Former Douglas Elliman CEO Dottie Herman and Stew Leonard’s President and CEO Stew Leonard Jr. speak with Fox News Digital about their opposition to NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s policies.
From government-run grocery stores to punishing “bad landlords,” a handful of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposals have New York power players sounding the alarm.
“You’re in a street fight if you get into the food business, okay? This is a sandbox thing,” Stew Leonard’s President, Stew Leonard Jr., told Fox News Digital. “You gotta be in there with sharp prices, fresher product, friendlier people… Can the government do that? I don’t know.”
“I put my career on it. If he gets away with [this], which, actually, he can’t do this alone with all of these proposals, and he puts more and more burden on the percentage of people that pay all the taxes to begin with… he makes it impossible for businesses to survive,” Douglas Elliman Vice Chair – and Forbes’ most successful self-made woman in real estate – Dottie Herman also said to Fox News Digital.
Self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Mamdani has dominated recent headlines and seemingly the polls after clinching a historic, and deeply polarizing, victory by officially receiving the most votes ever recorded in a New York City mayoral primary.
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According to his campaign platform website, Mamdani wants to create a network of city-owned grocery stores that buy and sell products at wholesale prices, freeze rents, build 200,000 affordable units over 10 years and overhaul landlord code enforcement, among other things.
New York City Democratic-socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is receiving some backlash from the region’s business titans. (Getty Images)
“I’m not sure how that would work,” Leonard said of the grocery store plans, while also pointing out that he doesn’t like to get too political. “We have eight stores right now and we also have eight wine and spirit stores. They’re not easy to run. I mean, the food business is a tough business. The margins are very slender. The only good thing about food is everybody’s got to eat.”
“New York City’s a tough, competitive market for food right now,” the tri-state area farm-fresh food retailer added. “It’s seven days a week, and the weekends are our busiest days… If you’re along Second Avenue, I was talking to some of the retailers, [it’s] $200, $300 a square foot… you got to do a lot of volume if you are going to pay a lot for real estate.”
“I never talk about politics, but I am talking now because I really don’t want to see New York destroyed. And I really believe, with every breath of me, that if he gets in, we will be in a socialized country,” Herman noted.
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“The land is expensive in New York,” she added. “I think he should be giving builders incentives. Not saying, ‘Well, I’ll just take it from the corporations and the rich,’… I had people call up and say, ‘We’re buying plot property in New York City. Do you think we should cancel the contract?’ Because they were afraid.”
Mamdani currently represents Astoria and Long Island City in the New York State Assembly. His two-term record includes pushing for tenant protection, opposing utility rate hikes and advocating for mass transit subsidies.
In order to gather funds necessary to follow through with his policies, Mamdani also wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5% and add a 2% flat tax rate on the city’s wealthiest residents. However, these proposals would require approval from the New York State Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has concerns about affordability and millionaires fleeing the city.
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While some NYC business leaders have thrown support behind Mamdani, including Balthazar’s Keith McNally, and a slew of left-leaning corporate lawyers, financiers and young millionaires, both Leonard and Herman noted that Mamdani’s methodology could amount to unfair competition due to tax, labor and regulatory burdens.
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“The key to this business is freshness,” Leonard pointed out. “You can’t buy stuff and then have it sit there for a week or something… Can you keep that energy and that excitement with the food business in New York?”
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In addition, Leonard questioned whether government-run supermarkets would follow federal “Make America Healthy Again” guidelines under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., like his business has.
“Are you gonna eliminate dye from all your products in the store? Are you gonna eliminate hormones and antibiotics from every single product? Are you going to eliminate sugar from a lot of items?” he pressed. “And would Mamdani want to be perfect on all that stuff? Well, that’s gonna raise the prices of the product that you sell in the store.”
Herman flagged fundraisers that have been started by other concerned businesspeople that aim to keep Mamdani out of office.
“I don’t speak alone. I haven’t heard anybody that I’ve spoken to that has a different opinion. That’s why they’re starting fundraisers,” she said. “I definitely think property values will go down… And you’d have a lot of people put their homes on the market. And at this point, we have a shortage of housing… you’re going to discourage people from buying any kind of rental property.”
A billboard in Times Square promotes an anti-Zohran Mamdani message, in New York City, New York, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. The ad, paid for by the “Vivek Super PAC — Victors, not Victims,” (VPAC) supports Vivek Ramaswamy’s Republican run for governor in Ohio. | Fox News
“What business is going to come to New York when they’re limited to what money they can make? I mean, that’s America – you can be a poor man’s son or daughter, and you can work hard and get somewhere,” Herman continued.
Leonard agreed that if Mamdani is elected, he would not look to expand his grocery chain in the city.
“I don’t give it a high rate of success… if somebody had [told] Stew Leonard’s to open five stores in New York right now at one time, I’d struggle with trying to make them all successful… It’s a real challenge.”
Herman predicted one of the other mayoral candidates, Andrew Cuomo or incumbent Eric Adams, would need to bow out and support the other person to create a united front in defeating Mamdani.
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“I worry about this. When you hear, ‘free this, free that – free, free, free,’ well, obviously, in this world, nothing’s free,” she said. “I would tell New Yorkers, No. 1, vote, okay? Vote and make sure that you have an understanding of the topics, but definitely vote. I think New Yorkers need a bigger turnout with voting.”
Mamdani’s campaign did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Fox News’ Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
