Fire up the U-Hauls.
I’m sure you’ve heard about the high-profile campaign for mayor going on in New York City right now. The election to replace outgoing mayor Eric Adams is on November 4, 2025, just over a week and a half away. The race features former New York governor Andrew Cuomo running as an Independent, going up against Republican Curtis Sliwa (who doesn’t really stand a chance), and the Democrat candidate and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.
Much of the attention has been on Mamdani, a far-left member of the New York State Assembly who identifies as a socialist and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
His platform is pretty much what you’d expect: Make everything free, reduce incarcerations instead of locking up criminals, and implementing an aggressive green agenda to combat climate change. So you know that he’s basically a lock to win it all in a place like NYC.
And one prominent New York business owner is already preparing to move out of the city.
Barstool Sports CEO Dave Portnoy revealed during a livestream over the weekend that he’s considering moving the company’s New York City office to another state if Mamdani gets elected:
“Honestly I’ve given that a lot of thought- and he’s definitely going to win – going to like Hoboken or Jersey City or something…
But then we have all those people who are like, that f–ks up their life just because I hate the guy. Like all the people in the New York office gotta go to Jersey City or they gotta go to Hoboken? So it’s a Catch-22.
I may close the New York office. Trust me, I’ve given it a lot of thought. Because I can’t STAND the thought of Mamdani running f–king New York City. I can’t stand it. But then a part of me’s like, how much will actually change?
But I really have given it thought. I told our finance guy to start looking around for property. No joke. Take a principled stand. 30-something year old communist running New York City who’s never had a job in his life, hates America, doesn’t seem like the best.”
Portnoy supported President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election, but he also hasn’t been shy about criticizing Trump either. He’s also been an outspoken supporter of Israel and spoken out against anti-semitism, even calling his own employee Brianna Chickenfry’s comments in defense of Palestine “spectacularly stupid.”
Barstool Sports employs hundreds of people across their offices in both New York City and Chicago, and while one company moving out of the city might not make a difference, I have a feeling that Portnoy isn’t the only CEO who feels this way.
Meanwhile, Mamdani is also apparently not making any friends at the New York Knicks, after the team took issue with one of his latest ads.
The Mamdani campaign recently unveiled an ad called “This Is Our Year,” which features the candidate playing basketball, seemingly drawing parallels between the problems facing the city and the struggles that the Knicks have faced, while declaring that, “New York, our time has come” and featuring a logo resembling the recognizable New York Knicks logo.
The ad was both posted to his social media accounts and also ran on local television during Wednesday night’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks.
And the Knicks weren’t too happy about it.
According to the New York Post, the team sent a cease and desist letter to the campaign demanding that the ad be taken down, claiming that the commercial is “likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with the Knicks.”
A team spokesman also told the Post that they have in no way endorsed Mamdani for mayor:
“The NY Knicks have sent NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for using the NY Knicks logo to promote his candidacy.
The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights.”
It doesn’t appear that the Mamdani campaign has commented on the demand from the NBA team, but it’s not the first time the candidate has attempted to win over New York Knicks fans with his content.
In the latest poll, Mamdani holds a massive 18-point lead over Cuomo, with Sliwa running at only 16% of the vote. Many have called for the GOP candidate to drop out of the race to give Cuomo a chance to defeat the socialist candidate, but Sliwa has remained determined to stay in the race – and it appears that Mamdani would like win either way.
Best of luck to both New York City and the Knicks. Y’all are going to need it.
