The Decision: Jeffries toes the line, takes the plunge in long-awaited NYC mayoral endorsement

Even up until the last hour House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries D-N Y played it coy about endorsing Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayor s race Early voting as you know starts the subsequent day observed a reporter to Jeffries at a m on Friday Are you ready to endorse Mamdani Stay tuned replied Jeffries What more do you need to hear at this point requested another scribe 'STAY TUNED' JEFFRIES REPEATEDLY DODGES MAMDANI ENDORSEMENT AS SELF-IMPOSED DEADLINE LOOMS Same answer declared Jeffries I have not refused to endorse I have refused to articulate my position and I will momentarily at a few point in advance of early voting Well early voting began Saturday in New York And true to his word Jeffries articulated his position via a declaration early Friday afternoon throwing his political clout behind Mamdani Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability situation and explicitly committed to being a Mayor for all New Yorkers including those who do not advocacy his candidacy reported Jeffries The communities I represent in Brooklyn are being devastated by this extreme version of the Republican Party In this conditions we have a clear obligation to push back against the national nightmare being visited on the American people by Republican extremism Jeffries closed his endorsement with this key line I endorse the Democratic ticket In selected respects that was the least newsworthy line in Jeffries comment It might be preposterous to think that the top Democrat in the House of Representatives from New York City would not endorse the Democratic candidate for mayor of his hometown It would have been a bigger story had Jeffries not endorsed Mamdani We don t definitively know what Jeffries may have mulled for so long But we do understand the fissure inside the Democratic Party between centrist Democrats and the far left This is why Republicans shout from the Empire State Building that Mamdani is a socialist or even a communist Republicans not-so-secretly love the fact Mamdani is the Democratic nominee And they embrace the fact that Mamdani makes specific Democrats squirm as the party tries to reach moderate voters and simultaneously grapples with the leftist views of the nominee ZOHRAN MAMDANI LANDS LONG-WAITED KEY ENDORSEMENT IN NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL RACE What we're witnessing is truly the end of the Democratic Party as we've known it opined House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La Hakeem Jeffries in the end relented He gave in and he gave his endorsement to the socialist running to be mayor of New York City The House Democrats they've shown the world what they really believe There is no longer a place for centrists and moderates in their party Republicans also claim that the reason Democrats shut down the establishment is because Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N Y heard footsteps from the left and feared a primary challenge In Schumer s scenario Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N Y They decided to save their own skin that they had to endorse the Marxist Mamdani speculated Johnson In an unprecedented move they have also decided they had to shut down the establishment in an unprecedented move When pressed on MSNBC over the weekend why it took him so long to endorse Mamdani Jeffries replied that he wasn t someone that I knew prior to him receiving the Democratic nomination Jeffries added that he needed to sit down and have several conversations with Mamdani But the endorsement question has been a tortured avenue for Jeffries ever since Mamdani captured the Democratic nomination for mayor on June On the day Mamdani won the primary Jeffries offered his congratulations to Zohran Mamdani on a decisive primary domination But Jeffries did not endorse SOCIALIST CANDIDATE MAMDANI MEETS WITH NY DEMS AS THEY WITHHOLD ENDORSEMENTS We spoke this morning and plan to meet in central Brooklyn shortly declared Jeffries Four days later ABC s Jonathan Karl inquired Jeffries if he had endorsed Mamdani yet The answer was no He out-worked he out-communicated and he out-organized the opposition And that s clearly why he was triumphant disclosed Jeffries So what s holding you back from endorsing him right now questioned Karl Well we don t really know each other well Our districts don t overlap I have never had a substantive conversation with him answered Jeffries And that s how it went all summer long and into the fall Reporters frequently peppered Jeffries with questions about a promising endorsement or what the holdup was And Jeffries was inevitably circumspect In fact resistance to endorse fueled speculation that Jeffries harbored reservations about Mamdani That s nothing to say of manageable headaches Mamdani could create for the party as it tries to court swing voters EARLY VOTING UNDERWAY IN NEW YORK NEW JERSEY AMID HOTLY CONTESTED MAYOR AND GOVERNOR RACES What does he need to do to secure your endorsement required CNN s Dana Bash on August Rep Yvette Clarke the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and myself are scheduled to sit down with him in the next sparse days I look forward to that conversation revealed Jeffries What do you want to hear from him What's missing I mean it's pretty distinctive for a high-ranking Democrat like yourself to withhold the endorsement of your party's nominee for candidate for New York City mayor countered Bash I don't think we have withheld an endorsement We are engaging in a conversation about the future of New York City stated Jeffries Bash questioned if Jeffries wasn t endorsing Mamdani because he hasn't denounced using the term or supporting the term globalize the intifada I have raised several of the issues with him privately as well as publicly spoken about selected of the concerns that I have had noted Jeffries So there were in fact concerns What do you say to your young constituents energized young constituents that help put Mamdani in the position that he's in and now they're calling for you to represent their wishes and endorse him demanded a reporter of Jeffries at the Capitol on October CLINTON CAMPAIGN ALUM URGES JEFFRIES SCHUMER NOT TO 'TAKE THE BAIT ' GET 'BULLIED' INTO MAMDANI ENDORSEMENT I think I've answered those questions repeatedly and I'll have more to say before early voting stated Jeffries There were more questions for Jeffries about Mamdani on October We re in the middle of a administration shutdown sidestepped Jeffries when appealed about feasible plans to endorse I would have more to say about the mayor s race in advance of early voting in NYC which begins at the end of this month So Jeffries has now endorsed Mamdani And that should answer all questions right Doubtful Republicans pounced on Jeffries decision to endorse Moderate Democrats and multiple pro-Israel voters moaned Yes Jeffries may have needed to achieve a comfort level with Mamdani and clear up questions the Minority Leader had in his own mind But in the end Jeffries may not have had any choice but to endorse A failure to endorse could have splintered the party Jeffries likely had to evaluate which was the greater danger not endorsing and outraging the left or endorsing and losing those in the middle Everything in politics is a calculus Jeffries made his calculus on behalf of himself New York City and his party Yes Republicans will excoriate Jeffries for this decision But they would try to connect Jeffries to Mamdani anyway Fair or not It s doubtful that Jeffries endorsement would win or lose the mayoral race for Mamdani anyway But a refusal to endorse would highlight the fracture inside the Democratic Party And that could have fueled more questions than Jeffries ever fielded about whether he would endorse or not