House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) is under fire as his refusal to endorse Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, fuels an internal party revolt. Progressive lawmakers told Axios they are “100%” frustrated with Jeffries, with one asking, “Is this a leader that truly represents me, or will this leader discard me when people think I’m too progressive?”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also blasted party leaders for staying neutral. “That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of. They need to get behind [Mamdani] and get behind him now,” he said Saturday. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) has likewise declined to back Mamdani, highlighting the party’s deep divide.
Moderate Democrats see Mamdani as a liability. A self-described democratic socialist, he has proposed a $30 minimum wage, government-run grocery stores, and major tax hikes. He has also drawn scrutiny for anti-Israel rhetoric. In June, Mamdani defended the protest chant “globalize the intifada,” a phrase widely criticized as calling for violence against Jews. His campaign announced this week he would drop the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism if elected.
Jewish leaders condemned the move. “A government that disavows IHRA isn’t serious about defeating anti-Semitism,” Brandeis Center senior counsel Rory Lancman told the New York Post, “but rather allowing it.”
Jeffries has repeatedly deflected questions, telling reporters, “I’ll have more to say about the mayor’s race when I have more to say about the mayor’s race.” But behind the scenes, Democrats remain split between alienating Jewish and moderate voters—or risking a civil war with the socialist base. As longtime Democratic operative Hank Sheinkopf warned, “Mamdani is the greatest threat to Democrats probably since Ronald Reagan because he’s everything Democrats have been accused of being and in fact is—to the extreme.”
