Never say never. That was Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy’s philosophical reaction Monday when queried if he would mount a run challenging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani positing, “can I win here?” as he weighed his chances against the incumbent socialist in the Big Apple.
The query came per Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News where the host slammed the mayor and the candidates Mamdani endorsed who claimed a slew of primaries last week.
“What would you do about it?” Jesse Watters asked of a challenge to the left-wing push sweeping the city as the chyron read, “Commie wave hits New York City.”
“So I’ve always thought I would never get involved in politics, but I think you can do more in the private sector,” Portnoy replied. “What is going on has actually made me pause that thought. I was saying to you that old Plato quote, if you don’t do your public service and run for office, you’re doomed to be run by basically dummies. And right now I feel like that’s what’s happening. Now, not everyone’s getting out to vote. I think what the Democrats have done is they’ve let the fox into the henhouse.”
The New England native said it is “a scary time” to live in New York and added, “I do feel like it’s my duty. I can’t turn away. I feel like I could make a change, maybe a do run in politics. So I don’t know.”
“You might run against Mamdani?” Watters asked.
“If I was going to run, it would be here,” he responded. “Can I win here? I have no idea. I don’t the demographics, whether I’d get enough votes. There’s a lot of people who like me in New York City. I know that. I’ve done a lot of good in New York City when I wasn’t thinking about politics, whether it was the Barstool Fund, pizza places.”
Portnoy said his life of working in real jobs with real people was ample preparation for high office.
“So, it wasn’t for show. I’ve had a real job. I’ve done real things unlike these clown politicians who have never had a job and never been in the real world for a day. But the people voting for these people that just won are these young, white, like, Ivy League-ish, elite-ish, women. It’s like, who are they? Like, they’ll never vote for me. They’ll never believe in common sense.”
This is not the first time Portnoy has voiced his feelings about Mamdani.
The sports maven blasted Mamdani as a “communist” and “one of the worst, scariest candidates” just last year, as Breitbart News reported.
“He hates capitalism, he wants a fundamental shift in what has built this country, and he doesn’t really particularly hide it,” Portnoy told Fox Business Network back then.