Newcomer Pod Can Tech Work With Zohran Mamdani? | Julie Samuels
Mar 4, 2026
Julie Samuels, President and CEO of Tech:NYC and longtime tech-policy leader, discusses tech and politics in New York. She explores why Zohran Mamdani connects with voters. Conversations cover tech’s internal political split, Empire AI and state AI strategy, data center energy concerns, housing and workforce issues, and ways tech can work with a new mayor to modernize government.
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Tech Employees Drive Local Political Donations
- New York's tech workforce skews politically left while management may differ, creating unique donation patterns in local races.
- Julie Samuels cites Google as the top employer donating to Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral primary, illustrating rank-and-file influence on politics.
Google Bus Protests Alienated Early Career Engineers
- Julie Samuels recalls the Google bus protests in San Francisco as a moment when tech workers were turned into political enemies.
- She argues those engineers on buses were often young, early-career workers who could have been integrated into progressive coalitions instead.
Use AI To Modernize City Government Systems
- Tech and city government should partner to modernize antiquated systems and identify savings using AI and digital tools.
- Samuels points to the mayor's chief savings officer mandate and tap-to-pay subway rollout as practical examples of wins.