Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said in a statement Friday that he is endorsing Zohran Mamdani, four months after the 34-year-old democratic socialist clinched the Democratic nomination for New York mayor.
"As with any Mayor, there will be areas of agreement and areas of principled disagreement," Jeffries said, but added, "I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election." He cited Mamdani's commitment to lowering the cost of living and representing "all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy" as the reason behind his endorsement.
"The communities I represent in Brooklyn are being devastated by this extreme version of the Republican Party. In this environment, we have a clear obligation to push back against the national nightmare," Jeffries said in his statement. "Donald Trump must be given no space to haunt the people of New York City."
Conversations between Jeffries and Mamdani since June helped pave the way for the endorsement, according to multiple people familiar with those talks who said the two men have forged an understanding of each other's politics and a working relationship.
Mamdani's recent attempts to clarify past controversial statements and positions were, in part, based on guidance from congressional Democrats on what it would take to earn their endorsement, according to multiple lawmakers and congressional aides familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private meetings and deliberations. Mamdani's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Jeffries - and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) - have faced criticism, particularly from liberal Democrats, for not endorsing Mamdani after his primary victory. Schumer has yet to endorse Mamdani. Their critics point to the delay as an example of how the top Democrats in Congress are out of touch with the party.
Jeffries and Schumer have been peppered with questions in recent months about whether they would endorse Mamdani. Those closest to Jeffries say the endorsement was not front of mind, as he had to strategize how Democrats win back the House as Republicans redistrict state maps to their advantage, and more recently navigate his party through a government shutdown.
Asked in September whether he was out of touch with the party amid backlash for not endorsing, Jeffries told reporters, "I don't know. I guess people are going to have to figure that out if that's the question you think my constituents are asking me, because they're not."
Over the summer, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) called the lack of endorsements the sort "spineless politics" that Americans "are sick of," while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) - who is close to Jeffries - said in a CNN town hall this month that she worries "about the example it sets when our leaders do not support the party nominee."
"This should be the kind of candidate that Democrats want in every state in the country - strong grassroots campaigns, a willingness to take on the oligarchs and the big money interests and stand up for working class people," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said at the same CNN event. "Hakeem, you watching this?"
Not all Democrats agree. Mamdani's primary victory shocked many in the party on Capitol Hill who were still recovering from major losses across the country in the 2024 election, including in reliably liberal districts that showed lower-than-usual turnout for Democrats. His primary - which saw moderate candidates squaring off against a range of progressives - was emblematic of debates happening among lawmakers regarding whether the future of the party lies toward the center or the left.
Some congressional Democrats fear being tied to Mamdani's proposals, including free buses and a rent freeze, which some describe as reckless. Many national-level centrists believe that the New York mayoral election should not be seen as indicative of the Democratic Party's stances, especially since the liberal city is vastly different from the swing districts Democrats need to flip to win back a congressional majority. House Democrats Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen, who represent toss-up Long Island districts, have distanced themselves from Mamdani and criticized his liberal streak.
"I've made my position clear from the start: socialist Zohran Mamdani is absolutely wrong for NY," Gillen wrote on social media last month. "Zohran Mamdani's reckless agenda filled with unachievable promises and contempt for certain groups threatens NY's economy and safety."
Others in the New York delegation are not expected to endorse Mamdani. Jeffries has listened to the delegation and taken their feedback over the last couple months, telling them to make decisions based on their districts' needs, an adviser said.
Republicans have taken advantage of Mamdani's success, framing the candidate as the leader of the Democratic Party and warning that his election will only be the start of "a rise of Marxism" that will spread throughout the country, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) often states.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans' campaign arm, is set to air digital ads Friday in response to the endorsement, linking New York Democrats and those challenging Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-New Jersey) to Mamdani. A negative digital ad tying Jeffries to Mamdani will go up in the 26 swing districts the NRCC has targeted across the country.
Mike Marinella, spokesman for the NRCC, claimed the Jeffries endorsement shows "the socialist mob" now runs the Democratic Party and that the "far-left takeover has torched Democrats' hopes of retaking the House. … Every single Democrat is a willing accomplice to their own party's collapse."
Jeffries and Mamdani first spoke over the phone the day after the June 24 primary. In that call, the House Democratic leader applauded Mamdani for his consistent messaging on lowering the cost of living. Jeffries has been hammering an affordability message, telling The Washington Post that "failure to adequately address the high cost of living" during the 2024 election was "a mistake that can never be made again."
The two New Yorkers spent over an hour discussing public safety, antisemitism in New York and affordability during their first in-person meeting on July 18. Conversation on those topics continued a month later, when Jeffries again met with Mamdani in a gathering that also included Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-New York) - who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus - and over a dozen faith leaders in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Some of those involved with those meetings believe they informed Mamdani's approach. The candidate spent the summer apologizing in closed-door meetings with New York police officers for previously calling for the defunding of the police and characterizing law enforcement officers in a 2020 tweet as "racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety."
In an interview with Fox News last week, Mamdani publicly apologized to the department, saying he is "looking forward to working with these officers" who "put their lives on the line every single day."
Mamdani has also remarked in private meetings with New York City stakeholders that he would not use the phrase "globalize the intifada" as mayor and would discourage others from using it, according to the New York Times. Mamdani declined to directly condemn the phrase in an interview on "Meet the Press" in June, sparking outrage among congressional Democrats and Republicans.
"Assemblyman Mamdani has promised to focus on keeping every New Yorker safe, including the Jewish community that has confronted a startling rise in antisemitic incidents as well as Black and Latino neighborhoods that have battled deadly gun violence for years. The Assemblyman has explicitly made clear that public safety for these communities will be a top priority," Jeffries said in his statement. "That is the approach that this moment requires."
(COMMENT, BELOW)