House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City after a months-long wait to back the Democratic nominee, the New York Times reported on Friday.
A critic of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Mamdani is a member, Jeffries told the Times in a statement that he and the state representative have “areas of principled disagreement,” but Mamdani won a “free and fair election” in the Democratic primary.
The House minority leader also said the party needs to unite against the “existential” threat, which he said U.S. President Donald Trump poses.
“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 stated.
The legislator’s written endorsement of Mamdani comes a day before early voting is set to begin in New York City. He had touted an announcement on his decision for months.
The decision of several formerly hesitant Democrats to back Mamdani seems to follow a shift in some of the leftist positions that the mayoral hopeful holds, such as his promise to apologize for past comments calling the New York City Police Department racist and discouraging the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” per the Times.
“Assemblyman Mamdani has promised to focus on keeping every New Yorker safe, including the Jewish community that has confronted a startling rise in antisemitic incidents as well as black and Latino neighborhoods that have battled deadly gun violence for years,” Jeffries stated.
Mamdani is currently the frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race against Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and former governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani.
During a mayoral debate on Wednesday evening, Cuomo said that Mamdani “stokes the flames of hatred against Jewish people.”
Mamdani has accused the Jewish state of “genocide” and said that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the premier comes to New York City.
