House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries continued to sidestep questions Thursday about why he has not endorsed avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani to serve as New York City’s next mayor despite the candidate running in the general election contest under the Democratic Party’s banner.
Jeffries, who represents a district that Mamdani will oversee if elected mayor, said his constituents have not asked him to support the democratic socialist before dismissing a series of questions about what New Yorkers in his Brooklyn district think about the mayoral candidate. Jeffries’ ongoing efforts to create distance between himself and Mamdani comes as some Democratic Party power players are growing impatient over him dragging his feet on endorsing the socialist’s campaign.
“I don’t know,” Jeffries said when asked if the lead House Democrat is out of touch with his party for not endorsing the Democratic nominee for mayor. “I guess people are going to have to figure that out — if that’s the question you think that my constituents are asking me because they’re not.”
Mamdani won a significant portion of voters in Jeffries’ Brooklyn district during his surprise victory over former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary contest. Jeffries has met with Mamdani twice since securing the Democratic Party’s nomination, but has repeatedly decline to publicly endorse his candidacy.
Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a leader of the Democratic Party’s leftist wing who has been floated as a 2028 presidential contender, criticized Jeffries for withholding an endorsement on Wednesday. The far-left lawmaker noted that she endorsed former President Joe Biden in 2020 despite her objections to some of his policy positions.
“I believe that we must set the example of supporting the party’s nominee, because it complicates — if an individual doesn’t want to support the party’s nominee now, it complicates their ability to ask voters to support any nominee later, whether that is mayoral, presidential, what have you,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Jeffries also shut down attempts Thursday to gauge what his constituents think about Mamdani, telling reporters they would have to talk to New Yorkers themselves to find out.
“I think you’ll have to ask them [about Mamdani],” Jeffries said. “I don’t hide from my constituents.”
“I go to mosques,” Jeffries continued. “I go to synagogues. I go to black baptist churches. I go to senior centers. I’m on the streets. I’m in parks.”
The DNC publicly supported Mamdani’s candidacy in a post on the social media platform X on Wednesday. The Democratic entity included a clip of Mamdani welcoming skeptics to back his mayoral campaign.
“We welcome anyone to join this movement,” Mamdani says in an interview with the “I’ve Had It” podcast. “We don’t ask them where they’ve been or why they haven’t joined yet. We welcome them.”
Jeffries has thus far not taken up Mamdani’s offer to back his campaign. The lead House Democrat told reporters to “stay tuned” about whether he will endorse the avowed socialist who previously called for defunding the police.
“New Yorkers aren’t bashful,” Jeffries said Thursday despite shying away from taking a clear position on Mamdani. “And so it’s very easy to kind of figure out what people may think about the situation and I welcome that.”
Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.
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