Florida Chamber crowns NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani 'Economic Developer of the Year' on Times Square billboard

The Florida Chamber of Commerce launched a digital billboard in Times Square, positioned at Broadway and West 43rd Street, that dubs New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “Economic Developer of the Year” and thanks him for sending jobs, companies and affluent residents to Florida. The display is part of a broader effort to spotlight a migration pipeline that surged during the COVID pandemic, when remote work and a desire for more space prompted many prime-earning, high-income New Yorkers to move south.

Chamber president Mark Wilson said the message is intended to showcase Florida’s lower-tax, lighter-regulation environment, not merely to revel in New York’s losses, and noted plans to target other cities such as Chicago, California and Minneapolis with similar ads. He argued that policies in New York, which he described as “anti-business,” accelerate out-migration by raising taxes on remaining residents. The Chamber cites IRS data indicating Florida gains about $2.4 million in net taxable income per hour while New York loses roughly $1.1 million per hour. New York City’s mayor’s office responded, pointing to the creation of more than 21,700 jobs in the past six months, a 1.9 % rise in high-paying finance and insurance employment, and a record-setting Manhattan office market and venture-capital inflows.