Former LG Betsy McCaughey and former NYPD Commish Ray Kelly launch anti-Mamdani IE

Opponents of Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani are hoping to use his own playbook against him this November.

Former Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey and former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly are behind a new independent expenditure committee registered last week called “Save NYC” that aims to increase voter participation in November’s general election to pull off a longshot defeat of the Democratic nominee.

The IE, first reported by the New York Sun, has yet to publicize a fundraising goal or specific spending plans, but McCaughey said in an interview on Monday that they’re aiming to increase general election turnout to around 50% – an ambitious threshold given less than a quarter of registered voters turned out in the 2021 general election. “With a sufficient increase in turnout and voter engagement and voter education, Mamdani can be beaten, even though there are several candidates in the race against him,” McCaughey said. Though she acknowledged that their task would be easier if there were fewer candidates running against Mamdani, the group isn’t looking to single out one of his opponents to spend on, but rather focus on spending against Mamdani. “Anyone but Mamdani” – if you will.

The new IE is intended to be a separate political arm from the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called “Committee to Save Our City” – with McCaughey and Kelly also at the helm – which was launched last year. The group has a somewhat general focus, but includes public safety issues. On Tuesday, it’s hosting a “stop subway crime” forum that will feature Daniel Penny, the former U.S. Marine who was acquitted of a criminally negligent homicide charge after choking to death a Black subway passenger with a history of mental illness.

However the nonprofit, which solicits donations on its website, is not registered with the state Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, a step that is required for most organizations that solicit charitable donations. McCaughey did not immediately respond to questions later on Monday about its registration status.

On Monday morning, the website that McCaughey said was for the 501(c)(3) organization rather than the IE included multiple references to defeating “Mamdani-ism” and linked to merchandise for sale including hats and t-shirts that said “NYet” and “Say ‘no’ to Mamdani-ism.” “Nyet” is seemingly a reference to Mamdani’s democratic socialism being conflated with communism, and therefore Russia.

When questioned about where the proceeds of the sales of that merch would be directed and whether the messaging about Mamdani was improper given that 501(c)(3) organizations are not allowed to engage in partisan political activity, McCaughey initially suggested that invoking “Mamdani-ism” – which she called a “philosophy” – was different than invoking the candidate himself. “It’s not targeted at Mamdani himself,” she said. 

John Kaehny, of the good government group Reinvent Albany, said in an email that it “defies common sense” that adding “-ism” to a candidate’s name would mean that they’re not engaging in partisan activity. 

In an email, McCaughey later said that the merchandise and other references to “Mamdani-ism” were added to the website in error and were meant for a new website specifically dedicated to the IE. Those references and merchandise were gradually removed from the site later on Monday afternoon.

Acknowledging the New Yorkers who are “apoplectic” at Mamdani’s win – a group that includes business leaders and billionaires making their own spending pledges – McCaughey said that her own group’s aim is to target a broad swath of disengaged voters of all party affiliations. “There’s no reason that this has to be a small turnout,” she said. “The opponents of Mamdani can take the very tools he’s used to increase turnout and defeat him.” 

That’s a tall order. Registered Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans and independents in New York City – by nearly 6 to 1, and 3 to 1, respectively – making the Democratic nominee the favorite in the race. And even as groups like these line up to spend against Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist, major labor unions and some members of the Democratic establishment are starting to coalesce behind him.