If anyone moves from Texas to New York now...: 100% tariff threat 'joke' from Governor Greg Abbott as Zohran Mamdani wins

Hours before Zohran Mamdani was announced the winner of the New York City mayoral election last night, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a warning that if anyone moved from Texas to NYC after the polls closed, he would impose a 100% tariff on them. The threat came as a surprise to many Texans who were not even planning to leave Texas as to how a tariff could possibly be imposed on people who were leaving Abbott's state. Also, the power to impose tariffs falls within the federal government’s authority in the Constitution, not the states.

CBS reported that, prior to the election, a poll found that 9% of people would flee New York City if Mamdani wins. The poll also showed that 2.12 million residents would consider leaving -- accounting for about 25% of New Yorkers.


Turns out that Abbott was just joking about tariff.“He was just joking on the assumption that people would want to move if Mamdani is in fact elected," the Governor's office told CBS.



After Mamdani won the election, Abbott observed a 'moment of silence for NYC' on X with his thoughts and prayers. Then he declared Texas as the unrivaled headquarters for capitalism in the US. "We lead the country in finance sector employment & new stock exchanges. Capitalism always prevails. Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than all of the social programs in the world. We will secure capitalism for the future of our country and deny the expansion of socialism that is creeping across the US," he posted.

Who are moving to NYC after Mamdani's victory?

Conservative podcaster Patrick Bet-David claimed that a lot of people will be moving to NYC after Mamdani's win, but not investors or job creators. "Criminals will be moving into NYC. He wants to let people out of prison. If you are somebody who does not want to work at all...this is a massive opportunity to move to NYC. If you are an illegal immigrant, are you kidding me? This is heaven for you. He will protect you," Bet-David said, adding that NYC is not going to lose people.