It took four months, but one of the top Democrats in New York State has finally endorsed New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.
With Election Day closing in, Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top Democrat in the U.S. House, on Friday announced his support for Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist state lawmaker from the New York City borough of Queens, in a statement to the New York Times.
"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.
Jeffries added: "In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election."
Jeffries, whose congressional district covers much of neighboring Brooklyn, becomes the second major New York State Democrat to back Mamdani, following a late September endorsement from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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The endorsement from Jeffries comes the day before early voting begins in New York City on Saturday.
The top two Democrats in the New York State legislature backed Mamdani days after the governor announced her support.
The endorsements from Jeffries and Hochul may put intense pressure on longtime Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is the top Democrat in the Senate, to also back Mamdani in an election that is a little over a week away.
Mamdani shocked the political world in June with his convincing win over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates to capture the Democratic Party's mayoral nomination in the nation's most populous city.
The Ugandan-born Mamdani, if elected, would become the first Muslim and first millennial mayor of the nation's most populous city. He is the clear frontrunner in the latest public opinion polls in the mayoral race in the Democrat-dominated city.
Mamdani is sitting on a large double-digit lead over Cuomo in the latest New York City public opinion polls.
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Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee in the Democrat-dominated city, is a distant third in the polls.
New York's current mayor, the embattled incumbent Eric Adams, had decided to run as an independent but announced late last month that he would no longer pursue the office amid anemic polling. President Donald Trump's advisors had floated administration roles for both mayoral hopefuls.
This week, Adams endorsed Cuomo, even though the two had repeatedly clashed earlier this year on the campaign trail.
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Mamdani surged to the Democratic primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living. It was fueled by a massive grassroots army of supporters and backing from top national progressive champions, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores.
Mamdani has been heavily criticized by his rivals for his far-left platform, as well as his verbal attacks on Israel, his past critical comments about the New York City Police Department (NYPD), and his proposal to shift certain responsibilities away from the NYPD and focus on social services and community-based programs.
Trump, a native New Yorker who now calls Florida home, has derided Mamdani ever since his primary victory as a "communist" and earlier this month came up with a new derogatory nickname.
"I call him my little communist. He's my little communist mayor," Trump said during an extended Fox News interview on "Fox and Friends."
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Republicans have worked overtime the past three months to anchor the mayoral nominee to vulnerable congressional Democrats up for re-election in next year's midterms.
"'Leader’ Hakeem Jeffries just bent the knee to the socialist left, and now the only place he’s leading his party is down a cold, dark tunnel toward electoral humiliation. Every single Democrat owns the socialist agenda and is now a willing accomplice in their own party’s collapse," National Republican Congressional Committee national press secretary Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Jeffries met with Mamdani for the first time in July, with a second meeting last month. While Jeffries praised Mamdani's affordability emphasis on the campaign trail, neither meeting resulted in an endorsement.
Most House Democrats, including many progressives, have given Jeffries plenty of latitude and have declined to criticize his lack of an endorsement.
Among the exceptions is Ocasio-Cortez, who said earlier this summer that "we use our primaries to settle our differences, and once we have a nominee, we rally behind that nominee,"
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a former House Democrat, similarly chastised congressional leaders for failing to rally around Mamdani.
While Jeffries joins Hochul in endorsing Mamdani, New York State Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs said that he — as an individual — wouldn't endorse his party's mayoral nominee.
And Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, whose suburban swing congressional district includes a small portion of Queens, has previously announced that he wouldn't support Mamdani.
Rumors of the Friday endorsement earned immediate criticism from Republicans suggesting that Jeffries is succumbing to pressure from his far-left base to endorse Mamdani despite his socialist policies that will certainly become a target during next year's midterms.
"Hakeem is bending the knee!!!," Maureen O'Toole, National Republican Congressional Committee Eastern Regional press secretary, posted on X.
