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Hakeem Jeffries Hesitant to Endorse Zohran Mamdani: 'We Don't Really Know Each Other'

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 30, 2025 4:45 PM

Especially after last Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary in New York City, Democrats have been put on notice over Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. Both Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have offered their congratulations to the far-left socialist, though they're not quite ready to endorse him. Jeffries was asked about this during his Sunday show appearance on ABC News' "This Week."

To start the interview, host Jonathan Karl played clips of Mamdani. Karl's first question for Jeffries was whether or not he endorsed Mamdani yet. "I have not. We had a conversation on Wednesday morning where I congratulated him on the campaign that he ran, a campaign that clearly was relentlessly focused on the high cost of living in New York City and the economy. He out-worked, he out-communicated, and he out-organized the opposition. And that’s clearly why he was successful," Jeffries explained.

When Karl asked why no endorsement yet, Jeffries claimed it was about how well he knew Mamdani.

"Well, we don’t really know each other well. Our districts don’t overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him," Jeffries offered. "And so, that’s the next step in terms of this process, to be able to sit down, which we agreed to do, in central Brooklyn, discuss his vision for moving the city forward and addressing the issues that are important to the communities that I represent. A very diverse district that I represent in Brooklyn, including many African Americans, many Jewish Americans, many Caribbean Americans who are dealing with a lot of challenges in the city and want to make sure that the next mayor of the city of New York, whoever that may be, is prepared to tackle them."

There's plenty of more substantive reasons as to why Mamdani's fellow Democrats may not want to endorse or have much to do with them. He's openly a socialist who decries capitalism, with socialist and racist policies such as raising taxes on white people, freezing the rent, city-owned grocery stories, as well as "free" childcare and public transportation. The mainstream media and "fact-checkers" have also tried to provide cover for Mamdani.

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Jeffries was asked by Karl about such issues, during which he mostly responded with nonanswers and ranted against President Donald Trump, as he's done in the past, including immediately after last Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. 

Another major issue, and this speaks to Jeffries reference of how there's many Jewish Americans" in his Brooklyn district, is Mamdani's defense of the pro-genocidal phrase of "globalize the intifada." This refusal to condemn the phrase came during his interview with the Bulwark's Tim Miller released days before the primary.

Karl brought up Mamdani's defense of the phrase, as well as how he condemned the Israeli government after the October 7, 2023 attacks but not Hamas, and has said as mayor he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he dared to visit New York City. Outside of Israel, New York has more Jews than anywhere else in the world. 

"Do these things concern you?" Karl asked Jeffries. 

Jeffries mostly tackled the pro-genocidal phrase. "Globalizing the intifada by way of example is not an acceptable phrasing. He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward," he responded. "With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in anti-Semitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development. And any mayor, whether you’re a Democratic mayor, a Republican mayor, an independent mayor, has got to commit to the safety and well-being of all of the people of the city of New York. And when there are moments of crisis and a rise in anti-Jewish hate, that’s a threshold, of course, that needs to be crossed," he added, as he then went on to speak about other demographics in his district. 

One would think that for Mamdani to "clarify his position" would seem like the obvious thing to do. Mamdani had his own Sunday show appearance, though, and refused to take such an opportunity. As we covered earlier on Monday, Mamdani once more refused to condemn the pro-genocidal phrase of "globalize the intifada," despite being given multiple chances by NBC News' Kristen Welker to do so on "Meet the Press." 

During her own Sunday show appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Katie called out the use and defense of the phrase, reminding during a panel discussion of what really matters in his conversation. 

"What has been happening in New York City is not about what's been happening in Israel. It has nothing to do with the government of Israel. This candidate for mayor has decided he's going to back the violent protests that we've seen at Columbia University," Katie reminded, as she spoke about "pro-terrorist" and "pro-Hamas" activists locking students in on campus, blocking them from going to class and violating their civil rights, as well as holding janitors hostage on campus. 

Sure enough, Mamdani referenced one of those pro-Hamas activists from Columbia, Mahmoud Khalil, to defend him when he was given multiple chances by Welker to condemn the phrase of "globalize the intifada."

"So the idea that this is about the Israeli government when all the evidence points to violent defenses of these activists on campuses, in New York City and elsewhere, as pro-terrorism mobs run through the streets and they don't condemn them. It has nothing to do with the Israeli government, it absolutely has to do with antisemitism and the support of Islamic terrorism, not just overseas, but also in New York City," she made clear. As Richard Fowler tried to interrupt and bring up how this was supposedly "nuance" in the debate Katie reminded the relevance of "intifada," which Mamdani supports, is "a call for murder and violence."