Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday publicly stuck a pin into left-leaning City Council Member Chi Ossé’s ballooning primary campaign against House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, saying it is “not the time” to bring such a challenge.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, made the comments during a Nov. 19 interview on PIX11 two days after Ossé, a recently joined member of the Democratic Socialists of America, filed paperwork to run against Jeffries on Monday.
Ossé was a close ally of Mamdani’s and a strong supporter of his campaign until they had a falling out over the notion of him running against Jeffries, The New York Times reported last week. There is also concern that the challenge could compromise Mamdani’s efforts to deliver on his affordability agenda, the report noted.
Mamdani worked for months to win Jeffries’ support, which he ultimately received, ahead of the mayoral general election earlier this month.
“I think that right now is not the time to be engaging in that kind of a primary. I think the focus should be on delivering on this affordability agenda,” Mamdani said in response to host Dan Mannarino asking if he thinks Ossé should not run.
Ossé did not immediately respond to Mamdani’s remarks when contacted by amNewYork via text.
Political commentator Gerson Borrero, who supported Cuomo in the mayoral race, commented in a social media post that Mamdani and Ossé seemed to be practicing politics as usual despite both being democratic socialists.
“Sounds more and more like the politics Neoyorquinos have seen time and time again,” Borrero wrote. “@ZohranKMamdani does it his way to get to City Hall but @OsseChi has to follow his orders. So, how are socialists different? I must be missing something here.”
While Mamdani has expressed misgivings about Ossé challenging the House Democratic leader in recent days, Wednesday marked the first time he explicitly stated that the council member should not mount a campaign at this time. He is concerned that a primary against Jeffries could derail the affordability-focused agenda that helped him secure the mayoralty, according to the New York Times.
Another progressive stalwart, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens/Bronx), appears to be on the same page with Mamdani, telling Axios on Monday that she does not think challenging Jeffries at the moment is a “good idea.” AOC famously challenged and defeated a senior establishment Democratic House member, Joe Crowley, in a 2018 Democratic primary upset.
Mamdani’s victory in the mayor’s race over the moderate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears to have emboldened Ossé, and others on the left, to take on establishment Democrats in next year’s primaries.
In acknowledging his filing to run on Monday, Ossé told Axios: “The Democratic Party’s leadership is not only failing to effectively fight back against Donald Trump, they have also failed to deliver a vision that we can all believe in.”
