Although he hasn’t formally announced he’s in the running, New York billionaire John Catsimatidis is floating the idea of spending upwards of $100 million to secure the Mayor’s office of America’s largest city.
In an interview with The New York Post, Catsimatidis confirmed what he said— that he’s willing to put up the cash to run— during a Zoom call with New York Republican Party leaders— including his own daughter Andrea, who’s the GOP chair in Manhattan.
The extraordinary amount of money isn’t unprecedented in the Big Apple. Mike Bloomberg spent $102 million in his campaign in 2009 when he ran— and won— his third term as mayor of New York City.
The Greek immigrant grocery store magnate told the Post that he was alarmed at how quickly the city went “downhill” and expressed his love for the city’s residents, while slamming the Black Lives Matter movement in the process.
“I am alarmed at how fast this city went downhill as far as our citizens feeling safe to walk around on the streets,” he said, explaining why he was mulling a second stab at the city’s top job. “I get emotional about this and that’s why I want to run because I am emotional about the well-being of our citizens and our city.”
Catsimatidis has choice words for the BLM movement.
“We talk about Black Lives Matter. It’s a great statement, but the people that run it don’t care about black lives, they care about changing America and I don’t want to change America. I love America,” Catsimatidis said. “I have been on the Police Athletic League Board for 34 years and I care about the inner cities. We help the black kids and the minority kids of the inner city. Black Lives Matter don’t give a damn. They don’t give a shit. I care,” he told The New York Post.
Catsimatidis also blamed a familiar target— George Soros, claiming that a foreign government might also be behind the recent spate of demonstrations that have crippled many U.S. cities.
He accused protest leaders — “big instigators” — of being a front for malevolent forces either from a “[George] Soros-type” or even foreign governments.
“Somebody is paying them,” he said. “It could be the Chinese getting even for Hong Kong. It could be the Russians. It could be Iranians, because a tough US president is not what they want.”
As die-hard Trump supporter who has gone on record to support the building of a wall on the southern border, Catsimatidis will face an uphill battle to win in one of the most liberal cities in the country where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans six to one.
