DeSantis Has Perfect Four-Word Moniker for Mamdani as Taxpayers Make Way to Sunshine State

Ron DeSantis stood before one of the country’s most powerful gatherings of business minds Monday and delivered a message that was equal parts boast and barb — aimed squarely at the man now running America’s largest city.

The Florida governor, speaking at the 2026 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, awarded New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani an unofficial title during a fireside chat that covered taxes, migration, and the future of American cities.

DeSantis called Mamdani one of his “realtors of the year.”

The quip was not accidental. DeSantis, a former 2024 Republican presidential contender, used the moment to argue that progressive leadership in cities like New York, Chicago, and across California is accelerating a taxpayer exodus that ultimately benefits Florida.

“I don’t think it’s good that, like, one guy gets elected mayor and then people feel like they have to flee the city,” DeSantis said, speaking directly about Mamdani.

He went further, contending that residents of those cities have not been met with solutions — but with leadership that deepens existing problems.

“We’d have people come down to Florida all the time, and they responded to all those problems, not by correcting the problems, but electing somebody who was exacerbating the problems,” DeSantis said.

A specific flashpoint emerged during the conversation — a video Mamdani posted last month showing the mayor standing outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s penthouse at 220 Central Park South.

Mamdani recorded the clip to promote Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed pied-à-terre tax, which would apply to non-resident-owned properties valued above $5 million.

DeSantis used that moment as a centerpiece of his critique.

Griffin, the founder of hedge fund giant Citadel, relocated his firm from Chicago to Miami in 2022. DeSantis argued that move has delivered substantial economic and philanthropic dividends to Florida.

“(Griffin) has brought jobs, business, all that tax base” to the state, DeSantis said. He added that Griffin has directed “probably hundreds of millions of dollars philanthropically to organizations in Florida, which, if he wasn’t a Florida resident, would probably give them somewhere else.”