Dave Portnoy Happy He’s Out of NYC After Considering Barstool Relocation Amid Zohran Mamdani Win

It’s safe to say that Dave Portnoy was not too thrilled with the results of the New York City mayoral election.

After Democrat Zohran Mamdani beat out Independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the race for NYC mayor, the Barstool founder, 48, had some choice words to share with his 3.7 million followers on X (formerly Twitter).

Quoting a tweet featuring a video with commentary from conservative political strategist Scott Jennings, Portnoy wrote, “Scott Jennings sums up Mamdani perfectly. But if this is what the people of NYC want than [sic] so be it. Thank god I don’t live there anymore.”

In the footage of Jennings’ appearance on CNN following the election results, the 48-year-old commentator and writer called 34-year-old Mamdani the “greatest actor” the Democratic party has.

“He turned himself into a hood ornament for the poor and the downtrodden,” Jennings said. “He’s a rich kid who is a great actor. He play acts.”

“I’m just saying there’s no other obvious Democrat,” he later continued. “He has all the energy behind him. You talk about slicing and dicing the electorate; he’s going to slice it and dice it in one way: oppressors and oppressed. And I want to find out if he has it in him to give it up. I don’t think he does because that’s the energy in the Democratic party. It’s oppressors and oppressed.”

“That’s why the Jews in this city feel scared because they know he has labeled them as the oppressors. That’s why people who create jobs in New York City are leery because he labels them the oppressors. That is the worldview of the energy of this campaign,” he added. “And it’s also the worldview of the energy of Democratic primaries across this country.”

On Tuesday, November 4, Mamdani was named mayor-elect after receiving 50.4 percent of the vote, defeating former Governor Cuomo at 41.6 percent and Republican Sliwa at 7.1 percent.

Portnoy previously expressed his disdain for Mamdani and even said he considered moving Barstool’s offices out of New York City if the politician proved victorious.

“If it was just me, I would move the company out of New York City because I hate this guy so much,” he said on the October 30 episode of The Unnamed Show podcast. “But I won’t because there’s a lot of people in New York, and I don’t want to change their lifestyle for it.”

The democratic socialist, who will become the first Muslim and South Asian mayor of NYC, has drawn mixed reactions — particularly from the Jewish and the Israeli populations — throughout the race for his views on Israel’s war in Gaza and stances on other issues.

Celebrities from all over the country weighed in on Mamdani’s victory following the election’s outcome, with many in support of the mayor-elect and others sharing their disappointment.