Chitwood Invites NYC Residents to Move to Volusia After Mamdani’s Election Win

Where most of the nation saw a major change in the politics of New York City, Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood seems to have found a chance to coax New Yorkers to move south. Following the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the 2025 New York City mayoral election, Chitwood posted an invitation to those living in the Big Apple to relocate to Volusia County. “If you’re an NYC resident or a great NYPD officer unhappy with the results of tonight’s Mayoral election, let me be the first to invite you into the welcoming arms of Volusia County, FL,” Chitwood wrote. “To my NYPD friends, if you want to come to work in an organization that is cutting edge, innovating every day, a place where you’re appreciated by the community and supported by the elected officials, then check out the Volusia Sheriff’s Office and take a look at how we’re getting the job done.” Mamdani won the Democratic primary election earlier this year in an upset over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a political organization of further-left members of mainstream Democratic politics. Other members of the DSA include Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Criticism was levied against Mamdani for his progressive ideology, including advocating for free bus service and universal child care, plus a rent freeze on certain housing units and an increase to a $30 minimum wage by 2030. He has been described as an outright socialist by his election opponents, and as a communist by President Donald Trump. “To business owners looking for a safe, growing community, a great environment to do business and a fantastic place to raise your family, take a look at Volusia County,” Chitwood continued, seeming to contrast the area to New York City. “To all New Yorkers, if you’re looking for a better quality of life, from education, to the outdoors, to the beautiful weather, check out Volusia County. We are open for business. Tonight’s election is not the end. It can be the beginning of a new life.” Sheriff Chitwood is not the first elected official in Florida to levy criticism against Mamdani. The mayor-elect was described as ‘Marxist’ by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said Florida would happily receive new transplants from New York. Are New Yorkers Moving to Florida? It appears a little early to tell if there will be a marked influx of New York City residents moving to Florida. The prospect has mostly been floated by those politically opposed to Mamdani, and not major business or real estate experts. Still, there have been early indications a migration may actually occur. “The last two weeks, it’s been a complete game-changer,” said one realtor in Palm Beach County to WPTV. He said the phenomenon has sparked him to hire more staff to meet increasing demand. Fox Business also reported a surge of $100 million to the Florida real estate market over the course of multiple months. With all that in mind, context is key to managing expectations. By all accounts, the phenomenon of New Yorkers moving to Florida has already been happening en masse for years. According to the technological firm SmartAsset, New York was by far the largest source of people moving to Florida in 2022. New York accounted for over twice as many new residents as the next-highest state in the study, with 51,967 people making the journey in one year. That’s compared to 18,948 Floridians who moved to New York in the same span, for a net increase of 33,019 residents from exchanges between the two states. Other states moving in large numbers to Florida include Georgia, California, New Jersey, and Texas. There’s no one reason to explain the mass exodus of New Yorkers, but Florida’s lack of state income tax may be appealing. Furthermore, World Population Review scores New York with the fifth highest cost of living in the country, whereas Florida falls 17th. Is Mamdani a Socialist/Communist? Though Mike Chitwood stopped short of assigning politically charged verbiage to Zohran Mamdani (or mentioning him by name), his post touched on fears from some Americans that Mamdani’s victory represents an encroachment from far-left ideologies. Mamdani himself does not identify with the terms ‘socialist’ or ‘communist’, but that hasn’t kept them from being ascribed to him. So what actually is the difference? The ideology Mamdani endorses is democratic socialism. Though there isn’t one universally accepted definition of the ideology, the Democratic Socialists of America say they “want to collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation.” Traditional socialism has lengthy and complex connotations within world history. It’s commonly associated with reviled leaders such as Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin, but it was also ascribed to Nelson Mandela. The former two figures, both Soviet dictators, were also closely tied to communism – the two movements allow for one another. Socialism is broadly defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “any of various egalitarian economic and political theories or movements advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods”. Communism is the most extreme of these three value sets, and is usually considered to be a form of government which strives to eliminate class and private ownership altogether. The designation of Mamdani as a communist is largely propagated by President Trump, though it doesn’t exactly fit in practice. Karl Marx, co-author of The Communist Manifesto, believed in a stateless society – a tenet which Mamdani has never espoused. Effectively, communism is socialism without a democratic government. Democratic socialism is socialism within a capitalist framework. To label Mamdani a pure socialist works mostly as rhetorical exaggeration, while to call him a communist is a step further entirely. Though again: Sheriff Chitwood did neither of these things. “I have many critiques of capitalism,” Mamdani said in a campaign interview this year. “I think ultimately the definition for me of why I call myself a democratic socialist is the words of Dr. King decades ago. He said ‘call it democracy or call it democratic socialism, there must be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country’.”