When Zohran Mamdani upset Andrew Cuomo to win the New York City Democratic mayoral primary in June, it led to a lot of histrionics. The usual fear tactics against a young Muslim democratic socialist had failed to torpedo his campaign, and the rich were getting desperate. In Cuomo's case, he ignored the public rejection, ran as an independent candidate, and doubled down on the bigotry. In other cases, there was panicked discussion among the wealthy about the horrific possibility of having to pay a little more in taxes.
This summer, the hottest trend among the elites was making threats to leave New York City. Those with houses in the Hamptons were in a tizzy. Realtors claimed to be flooded with calls from wealthy clients who wanted to flee; landlords were freaking out about Mamdani's promise to freeze rents on rent-stabilized apartments. There was plenty of bluster about relocating businesses or completely departing the city to thwart Mamdani's plans. In most cases, because of who was making the threat, it inadvertently served as yet another reason to vote for him.
Since Mamdani won the election this past Tuesday and will be NYC's next mayor, I decided to check back in with a few of the people who made these bold promises. Some responded, and some didn't. For those in the latter category, I will update this post if they do.
Andrew Cuomo
In July, while on the campaign trail, the disgraced former governor made a remark about how he would leave the state if Mamdani won in November. From the New York Post:
“It’s all or nothing. We either win or even I will move to Florida. God forbid!” Cuomo told business leaders and other honchos at a Hamptons breakfast hosted by supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis.
At the time, Cuomo's spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said that the candidate was making a joke.
When reached by Defector on Thursday, Azzopardi had this to say: "Governor Cuomo isn't going anywhere. He'll continue to live right where he is now in New York city." "City" was uncapitalized in his email. At last check, Cuomo had a rental on the ritzy Sutton Place in Manhattan, after years of being registered to vote in Westchester. The question of his actual residence was one of the many reasons Cuomo was considered a poor choice for mayor. How can you run NYC if you don't spend much time in it?
Bill Ackman
Ackman, hedge fund manager and pretend pro tennis player, used too many words on Twitter laying out his various schemes to find someone who could defeat Mamdani. He was one of those billionaires who spent millions on the race, possibly more than he stood to lose to a tax increase. As an outspoken supporter of the apartheid state of Israel, Ackman wasn't just worried about paying more in taxes—he pushed hysteria about how Mayor Mamdani would result in some vague, nebulous danger for Jewish New Yorkers.
Among many other ideas, Ackman laid out a strategy for how the wealthy could exit New York and make the state worse off. His full tweet is truly too long to quote here, but here's the relevant part:
If 100 or so of the highest taxpayers in my industry chose to spend 183 days elsewhere, it could reduce NY state and city tax revenues by ~$5-10 billion or more, and that’s just my industry. Think Ken Griffin leaving Chicago for Miami on steroids.
Ackman did not respond to a request for comment. But in a tweet posted Tuesday night, after his prediction of a Cuomo victory went up in smoke, he kept it short for once in his life: "@ZohranKMamdani, congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do."
Dave Portnoy
Speaking only for myself, it didn't come as a surprise that the founder of Barstool Sports didn't care for a Muslim. Portnoy, who has residences in Florida, Massachusetts, and Montauk, already wasn't spending a lot of time in New York, but his company's offices are based there. In the lead-up to the November election, he threatened to possibly relocate his enterprise elsewhere, and made this threat more than once. Via Realtor.com:
"If it was just me, I would move the company out of New York City because I hate this guy so much," Portnoy said during livestream an appearance on Barstool's "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."
[...]
"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…" Portnoy said when asked about where he would move Barstool if, or when, Mamdani wins.
Again, however, Portnoy said that any plans to escape Manhattan are complicated by the fact that many of his employees are located in and around New York.
"But then we have all those people who are like, that f---s 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," he added, according to Whiskey Riff.
[...]
"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?"
Watch out, Hoboken. When reached for comment Thursday, Portnoy declined to say whether he'd follow through on his company relocation plans, but sent this instead:
Suck my cock Samer
Sent from my iPhone
John Catsimatidis
The supermarket billionaire and radio talk host always has a lot to say. Days before Mamdani even won the primary, Catsimatidis claimed he would relocate his Gristedes grocery chain out of Manhattan and to another state if Mamdani stuck to his campaign promise and successfully opened one city-run grocery store in each borough. "We’d probably move our corporate headquarters to New Jersey," he told the New York Post, in an article published on June 18.
Catsimatidis hasn't yet responded to a request for comment from Defector, but the Post checked in with him the day after Mamdani's win. He had this to say: "I don’t give a shit about grocery stores!"
Assorted Real Estate Brokers
The New York Post and Wall Street Journal both published stories about elite hysteria after Mamdani's win. Each features quotes from real estate agents who couldn't believe how many calls they were getting from clients ready to abandon the city.
"I have active clients who have been on the fence about leaving New York,” Danny Hertzberg, a Miami-based real estate agent, told the Journal. “They’re calling me to say that this may be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“My number one job will be moving people from New York to Florida. Again,” Ryan Serhant, real estate broker and star of the TV shows Million Dollar Listing New York and Owning Manhattan, told the Post. “Based on the results, clients are going to hold off on making any kind of investment in New York City.”
Neither Hertzberg nor Serhant responded to a request for comment on whether any clients have followed through on these plans.
Alan Dershowitz
OK, this one's a little different. After Mamdani's election victory, a screenshot of a fake New York Post headline—"Alan Dershowitz says he 'will blow his brains out on live TV' if Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor"—made its way around the internet. To the disappointment of many, the image was fake and the article did not exist, but Jeffrey Epstein's former lawyer felt compelled to address it anyway:
Consider this less of a debunking and more of a public service announcement: Alan Dershowitz will not be blowing his brains out on live TV. He will not be doing that.
