Times Square billboard urges New Yorkers to flee Mamdani for Ohio

A new digital billboard in Times Square is encouraging New Yorkers to “flee” mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and move to Ohio.

The ad, paid for by the “Vivek Super PAC — Victors, not Victims,” (VPAC) supports Vivek Ramaswamy’s Republican run for governor in the Buckeye state. 

“Worried About Zohran? Ohio Is Waiting For You,” one of two images shared with FOX Business says. 

The second image includes side-by-side photographs of the political candidates, and reads, “Ready to flee NYC? Radical socialist Zohran Mamdani” and “Move to Ohio! Protecting freedom Vivek Ramaswamy.”

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“Worried about Zohran? Ohio is waiting for you!” part of the VPAC Times Square digital billboard says.  (VPAC: Victors, not Victims / Fox News)

The ad placement cost “roughly $50,000,” VPAC chief strategist Andy Surabian told FOX Business. 

Surabian said that New Yorkers concerned about being governed by Mamdani’s “radical socialist policies” should move to a state “that is about to elect a conservative trailblazer committed to liberty and prosperity for all.”

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“Ready to flee NYC?” above a photo of “radical socialist” NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani next to the words “Move to Ohio!” above Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. (VPAC: Victors, not Victims / Fox News)

Ramaswamy, like Mamdani, is of Indian descent, but Surabian said the two “represent such wildly different paths for the future of our nation.”

Mamdani has faced heated criticism for his support of socialist policies, perhaps most famously his 2021 remarks to a Young Democratic Socialists of America conference, where he urged attendees not to compromise on goals like “seizing the means of production.” 

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during a campaign rally on Feb. 25, 2025 at the Glass City Center in Toledo, Ohio.  (Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)

“Right now, if we’re talking about the cancellation of student debt, if we’re talking about Medicare for all, you know, these are issues which have the groundswell of popular support across this country,” Mamdani said in a video to conference-goers. “But then there are also other issues that we firmly believe in, whether it’s BDS or whether it is the end goal of seizing the means of production, where we do not have the same level of support at this very moment.”

Zohran Mamdani, New York City mayoral candidate, speaks during the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) mayoral forum in New York, US, on Saturday, May 17, 2025.  (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg  / Getty Images)

Mamdani also supports launching city-owned grocery stores, which he said could offer lower prices to New Yorkers.

VPAC’s billboard will be on display in the major tourist destination all week, Surabian said. 

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“While Mamadani will further crush New York City with his job-killing socialist tyranny, Vivek is ready to unleash freedom, supercharge the American dream and make Ohio a state of excellence,” Surabian said in a statement.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.