Where top Democrats stand on meeting Mamdani — or endorsing him
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Hochul, the party's three most powerful leaders in the state, appear to be following a shared playbook regarding Mamdani in the month since he trounced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary to become the party's standard bearer in the November general election.
At a time in the campaign cycle when normally they would have already endorsed the winner of the Democratic primary, the trio are instead focusing on building their relationships with Mamdani and laying the foundation to potentially back him at some point in the future.
None of the power threesome has said if or when they may formally declare their backing for the charismatic Queens assemblyman, who this week is on a family trip to Uganda, the country of his birth.
Mamdani is the favorite in the November election, in which he will run on the Democratic and Working Families party lines. He'll face Republican Curtis Sliwa along with incumbent Eric Adams and Cuomo, both of whom are running as independents.
Jeffries, the House minority leader, met with Mamdani last Friday at an office space in East New York. He said the meeting went well but dodged questions about a possible endorsement at a press conference Tuesday.
'At the meeting on Friday, we agreed to reconvene with other members of the delegation and high-level members of the community upon (Mamdani's) return to the country,' Jeffries told reporters.
Schumer praised Mamdani in a post on X after his primary victory, calling his campaign a healthy jolt of energy to Democrats with its laser focus on affordability.
He has spoken to Mamdani briefly by phone in what aides called an effort to lay the groundwork for a future face-to-face meeting in the city.
A spokesman for Schumer said both leaders were targeting August for a meeting when the Senate is in recess and Mamdani will be back from Africa, and before Labor Day, which marks the start of the campaign's home stretch.
The senior Democrat hasn't given any indication when he might make an endorsement decision.
Both Schumer and Jeffries are strong supporters of Israel and have in the past denounced progressive critics of the Jewish state like Mamdani.
They have both objected to the controversial phrase 'globalize the intifada,' which Mamdani has refused to denounce but has said he would encourage supporters to avoid. It's unclear how much Israel-Palestine politics may influence the heavyweights' endorsement calculus, if at all.
As for Hochul, the pair have more of a history because Mamdani has often criticized the moderate governor during his three terms in Albany.
But both camps have discussed burying the hatchet since the primary and stressed their shared commitment to lowering costs for everyday New Yorkers.
Hochul and Mamdani have spoken several times since the primary and met once on the sidelines of the city's Pride march on June 29.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was forced to apologize to Mamdani after she seemed to agree with a caller on a radio show who accused him of being antisemitic.
Gillibrand told Mamdani she was sorry for mischaracterizing his record and her 'tone.' Like Schumer, she also fired back at congressional Republicans who vilified him as a terrorist or supporter of Hamas.
Like other leaders, she said they plan to meet in New York soon, but gave no details on an endorsement decision.
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