Jeffries endorses Mamdani for NYC mayor just before early voting starts

Even until the eleventh hour, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., played coy in supporting Zohran Mamdani in the race for New York City mayor.

“Early voting, as you know, starts tomorrow,” a Jeffries reporter observed at 11:06 a.m. Friday. “Are you ready to support Mamdani?”

“Stay tuned,” Jeffries responded.

“What more do you need to hear at this point?” » asked another scribe.

‘STAY TUNED’: JEFFRIES REPEATEDLY AVOIDS MAMDANI ENDORSEMENT AS SELF-IMPOSED DEADLINE MATTERS

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., endorsed leftist Zohran Mamdani for mayor of his city. (Angelina Katsanis-Pool/Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Same answer,” Jeffries said. “I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to express my position and I will do so momentarily, at some point before early voting.”

Well, early voting began on Saturday in New York. And true to his word, Jeffries made his position clear in a statement Friday afternoon, throwing his political influence behind Mamdani.

“Zohran Mamdani has been relentlessly focused on solving the affordability crisis and has explicitly committed to being mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” Jeffries said. “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 fight the national nightmare that Republican extremism is inflicting on the American people.”

Jeffries concluded his support with this key line: “I support the Democratic ticket. »

In some ways, this was the least newsworthy sentence in Jeffries’ statement. It might be absurd to think that the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, a New York native, would not support the Democratic candidate for mayor of his hometown.

This would have been a bigger story if Jeffries hadn’t supported Mamdani.

We don’t know for sure what Jeffries thought about for so long. But we understand the fissure within the Democratic Party between centrist Democrats and the far left. This is why Republicans are shouting from the Empire State Building that Mamdani is a “socialist” or even a “communist.” Republicans love, not so secretly, that Mamdani is the Democratic nominee. And they accept that Mamdani is making some Democrats squirm as the party tries to reach moderate voters — and simultaneously grapples with the candidate’s left-leaning views.

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“What we are witnessing is truly the end of the Democratic Party as we have known it,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “Hakeem Jeffries finally gave in. He gave in and threw his support behind the socialist candidate for mayor of New York. The Democrats in the House of Representatives have shown the world what they really believe. There is no more room for [centrists] and moderates in their party.

Republicans also say the reason Democrats “shut down the government” is because Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., heard footsteps coming from the left and feared a primary challenge. In Schumer’s case: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

“They decided, to save their skins, to support the Marxist Mamdani,” Johnson speculated. “In an unprecedented move, they also decided that they had to shut down the government, in an unprecedented move.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was quick to pounce on Jeffries after he “caved” and supported the “socialist” Mamdani. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

When asked over the weekend why it took him so long to support Mamdani, Jeffries said he wasn’t “someone I knew before he received the Democratic nomination.”

Jeffries added that he wanted to “sit down and have a few conversations” with Mamdani.

But the issue of endorsement has been a tortuous path for Jeffries since Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for mayor on June 25.

On the day Mamdani won the primary, Jeffries offered his “congratulations to Zohran Mamdani on his decisive primary victory.”

But Jeffries did not approve.

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“We spoke this morning and plan to meet soon in downtown Brooklyn,” Jeffries said.

Four days later, ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked Jeffries if he had ever supported Mamdani.

The answer was no.

Republicans, meanwhile, have blamed Democratic leaders for the ongoing shutdown, as Jeffries and Schumer both face potential major challenges from the left. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

“He overachieved, he communicated better and he organized the opposition better. And that’s clearly why he was successful,” Jeffries said.

“So what’s stopping you from supporting him right now?” Karl asked.

“Well, we don’t really know each other that well. Our districts don’t overlap. I’ve never had a substantive conversation with him,” Jeffries responded.

And that’s how it happened, all summer – and into the fall. Reporters frequently peppered Jeffries with questions about possible approval or the nature of the delay. And Jeffries has always been circumspect.

In fact, resistance to the endorsement fueled speculation that Jeffries harbored reservations about Mamdani. This has nothing to do with any possible headaches Mamdani could create for the party as it tries to woo undecided voters.

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“What does he have to do to get your approval?” asked CNN’s Dana Bash on August 24.

“(Rep.) Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and I are scheduled to sit down with him in the coming days. I look forward to that conversation,” Jeffries said.

“What do you want to hear from him? What’s missing? I mean, it’s pretty unusual for a high-ranking Democrat like you to withhold support from your party’s candidate for mayor of New York,” Bash retorted.

“I don’t think we’ve withheld our endorsement. We’re engaging in a conversation about the future of New York City,” Jeffries said.

Jeffries claims he “raised several issues with” Mamdani privately in addition to expressing his concerns publicly. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Bash wondered if Jeffries was not endorsing Mamdani because “he did not denounce the use of the term or support the term ‘globalize the Intifada?’ » »

“I have raised several issues with him privately and have spoken publicly about some of my concerns,” Jeffries said.

So there were indeed “concerns”.

“What do you say to your young voters, to the energetic young voters who are helping to put Mamdani in the position he is in and now they are asking you to represent their wishes and support him?” asked a Jeffries reporter at the Capitol on October 6.

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“I think I have answered these questions several times, and I will have more to say before early voting,” Jeffries said.

There were more questions for Jeffries about Mamdani on October 9.

“We’re in the middle of a government shutdown,” Jeffries dodged when asked about possible projects up for approval. “I will have more to say about the mayoral race before early voting in New York begins at the end of this month.”

Jeffries has therefore now supported Mamdani. And that should answer all the questions, right?

Doubtful.

Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, delivers remarks in the Bronx, New York, Friday, October 24, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)

Republicans pounced on Jeffries’ decision to approve the proposal. Moderate Democrats and many pro-Israel voters are complaining. Yes. Perhaps Jeffries needed to warm up to Mamdani and clarify the issues the minority leader had in mind. But in the end, Jeffries may have had no choice but to approve. Failure could have divided the party. Jeffries probably had to weigh which was greater danger: failing to support and outrage the left or supporting and losing those in the middle.

In politics, everything is a calculation. Jeffries made his calculation – on behalf of himself, the city of New York and his party.

Yes, Republicans will criticize Jeffries for this decision. But they would try to link Jeffries to Mamdani anyway. Fair or not.

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It’s unlikely Jeffries’ support could win or lose Mamdani’s mayoral race anyway.

But a refusal to endorse it would highlight the divide within the Democratic Party. And that might have fueled more questions than Jeffries ever asked about whether or not he would approve.