House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor on Friday after months of skirting around it despite Democratic pressure to back the party nominee.
Jeffries, whose endorsement comes less than two weeks before the race and the day before early voting is set to begin, is among the last of the Democratic lawmakers who represent New York City districts in Congress to fall in line behind Mamdani. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and several other prominent New York Democrats are now among the few holdouts.
“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 a statement first obtained by The New York Times. “In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”
In a statement, Mamdani made clear he was looking beyond Election Day next month.
“I welcome Leader Jeffries’ support and look forward to delivering a city government, and building a Democratic Party, relentlessly committed to our affordability agenda — and to fighting Trump’s authoritarianism,” Mamdani said. “Our movement to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas grows stronger by the day.”
Members of Congress who endorsed Mamdani had stopped short of explicitly pressuring Jeffries to also endorse him but hinted to NOTUS after the primary that they wanted party leaders to back the Democratic nominee.
Mamdani, a state assemblymember and democratic socialist, and Jeffries have aligned on some issues, including opposing President Donald Trump’s agenda. And Jeffries has denounced racist and Islamophobic rhetoric toward Mamdani.
But Jeffries has criticized the Democratic nominee for his stances on Israel and his connections to the Democratic Socialists of America, among other topics, and the two have diverged on police funding and other issues. Jeffries acknowledged these “areas of principled disagreement” in his statement endorsing Mamdani.
And he has been vague about his support for Mamdani since June’s primary. The Democratic leader repeatedly said he was talking with Mamdani and that he would share his thoughts on an endorsement at a later date.
“I expect to have a conversation with the Democratic nominee at some point between this moment that we’re in right now and early voting,” Jeffries told reporters outside the Capitol on Thursday.
Jeffries continued to be noncommittal as recently as Friday morning, deflecting a question about whether he would endorse Mamdani soon during a TV appearance and instead discussing affordability and the Democratic Party.
“I’ll have more to say about the mayor’s race when I’ll have more to say about the mayor’s race,” Jeffries said on CNBC. In one of his most direct pieces of praise for the nominee so far, Jeffries also added during the interview that he supported Mamdani’s announcement that he will retain New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch if he’s elected.
New York City progressives in Mamdani’s orbit had also pressured Jeffries amid his delay in endorsing the state assemblymember. At least one Mamdani ally, New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, is considering a primary challenge against Jeffries.
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and The City.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated with additional reporting.