pony up a lot more taxes to pay for his government grocery stores and free bus rides. Mamdani wants rents frozen, free childcare, in addition to free bus rides and government-owned grocery stores. He will raise the corporate tax rate, and tax the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers—those earning above $1 million annually—a flat 2% tax, and vows to build “permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes.”

“The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the anti-Israel group whose leader said he was ‘happy’ about Oct. 7, is quietly funding socialist Zohran Mamdani’s bid for New York City mayor,” the Washington Free Beacon reported. The Unity & Justice Fund was only formed by CAIR last year.

Influence Watch reports “The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a large and prominent advocacy organization for Muslims in the United States. Throughout its history, CAIR has been suspected of supporting political Islamist movements, especially the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“Over the years, CAIR’s alleged ties to Hamas have proved troublesome for the organization. In 2007, federal prosecutors reportedly designated CAIR a co-conspirator with the Holy Land Foundation, a group that was eventually convicted for financing terrorism.”

“CAIR is an opponent of American anti-terrorism policies like the PATRIOT Act, citing civil liberties concerns. CAIR’s leaders are extremely anti-Israel, claiming that terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah are liberation movements.”

There are plenty of reasons to oppose Momdani’s leftist, Socialist policies. “This campaign is for every person who believes in the dignity of their neighbors and that the government’s job is to actually make our lives better,” he says on his campaign website.

But it is startling to see what a lightening rod he has become for the radicalized, far left – which explains the huge contributions from California, and other states outside of New York. With a leadership vacuum in the Democrat Party, socialists see Momdani as the one who can fill the void, and spread socialism across the United States.