Sean Hannity’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
His friends had seen enough and were calling in a panic.
And Sean Hannity revealed one thing that has his conservative friends scared as hell.
Fox News host says New Yorkers officially "depressed and scared"
Tuesday night delivered a gut punch to conservatives watching Democrats rack up wins in blue state races.
The biggest shock came from New York City, where 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani crushed former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa to become the city's next mayor.¹
Fox News host Sean Hannity told viewers his phone was "blowing up" from friends in New York who watched the returns come in with growing dread.
Co-host Bret Baier suggested Mamdani's win would "benefit" Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik's 2026 gubernatorial run, arguing "She, tonight, is probably much more well-positioned than she was yesterday because of the situation."
Hannity wasn't buying that silver lining.
"I don't know, Bret, if I quite agree with that analysis in this sense," Hannity shot back. "And I honestly feel bad. I have friends of mine in New York. My phone is blowing up. They are officially depressed and scared."²
Hannity revealed that nearly one million New Yorkers could flee the city under Mamdani's radical leadership.
"A full nine percent of people say that they will leave if he in fact got elected," Hannity stated. "Before today, they said if he got elected, they are gonna leave New York City."³
That poll showing nine percent of New Yorkers ready to abandon ship represents roughly 765,000 people ready to pack up and go.
The Fox News host's friends have good reason to be terrified about what comes next.
Mamdani's radical agenda will transform New York into a socialist experiment
Mamdani didn't hide what he plans to do to New York City.
The former foreclosure counselor and one-time rapper ran on freezing rent for all rent-stabilized apartments, making city buses free, and providing universal childcare by raising taxes on the wealthy.⁴
To pay for his socialist wish list, Mamdani wants to hit corporations and anyone making over one million dollars with a two percent tax increase.⁵
That's $10 billion in new taxes on businesses and high earners who already carry the city's budget on their backs.
Mamdani made history as New York's first Muslim mayor, first of South Asian descent, first born in Africa, and youngest mayor in over a century.⁶
But those milestones pale next to the radical transformation he's promising.
His victory speech Tuesday night quoted socialist leader Eugene Debs and declared "I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity."⁷
That's not the language of a moderate reformer – that's the rhetoric of someone planning to remake America's financial capital into a democratic socialist showcase.
The Democratic Socialists of America member also wants to raise New York City's minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030 and open city-run grocery stores to compete with private businesses.⁸
Business leaders warned during the campaign that Mamdani would drive wealthy New Yorkers out and discourage companies from operating in the nation's financial capital.⁹
Turns out they were right to worry.
New York City just elected a mayor who wants to destroy capitalism
Mamdani is an outspoken supporter of the BDS movement against Israel and joined the Democratic Socialists of America specifically because of their anti-Israel stance.¹⁰
He called Israel's war in Gaza a "genocide" and refused to say Israel should exist as a Jewish state.¹¹
During the campaign, Mamdani refused to condemn the slogan "Globalize the intifada" and instead defended it as expressing "a desperate desire for equality and equal rights."¹²
And get this – Mamdani also had to walk back social media posts calling police "racist" and "wicked" and supporting calls to defund the NYPD.¹³
Now he's running the nation's largest police department.
President Trump saw exactly what Mamdani represents and didn't mince words.
Trump repeatedly called him a "communist" during the campaign and threatened to withhold federal funding if he won.¹⁴
The president wasn't exaggerating.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is already hammering House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for endorsing this radical, claiming Jeffries is "apparently a socialist now."¹⁵
That's the kind of albatross Democrats just hung around their own necks heading into 2026 and 2028.
Republicans couldn't have asked for a better poster child for what the Democrat Party has become – a 34-year-old socialist who quotes Eugene Debs, hates Israel, wanted to defund police, and plans to run New York City like a Venezuelan economic experiment.
Hannity's New York friends calling him in a panic Tuesday night understand something Democrats refuse to see.
When you elect someone whose economic plan is "soak the rich until they leave," you end up with exactly what you'd expect – everyone with options heading for the exits and taking their tax dollars with them.
Those 765,000 New Yorkers ready to flee aren't just a poll number.
They're the people who pay the bills, run the businesses, and keep the city functioning.
And Mamdani just told them he's coming for their wallets to fund his socialist fantasy.
¹ Michael Luciano, "Despondent Hannity Says His Friends 'Are Officially Depressed and Scared' After Mamdani Victory," Mediaite, November 4, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ "Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayoral election after energizing young voters with focus on affordability," CBS New York, November 5, 2025.
⁵ "Zohran Mamdani," Wikipedia, November 5, 2025.
⁶ "How Zohran Mamdani rose from Queens lawmaker to mayor of New York," PBS News, November 5, 2025.
⁷ "Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayoral race," NPR, November 5, 2025.
⁸ "Zohran for NYC," ZohranforNYC.com, accessed November 5, 2025.
⁹ "Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayoral race, CNN projects," CNN Politics, November 5, 2025.
¹⁰ "Zohran Mamdani," Wikipedia, November 5, 2025.
¹¹ "Zohran Mamdani," Britannica, July 18, 2025.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ "How Zohran Mamdani rose from Queens lawmaker to mayor of New York," PBS News, November 5, 2025.
¹⁴ "Zohran Mamdani claims victory in NYC mayor's race, promises 'relentless improvement,'" CBS New York, November 5, 2025.
¹⁵ "Live updates: Election results, Trump's response, Mamdani wins in New York," CNN Politics, November 5, 2025.