House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said his long-awaited decision on whether to endorse New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is “coming sooner rather than later.”
“I expect to have more to say about the mayor’s race shortly. The governor has endorsed, the speaker of the assembly made an endorsement, and over the weekend, Congresswoman Yvette Clark in the neighboring congressional district, who’s a good friend of mine, made that decision.” Jefferies said.
“Everyone makes those decisions on an individual basis in terms of their timing, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” he added. “And it’s a decision that’s coming sooner rather than later.”
A growing list of prominent New York Democrats have backed Mamdani in recent months, increasing pressure on Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to follow suit.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) last week criticized the fact that “many Democratic members of the Senate and House representing New York have stayed on the sidelines” in the mayoral race.
“That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of,” Van Hollen said. “They need to get behind him and get behind him now.”
Justin Chermol, a spokesperson for Jeffries, poked back at Van Hollen at the time.
“Leader Hakeem Jeffries will have more to say about the general election well in advance of Nov. 4,” he said. “Meanwhile, confused New Yorkers are asking themselves the question: Chris Van Who?”
Schumer, during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, said he was still talking to Mamdani, but refused to comment on what was causing the delay.
Observers see Mamdani’s far-left policies, such as freezing rents and taxing the rich, and his outspoken criticism of Israel as giving more moderate Democrats pause in backing his candidacy.
Last Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced her endorsement of the mayoral nominee in a New York Times op-ed; Carl Heastie, speaker of New York’s State Assembly, endorsed Mamdani two days later; Andrea Stewart-Cousins, New York state senate majority leader, endorsed him this past Friday and just Rep. Yvette Clarke backed him on Saturday.
As of Monday, Mamdani was leading in the polls by about 15 percentage points over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to New York Times polling numbers. The election is about six weeks away.
