House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) brushed off questions about whether New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, is the future of the party.
Jeffries, currently grappling with the government shutdown, appeared Sunday morning on CNN’s State of the Union, where he was asked whether he sees Mamdani, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, as the future.
“No, I think the future of the Democratic Party is going to fall, as far as we’re concerned, relative to the House Democratic Caucus and members who are doing a great work all across the country,” Jeffries said.
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Jeffries went on to say that Democrats need to “make sure that we’re communicating to the American people like we understand you deserve better than the country that you have received.”
“Donald Trump and Republicans have gone way too far and have failed to deliver anything meaningful for the American people,” he added.
Jeffries felt pressure from the Left to endorse Mamdani for months and finally gave the mayoral candidate his endorsement late last month. The House minority leader said in a statement that he and Mamdani have “areas of principled disagreement” but that Mamdani won in a “free and fair election.”
“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.
“In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election,” he added.
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Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) also discussed Mamdani on Sunday. He was asked on CNN about whether he thinks it would be a mistake for New Yorkers to elect him mayor. Fetterman said the choice is up to the people of New York City, but pushed back on Mamdani’s socialist views.
“Socialism is not the future of my party,” Fetterman said. “And if that’s going to be their future, that’s really up to New York City to decide those things. You know, we all know how socialism works out. Ask anybody that’s lived under those kinds of systems all across the globe.”
