Jeffries Endorses Mamdani for Mayor of New York

The endorsement comes months after Mamdani won the Democratic Primary election in the race to become the city’s next mayor.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks during the fifteenth day of the government shutdown at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 15, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) endorsed the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor of New York, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria), on Oct. 24 after months of calls to do so.

“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 to The New York Times.

“In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”

Jeffries’s statement noted that he and Mamdani had “areas of principled disagreement.”

Mamdani describes himself as a “democratic socialist,” and Republicans have said they believe this reflects the Democratic Party’s overall shift, especially following Mamdani’s victory in the party primary.

“Thank you, Hakeem Jeffries, for the in-kind contribution,” wrote Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC), in an email to The Epoch Times about Jeffries’s endorsement.

“He has made our lives easier by directly connecting every vulnerable Democrat to socialist Mamdani’s out-of-touch politics.”

Jeffries—who represents New York’s 8th District, covering the southeastern borough of Brooklyn—had previously declined to offer an opinion about the mayoral election.

“I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to articulate my position and I will, momentarily, in advance of early voting,” Jeffries told reporters at the U.S. Capitol building on Oct. 24.

Mamdani won the Democratic Primary election for the office on July 24, in an upset victory over former Gov. of New York Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations against him. Cuomo denied wrongdoing, and criminal charges were later dropped.

Cuomo had been the frontrunner in that contest for months until Mamdani—then aged 33 with three years of experience as an elected official—rose in the polls and beat him.

Cuomo is still running in the general election as an independent candidate and was endorsed by the city’s incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, who was also running as an independent, but dropped out due to low support. Adams has endorsed Cuomo to succeed him.

The general election will be held on Nov. 4.

Mamdani has been endorsed by a bevy of New York’s Democratic politicians, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, among others.

He has also been endorsed by many national Democratic and progressive figures, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the leader of the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus, has not endorsed Mamdani.

Likewise, Mamdani himself has not endorsed Hochul, who is running for a third term as governor. Nearly six in 10 New Yorkers did not want Hochul to run for reelection, according to a Marist poll in April of this year. The New York governor’s approval ratings have been impacted by new congestion pricing rules that limit the number of cars entering the island of Manhattan. During general election debates, when asked about endorsing Hochul, Mamdani has said that he is focused on his own campaign.