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.”