JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon panned New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as “more a Marxist than a socialist” and criticized Democrats who he says spend too much time on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Dimon urged voters not to support Mamdani after the New York state representative won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor last month in a campaign that included pushing for a rent freeze and city-owned grocery stores.
“He’s more of a Marxist than a socialist, and now you see these Democrats falling all over themselves saying, ‘Well, he’s pointing out some real problems, affordable housing and grocery prices,'” Dimon said at an event in Ireland on Thursday.
Mamdani, Dimon argued, pushes “the same ideological mush that means nothing in the real world.”
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Dimon was just the latest Wall Street billionaire to rebuke Mamdani’s campaign and his emergence as the likely front-runner to become New York City’s next mayor.
Amid concerns over his chances of winning the election, a group called “New Yorkers for a Better Future Mayor 25” was created, working to raise $20 million to fund an anti-Mamdani campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mamdani is attempting to address some of the panic over his candidacy, as he plans to attend an event hosted by pro-business group Partnership for New York City, a group that has Dimon on its board.
Dimon, in his remarks in Ireland, also criticized Democrats over their push for DEI policies, saying they are “idiots” and “overdid” it at an event hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
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“I have a lot of friends who are Democrats, and they’re idiots,” he said.
“I always say they have big hearts and little brains,” Dimon added. “They do not understand how the real world works. Almost every single policy rolled out failed.”
Dimon previously said JPMorgan would cut spending on DEI initiatives but affirmed a commitment to working with black, Hispanic and LGBTQ communities.
“We all were devoted to reaching out to the black community, Hispanic, the LGBT community, the disabled — we do all of that. But the extent, they gotta stop it. And they gotta go back to being more practical. They’re very ideological,” Dimon said in Ireland.
JPMorgan was one of several Wall Street banks that pulled DEI language from their websites earlier this year, shortly after President Donald Trump took office. Since returning to the White House, Trump has signed orders to root out DEI across the country.
Dimon had previously supported DEI policies, although he ordered a review of his bank’s policies after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that ruled against affirmative action in college admissions.
The bank head also took a jab at former President Joe Biden for not having “one business person” advising him, stressing that he was “speechless about the lack of knowledge” in the Biden administration.
