To borrow from another son of Brooklyn, and if you don’t know, now you know.
On Friday, House Minority Leader finally endorsed Zohran Mamdani to be mayor of New York City. That being said, the No. 2 elected Democrat in the nation’s endorsement was far from enthusiastic.
“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. “Yet, the stakes are existential.”
The congressman from Crown Heights proceeded to talk about the threat that New York City faced, most recently in the form of the Justice Department targeting state Attorney General Letitia James, who on Friday pleaded not guilty to fraud charges brought by the Department of Justice under the Trump administration.
As always, much of the talk online about why Jeffries withheld his endorsement contained only partial truths. Many people questioned whether Jeffries’ support for Israel and money he has received from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee played into his decision.
The truth is more complicated than that. Jeffries, like many Black politicians, never fully trusted progressives. The first time I covered him was when the Congressional Black Caucus’s PAC endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016.
During that endorsement, he lambasted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mamdani’s political mentor, for voting against gun violence provisions. That skepticism bled into Jeffries’s endorsement of Mamdani.
“For decades, working class neighborhoods of color have been hurt by gentrification and housing displacement,” he said. “That must change. I support our nominee’s strong commitment to building a City where everyday New Yorkers can afford to live. By necessity, this must involve a meaningful partnership with the private sector to dramatically increase the supply of affordable homes.”
Sanders hasn’t done much to assuage Black Democrats’ fears about progressive flippancy toward racial justice given Sanders’s angry defense of Graham Platner after comments were unearthed about him asking why Black people do not tip.
But despite his disdain for progressives, the left-wing insurgency landed him his current position in leadership and he’s been on the front lines of the internecine feud within the Democratic Party since Trump’s ascent. When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Joe Crowley, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Jeffries campaigned for the job and won.
That teed him up perfectly for Democratic leadership, being a manager during Trump’s first impeachment. When Nancy Pelosi stepped aside as speaker at the end of the 2022, he received unanimous support from the caucus to succeed her, as midwestern moderates, the Black political establishment and Ocasio-Cortez backed him.
Jeffries has had to deal with tempest of progressives challenging allies of his, as was the case when Cori Bush challenged and beat his friend William Lacy Clay Jr. in Missouri. He offered only tepid support to Squad members Jamaal Bowman in New York and Bush during their primaries last year when they faced gobs of money from pro-Israel groups.
And in his home state, he has to deal with an ascendant left wing and Democratic Socialists of America contingent, including in his district. Had he not endorsed Mamdani, Jeffries would have likely faced a primary.
Jeffries also has to acknowledge the shift within the Democratic Party when it comes to Israel. For many years, support for Israel was considered a sign of solidarity with the Jewish community, a staple within the Democratic coalition.
But since Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, Democratic sympathy has shifted toward Palestinians in Gaza.
A New York Times/Siena College poll from last month showed that 43 percent of New Yorkers thought Mamdani best addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the campaign.
The same poll showed that a combined 47 percent of New Yorkers tended to sympathize more with Palestinians to varying degrees compared to 29 percent of New Yorkers whose sympathies lie with Israelis.
Jeffries statement spoke about “keeping every New Yorker safe,” and he said he received an assurance “the Jewish community that has confronted a startling rise in antisemitic incidents,” along with Black and Latino neighborhoods.
The endorsement simply acknowledges the shifting tides in the city and the party. Had he not endorsed Mamdani, Jeffries would have risked a primary challenge.
Lastly, there’s the question of Andrew Cuomo. Jeffries’s mention of James was also a thinly-veiled swipe at Cuomo, who has refused to come to the attorney general’s defense.
That’s because James not only targeted Trump: she released the report regarding Cuomo’s alleged sexual misconduct that led the governor to resign in disgrace. A Democratic politician like Jeffries whose main job in the House is to antagonize Trump can’t abide by that.
Jeffries ended his statement by saying simply “I endorse the Democratic ticket” rather than saying he endorsed Mamdani. That shows he did not come to this endorsement as enthusiastically as say, Gov. Kathy Hochul. It’s rather his way of saying he’ll endorse Mamdani but not give his full support.
It’s a preview of a larger fight Jeffries will face in Washington should he become speaker: how does he balance protecting his vulnerable members while as handling an increasingly disgruntled left-wing flank that wants to aggressively fight Trump and push their own policy that frontliners may not favor.
