Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is not ruling out a run for New York City mayor, saying Monday that the city’s political direction has made him reconsider his long-held view that he should stay out of elected office.
Portnoy made the comments during an appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News, where host Jesse Watters criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and several candidates backed by Mamdani who won primaries last week.
Watters asked Portnoy what he would do in response to the leftward shift in city politics, as the on-screen chyron read, “Commie wave hits New York City.”
Portnoy said he has generally believed he could make a bigger impact outside politics, particularly through business and private-sector efforts. But he said recent developments in New York have made him pause.
“So I’ve always thought I would never get involved in politics, but I think you can do more in the private sector,” Portnoy said. “What is going on has actually made me pause that thought.”
He pointed to an old quote often attributed to Plato, saying that people who avoid public service can end up being governed by people they consider unqualified.
“If you don’t do your public service and run for office, you’re doomed to be run by basically dummies,” Portnoy said. “And right now I feel like that’s what’s happening.”
Portnoy said he believes many New Yorkers are not turning out to vote and argued that Democrats have allowed far-left voices to gain too much influence inside the party.
“I think what the Democrats have done is they’ve let the fox into the henhouse,” he said.
The Barstool founder, who is originally from New England, described the current political climate in New York as troubling and said he feels a sense of responsibility not to ignore it.
“I do feel like it’s my duty. I can’t turn away,” Portnoy said. “I feel like I could make a change, maybe do a run in politics. So I don’t know.”
Watters then asked him directly whether he might run against Mamdani.
“If I was going to run, it would be here,” Portnoy replied. “Can I win here? I have no idea.”
Portnoy said he does not know whether the city’s demographics would work in his favor, but argued that he has a significant base of support in New York. He pointed to his charitable work through the Barstool Fund, as well as his support for local pizza shops, as examples of his connection to the city.
“There’s a lot of people who like me in New York City. I know that,” he said. “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 also contrasted his background with that of career politicians, saying he has worked real jobs and built real businesses.
“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,” he said.
He also argued that some of the voters backing the city’s left-wing candidates are unlikely to ever support him, describing them as young, elite, Ivy League-adjacent white women.
“They’ll never vote for me,” Portnoy said. “They’ll never believe in common sense.”
Portnoy has criticized Mamdani before. Last year, he called him a “communist” and described him as “one of the worst, scariest candidates,” according to Breitbart News.
“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 at the time.
