Top House Dem Slams NYC Mayoral Candidate Mamdani
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) attempted on Sunday to downplay the growing influence of the Democratic Party’s socialist wing, dismissing the notion that New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani represents the direction of the party. Instead, Jeffries insisted that he is the one best positioned to guide Democrats moving forward.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Jeffries argued that his leadership of the House Democratic caucus places him at the center of the party’s future strategy.
“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, as it relates to our need to both take back control of the House, but, in doing so, make sure that we’re communicating to the American people, like, we understand, you deserve better than the country that you have received,”
Jeffries said when asked about Mamdani’s rise.
Jeffries has only recently endorsed Mamdani’s campaign — and only after months of noticeable hesitation. His reluctant backing now places him alongside New York Governor Kathy Hochul and other party leaders who have weighed in late. Meanwhile, the party’s hard-left faction, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), has been actively campaigning for Mamdani from the beginning.
CNN’s Jake Tapper pointed out that Jeffries never actually answered whether Mamdani’s ascendance reflects the party’s future. Jeffries responded by pivoting into standard talking points, once again attacking President Donald J. Trump and Republicans:
“Donald Trump and Republicans have gone way too far and have failed to deliver anything meaningful for the American people, and, as Democrats, we’re going to focus on lowering the high cost of living, on fixing our broken healthcare system that Republicans continue to make worse with their toxic policies, and, of course, on cleaning up corruption in the Congress, in the courts, and within the administration with Donald Trump running the largest pay-to-play scheme in the history of the country,”
he claimed.
Those assertions ignore the economic reality Democrats oversaw under Joe Biden before President Trump returned to office — including record inflation, soaring costs of everyday necessities, and the party’s obsessive prioritization of woke cultural messaging over economic stability or public safety. Voters across the country have repeatedly rejected the left’s fixation on identity politics, climate extremism, and gender ideology.
Tapper pressed again, asking whether Democrats feared that Mamdani’s openly socialist platform could become a political “lightning rod” that would damage the party in the 2026 House elections.
Jeffries dodged for a second time:
“No, the lightning rod in terms of what’s going to impact the ability of either side to win control of the House or hold control of the House in 2026 is going to be the failure of Republicans to actually deliver on the promises that they have made and to actively make life worse for everyday Americans,”
he said.
“The country knows that we’re heading in the wrong direction. We see it repeatedly.”
Jeffries’ remarks come just 48 hours ahead of Tuesday’s state and municipal elections, including major gubernatorial and mayoral contests in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City.
In New York, Mamdani is widely expected to win in a three-way race against perennial GOP contender Curtis Sliwa and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is now running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary.
However, momentum has shifted. A new AtlasIntel poll released Saturday shows Mamdani leading with 40.6%, while Cuomo has surged to 34% — the closest the race has been since July, according to The New York Post.
The tightening margin suggests that even in deep-blue New York City, Democrats are far from unified — and voters are growing wary of the party’s accelerating shift toward democratic socialism.