House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City, saying he respected the will of the primary voters and young people inspired by the Democratic socialist state lawmaker’s candidacy.
Jeffries, who represents Brooklyn, has for months declined to officially throw his support behind Mamdani, who upended the New York political establishment when he handed former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a resounding and stunning defeat in the June primary.
Cuomo is still running in the November general election, but as an independent. Republican Curtis Sliwa is also on the ballot, as is Mayor Eric Adams, though the embattled Democrat dropped out of the race last month and has endorsed Cuomo.
While acknowledging he had “areas of principled disagreement” with his party’s nominee for mayor, Jeffries said Democrats have a “clear obligation to push back against” Republican extremism, calling it a “national nightmare,” in a statement…