US House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor on Friday, ending a four-month standoff that left the Democratic nominee without the backing of one of the party’s most powerful figures until the day before early voting begins.
“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 wrote in a statement. “In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”
The announcement arrives after months of pressure from progressives in Congress and after Jeffries was repeatedly grilled by reporters about his reluctance to support his party’s candidate. Jeffries’s delay was particularly striking given that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won the primary decisively in June, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo in what was considered a seismic upset.
Jeffries’s endorsement makes Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer the sole major Democratic congressional leadership holdout. The lack of earlier endorsements has not stopped Mamdani’s momentum; he maintains a commanding lead in polls for the 4 November general election, where he will face independent candidate Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Jeffries had cited concerns about Mamdani’s past rhetoric on Israel and antisemitism, as well as questions over how he would implement progressive policies. The process that finally yielded the endorsement included two in-person meetings in Brooklyn, with civil rights leader Al Sharpton serving as a conduit between the two camps.
