Alexander Soros said he was “honored” to join New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and fellow left-wing leaders at Gracie Mansion, a taxpayer-funded showcase of progressive alliances during UN week.
Breitbart reported that Open Society Foundations chair Alexander Soros posted on X this week about attending Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “Building an Economy for the Many” breakfast at Gracie Mansion. The gathering drew several left-wing world leaders during United Nations General Assembly week, days after President Donald Trump met Mamdani at the same residence.
Soros tagged Mamdani along with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, and European Council President António Costa. He wrote that he was “honored” to be there and added, “It’s been so inspiring to see the greatest city in the world showcase its values, strengths, and ideals,” and “So proud of NYC!”
The Democratic Socialist mayor hosted the event at the taxpayer-funded mayoral residence. The Global Progress Foundation, chaired by Sánchez, supported the Wednesday breakfast. Patrick Gaspard, a former president of the Open Society Foundations, moderated.
Mamdani has already drawn sustained criticism over his record and rhetoric, including backlash tied to anti-Israel comments as hate crimes rose in the city.
Sánchez used the platform to promote his government’s economic record and cast the assembled leaders as a threat to their opponents. He said, “That is why the powerful fear us,” and “Because day after day, we show that a different path is possible, and it works.”
Mamdani devoted part of his remarks to Spain’s policies. He praised Sánchez as a champion of working people and pointed to a 61 percent rise in Spain’s minimum wage over eight years. He told attendees that leaders in the room had a responsibility to carry “equality and justice to further horizons.”
Costa, a former socialist prime minister of Portugal who once served as mayor of Lisbon, told Mamdani, “You have the best job that a politician can do.”
A report cited in the coverage said Sánchez and Mamdani share the position that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to “genocide,” and that both reject Trump administration pressure on European nations to raise military spending. That framing comes secondhand through the Spanish outlet La Vanguardia as relayed in the primary reporting.
Families and critics have repeatedly clashed with the mayor over 9/11-related decisions, including protests against his planned Ground Zero memorial appearance.
In comments this week to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Mamdani said his politics would “absolutely translate on a national level.” The Gracie Mansion breakfast put that ambition on display with foreign socialist leaders and a prominent Soros family figure in the room.
Alexander Soros chairs the Open Society Foundations, the network built by his father, billionaire George Soros. Gaspard’s role as moderator added another direct Open Society link to the event’s staging.
Those ties fit a broader pattern around Mamdani’s rise. Fox News reported that after his victory speech criticizing unaccountable officials and the Democratic establishment, Mamdani installed a transition team heavy with veterans of prior City Hall and Biden-era posts. That team included former FTC Chair Lina Khan as a co-chair. Khan’s tenure drew accusations of politicizing antitrust work and bringing in advisers from nonprofits funded by Soros, Omidyar, and Ford networks.
In that victory speech, Mamdani told supporters, “For years, those in City Hall have only helped those who can help them,” and pledged that on January 1 “we will usher in a city government that helps everyone.” GOP strategist Colin Reed responded that the incoming mayor was “already... breaking one of his core promises to shake up the status quo and usher in a new day.”
Public anger has also focused on symbolic choices, from the moment Mamdani and AOC were caught on camera during a 9/11 reading of the names to his decision to hand a symbolic 9/11 pen to a former al Qaeda defense lawyer.
Days before the socialist breakfast, President Trump met Mamdani at Gracie Mansion. The contrast was immediate: a sitting Republican president one day, then a room of left-wing heads of government and a Soros heir praising New York’s “values” and “ideals” the next.
Soros’s public pride in the gathering left little ambiguity about which direction he sees the city moving. Mamdani, for his part, used the platform to elevate foreign progressive policy models and to project his own politics beyond New York.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already called Mamdani out by name at the UN over rhetoric that critics say fuels antisemitism. The Gracie Mansion guest list and messaging gave those critics fresh material.
Taxpayers own the house. The mayor chose the company and the message. Soros called it an honor.