BREAKING: Hakeem Jeffries Endorses Zohran Mamdani After Months-Long Dance
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) formally endorsed Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City on Friday.
A number of prominent Democrats — including Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — have faced growing public pressure to endorse Mamdani since his upset win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. At the time of writing, Mamdani still maintained a sizable lead in the polls over Republican Curtis Sliwa and Cuomo, who is now running as an independent.
Although Mamdani has earned endorsements from NY Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), some in the party have been reluctant to publicly support him. Some have pointed to his socialist policy positions, while others have cited his harsh criticism of Israel.
On Friday morning, Jeffries was asked again about a potential endorsement of Mamdani. The House leader clarified that he hasn’t refused to endorse him, and has only refused to “articulate” his “position.”
Not long after those comments, a report from Politico revealed that Jeffries was planning a formal announcement:
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will endorse Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor Friday, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The nod is coming after months of pressure and just before early voting begins Saturday.
Jeffries then made the endorsement official in The New York Times:
In a statement to The New York Times, Mr. Jeffries acknowledged that the two men had “areas of principled disagreement.” But he said that Mr. Mamdani had won “a free and fair election” in the Democratic primary and emphasized that the party needed to unite in the face of an “existential” threat from 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,” Mr. Jeffries wrote.He added: “In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”
