Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to impose a 100 percent tariff on New Yorkers attempting to relocate to Texas if Zohran Mamdani, a socialist candidate, wins the mayoral election in New York City on Tuesday.

Abbott, known for his strong alliance with former President Donald Trump, expressed little compassion for those considering an escape from New York under a socialist administration.

“After the polls close tomorrow night, I will impose a 100 percent tariff on anyone moving to Texas from NYC,” Abbott declared.

This proposed measure could significantly impact the nearly one million New Yorkers reportedly contemplating a move should Mamdani secure the mayoral seat, as indicated by recent polling data.

The legality of Texas treating incoming residents as taxable commodities remains uncertain. Currently, while some states impose an ‘exit tax’ on those leaving, there is no precedent for a ‘moving tax’ on new arrivals.

While many states currently have an ‘exit tax’ for leaving, they do not currently have any sort of a ‘moving tax’ for those arriving.  

Abbott becomes the latest Republican to condemn Mamdani, who Trump has referred to as a ‘communist’ who would be ‘the worst mayor in history.’ 

The race has many Republicans endorsing Cuomo, the former Democrat governor of New York state.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott promised to place a 100 percent tariff on any New Yorker who tries to flee the Big Apple should socialist Zohran Mamdani win the mayor’s race Tuesday

Abbott, a key Donald Trump ally in the Lone Star State, showed no sympathy for anyone trying to escape from New York should Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa

Sliwa has been pitched by many as a spoiler candidate who will hand the city to Mamdani, despite winning his party’s primary. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Mamdani for comment. 

The 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist is set to storm to victory in the election on November 4, the poll by JL Partners for the Daily Mail revealed.

He has a 15-point lead over his nearest rival, former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo.

The poll showed that many New Yorkers who do not support Mamdani are convinced he is going to ‘destroy’ America’s biggest metropolis and crater its economy, sending shockwaves across the rest of the country.

They think it could mark a return to the urban decay of the 1980s when the city was blighted by poverty, rampant crime, crumbling infrastructure and abandoned buildings.

Even among Mamdani’s own supporters more think he will make antisemitism in New York worse, rather than better.

Asked for one word to describe what the Big Apple would be like after four years of his left-wing policies, the most common response from non-Mamdani voters was ‘disaster.’

Abbott becomes the latest Republican to condemn Mamdani, who Trump has referred to as a ‘communist’ who would be ‘the worst mayor in history’

They also said a Mamdani-run New York would be ‘chaos,’ ‘hell,’ ‘broken,’ and a ‘s***hole.’ 

Among voters who have made up their minds, Mamdani was on 46 percent support, according to the poll.

Cuomo, running as an independent, was on 31 percent, Republican Curtis Sliwa on 22 percent, and the rest was shared among minor candidates.

Among voters aged under 30, Mamdani has a massive 35-point lead over Cuomo. Among Democrats, Mamdani has 54 percent support and Cuomo, who previously governed the state of New York as a Democrat, has 26 percent.

The poll found New Yorkers expect a wide array of the city’s problems to get worse under a ‘Mayor Mamdani,’ including crime, antisemitism and the economy.

It found 47 percent believe levels of crime and violence will get worse, with only 32 percent saying the city would be safer under Mamdani. 

On the issue of crime there was a stark split among New Yorkers based on age.

For voters under 30, 49 percent said they believed safety would improve under Mamdani, with 32 percent saying it would not.

But among over-65s only 26 percent thought the city would be safer under Mamdani and 50 percent said it would not.

Mamdani has a 15-point lead over his nearest rival, former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured)

Guardian Angels’ founder Curtis Sliwa (pictured) is the Republican nominee

Meanwhile, the poll found 43 percent of New Yorkers expect the number of businesses in the city to decrease under Mamdani, with stores going under and potential entrepreneurs forced to head elsewhere.

Only 23 percent thought the number of businesses would rise under the democratic socialist.

The poll showed 39 percent expected the risk of terrorism to increase under Mamdani, with only 18 percent thinking it will lessen. 

And 45 percent thought the problem of antisemitic views in the city would get worse, with only 21 percent thinking it would improve.

Even Democrats thought Mamdani would have a negative impact on antisemitism, with 29 percent saying he would make it better and 32 percent worse. 

Earlier this month, Mamdani faced a backlash after posting a picture of himself on social media with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn-based Muslim cleric.

Wahhaj was named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted potential co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a precursor to the 9/11 attacks. He was never charged with any crimes and denied involvement in the attack.

The poll revealed only one issue where New Yorkers thought Mamdani would improve the current situation.

It showed that 39 percent think housing would become more affordable under Mamdani, with 32 percent believing it would be less so.

Democrats backed him to reduce housing costs by 52 percent to 19 percent.

The poll also revealed a stark split among Democrat voters in New York, with many opposed to Mamdani. 

It showed 33 percent of Democrats believe crime will rise, 29 percent think there will be less businesses, and 25 percent said the risk of terrorism will increase.

The poll was conducted between October 23 and 26 among 500 registered voters and had a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

Sliwa has resisted pressure to drop out to help Cuomo, suggesting if anyone was to stand down it should be Cuomo instead.

Cuomo is deeply unpopular with Republicans so Sliwa withdrawing may not greatly assist him.

Earlier this month, Sliwa vowed he would only leave the race if ‘a Mack truck hits me and I get turned into a speed bump, and they can’t recover me in the I.C.U. That’s the only way.’ 

Mamdani, who is running to be New York’s first Muslim mayor, was born in Uganda and moved to New York aged seven. 

His father is an academic and his mother a filmmaker. As a child he went to a private school in Manhattan where fees are now $66,000 a year.

Despite his ultra-privileged upbringing Mamdani is successfully appealing to working-class voters and young adults who find New York increasingly unaffordable to live in, with promises that he will bring their costs down.

His platform of policies includes a freeze on rent hikes, free bus services, fully-funded day care for under-5s, city-owned grocery stores, and turbocharging the minimum wage ultimately to $30 an hour.

He wants to fund those policies, which will cost billions of dollars, by raising taxes on the rich and companies.

There would be a 2 percent increase on New Yorkers earning over $1 million a year, and the top corporate tax rate would rise from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent.

Critics say that will lead to a surge of firms and high-earning individuals leaving New York, which will in turn decimate the city’s tax revenue and Mamdani unable to pay for his policies.

President Donald Trump has branded Mamdani a ‘communist’ and threatened to cut off federal funding to the city if he is elected.

But the president is reportedly resigned to Mamdani winning, with it seemingly tooo late for Cuomo or Sliwa to catch up.