“It’s not a done deal, but Cuomo screwed up real big because he tried to do what President Biden did and hide in the basement for two months,” Republican billionaire John Catsimatidis told Forbes, saying he doesn’t think Cuomo will run as a third-party candidate, but that Mayor Eric Adams, “if he has Trump’s help in cleaning up the streets of New York… has a chance to be a winner.”

Catsimatidis has threatened to move his Gristedes chain of groceries out of New York if the city elects Mamdani, who has said he wants to open city-run groceries in each of New York’s five boroughs.

Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman, who donated $500,000 to a super PAC supporting Cuomo and backed President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, reposted a series of tweets criticizing Mamdani’s win, including turnout stats from The New York Times that found Mamdani won districts with median incomes over $100,000 by 13 points, while Cuomo won those with median incomes under $50,000 by 19 points.

Ackman also lamented Mamdani received votes amounting to less than 10% of the registered voter population in New York, writing “if we allow 9.1% of registered voters [to] determine the future of New York City, then we deserve the city that we are going to get.”

Billionaire Cuomo backer Dan Loeb of Third Point hedge fund declared “it’s officially hot commie summer” in response to Mamdani’s win and criticized New York Gov. Kathy Hochul as “a clueless, unqualified buffoon” in response to her tweet calling Mamdani’s campaign “formidable.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also tweeted a crying laughing emoji in response to an X user who reposted a tweet from Zohran Mamdani that said “queer liberation means defund the police,” with the caption “you can just say things,” suggesting Mamdani’s statement didn’t add up.