House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday endorsed Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, throwing his weight behind the Democratic nominee who has divided the party for his far-left views.
Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn, had declined to weigh in on the race for months, since Mamdani won a surprise victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary in June.
On Friday, just hours before the start of New York’s early voting, Jeffries broke that silence by endorsing the controversial candidate.
In a statement, Jeffries conceded “areas of principled disagreement” between the two. But he highlighted Mamdani’s efforts to tackle New York’s high cost of living — an issue Jeffries speaks of regularly — while stressing the importance of uniting as a party against President Trump.
“Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” Jeffries said.
“In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”
Mamdani has run his campaign on a far-left agenda focused largely on affordability, and his ascension has electrified the Democrats’ liberal base. But it has also alienated more moderate members of the party who are wary that Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, will be a drag on the party in next year’s midterm elections.
Indeed, Republicans have seized on Mamdani’s rise in an effort to make him the new face of the Democratic Party at large, much like they’ve done previously with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y) and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
With the news of Jeffries’s endorsement, they wasted little time escalating that campaign, warning that Mamdani will ensure that Republicans keep control of the House in next year’s midterms.
“So-called ‘Leader’ Hakeem Jeffries has officially surrendered to Zohran Mamdani and the socialist mob now running the Democrat Party,” Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the House Republicans’ campaign arm, said Friday in a statement. “Their far-left takeover has torched Democrats’ hopes of retaking the House and turned their agenda into pure electoral poison.”
Those dynamics have created a dilemma for Democratic leaders like Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who are fighting to make gains in the midterms next year, when the party has a good chance of flipping control of the House. To be successful, their campaign will require both the energy of the liberal base and support from moderate voters in battleground districts where the fate of the chambers will be determined.
Against that backdrop, Jeffries, who is vowing that Democrats will flip control of the House, has remained on the sidelines of the mayor’s race for months after Mamdani’s primary victory.
That reticence was on display as recently as Friday morning, when Jeffries was again pressed by reporters on the topic and said he’d make an announcement before early voting begins in New York.
“Stay tuned,” he told reporters in the Capitol. “I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to articulate my position. And I will, momentarily, at some point in advance of early voting.”
Early voting in New York begins at 9 a.m. Saturday.
