Is Brandon Johnson pitching Wall Streeters on moving to Chicago post-Mamdani?

There's now audible chatter in New York from that city's numerous titans of finance about doing what would have been unthinkable until recently — fleeing.

Not that long ago New Yorkers would have rolled their eyes at such threats. Where else would a Wall Streeter want to be than the city where, er, Wall Street is located?

But it's a new day. Interconnectivity and the electronic nature of most trading have allowed traders and big-time investors to set up shop in places like Miami and Dallas (where not coincidentally taxes are much lower than in New York and Chicago).

Chicago feels your pain, New York. Our very own billionaire, Citadel founder Ken Griffin, moved the headquarters of his company (and himself) to Miami three years ago.

So, given that we live in a competitive world and New York made the unforced error of nominating a socialist threatening to tax anything that moves, it would be nice if Chicago had a mayor that would allow us to join Miami, Dallas and others in pitching the hedge fund and private-equity mavens of New York on relocating to the shores of Lake Michigan.

In many respects, there's no reason Chicago shouldn't be able to make a strong case. The city remains the global epicenter of futures and options trading and is home to Northern Trust, a member of the nation's highly exclusive club of custody banks. There's a substantial ecosystem of private-equity firms here as well, albeit not nearly at New York's scale.

So why would the suggestion of Chicago as an alternative to Mamdani-led New York likely prompt a chuckle from most New York bigwigs? Because, of course, we have our own version of Mamdani sitting on the fifth floor.

Imagine Brandon Johnson, if he were so inclined, placing a call to, say, Dan Loeb, the head of $12 billion-asset hedge fund Third Point who derisively tweeted after Mamdani's primary victory, "It's officially hot commie summer."

Can't imagine that? Neither can we.

It wasn't that long ago that Chicago was led by mayors who could (and would) have made that call and gotten a respectful hearing at the very least. Rahm Emanuel. Richard M. Daley. These were mayors who had their flaws, G od knows, but understood the value of having extremely wealthy people live in their city and maintain businesses here. Such citizens provide outsize tax revenue. Such people create high-paying jobs filled by those who pay substantial taxes of their own. Such people donate very large sums of money to civic causes.

Instead, Chicago has a mayor who repeatedly derides people like Griffin as the "ultra-rich" and speaks of them only in the context of how much more the ever-dwindling set of them ought to be paying in taxes to buttress bloated governmental bodies whose budgets are wheezing on the fumes of a moldering city economy.

There will be plenty of those on the left who say, "Fine. We don't want more Ken Griffins here."

We disagree. Pick up the phone, Mr. Mayor.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Chicago Tribune
(TNS)
Previously:
• Want to know how a socialist mayor would govern New York City? Just ask Chicago
• 06/11/25: Hoping for a bond market crash to take down MAGA?
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• 02/25/25: Antisemitic fears in Windy City coalesce around a controversial puppet
• 02/05/25: Want a low-stress job with lots of time off? This state says it wants to recruit you
• 01/28/25: We are in a mental health crisis. A 'moonshot' is needed
• 11/07/24: Trump's win was a stunning repudiation of the chattering classes
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• 11/15/23: David Cameron, a former British PM, makes a surprise return as Suella Braverman gets the chop. Is there a lesson here for the US?
• 10/23/23: Turns out it's bad business to jack prices just because you can
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• 07/28/23: Surprise! Some good news from the IRS
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