Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk has some thoughts on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the type of people who voted for him.
“You know, it’s so interesting, because I lived in Manhattan for a while, and I loved this city,” Kirk told The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Dealbook Summit on Wednesday.
Sorkin had pointed out that Mamdani, a democratic socialist and the city’s first Muslim mayor, was someone who had “captured younger voters” but was on the “complete opposite end” of where Kirk’s late husband, right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, would have stood politically. He then asked Kirk for her take on the new mayor.
Kirk answered that she wanted to approach the question “as a female voter,” due to the large number of women who voted for Mamdani.
“I think there’s a tendency, especially when you live in a city like Manhattan, where, again, you are so career-driven, and you almost look to the government as a form of replacement for certain things, relationship-wise, even,” she said. “You see things a little bit differently.”
“What I don’t want to have happen is women, young women, in the city look to the government as a solution,” she said. “To put off having a family or a marriage, because you’re relying on the government to support you, instead of being united with a husband, where you can support yourself and your husband can support [you], and you guys can all combine together.”
Kirk then added that she found “it so ironic and so interesting that a heavy percentage of the individuals that voted for him were female.”
View this post on Instagram
Many online commenters, including some high-profile career women, found fault with Kirk’s take and shared their thoughts on the Times’ Instagram post:
“Sorry what? The government supports single working women in Manhattan?!!” wrote Elaine Welteroth, former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue. “LET US KNOW WHEN THAT BILL GETS PASSED SIS 😂.”
“Wait, what?????? journalist Katie Couric responded.
Another commenter took a more humorous turn.
“Yes whenever I’m cold at night I turn to the good ole nyc government for what I’m not getting from a partner,” they wrote. “Whenever I need love nyc.gov is always there. My pookie 🩷.”
A different person pointed out the irony of Kirk’s take, given that she has succeeded her husband as the CEO of Turning Point USA.
“Soooo a female CEO is worried other women become CEOs and should become mothers?” they pointed out.
