Jeffries holds back on endorsing Democratic NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hesitated to endorse presumptive Democratic New York City mayor nominee Zohran Mamdani but praised his “successful” campaign and messaging.

“I have not,” Jeffries said when asked by “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl about if he had endorsed the self-proclaimed democratic socialist candidate.

Jeffries said he spoke to Mamdani on Wednesday and plans to meet in person soon in Central Brooklyn.

“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 outworked, he out-communicated, and he out-organized the opposition, and that’s clearly why he was successful,” he added.

Pressed on why he was holding back from endorsing Mamdani, Jeffries said “We don’t really know each other well.”

“Well, our districts don’t overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him. And so that’s the next step in terms of this process … to discuss his vision for moving the city forward and addressing the issues that are important to the communities that I represent,” he said.

Jeffries brushed off a question about how Mamdani’s win relates to the future of the Democratic Party.

“I think it will continue to be important for all of us on the Democratic side to address relentlessly the issue of the lack of affordability in this country. Donald Trump promised to lower costs on Day 1. Costs haven’t gone down, they’re going up,” he said.

On Mamdani and antisemitism charges

Jeffries said Mamdani will need to “clarify” his position on Israel and antisemitism.

“Globalizing the Intifada, by way of example, is not an acceptable phrasing,” he said. “He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward. 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 antisemitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development.”

On House briefing on US strikes on Iran

Pressed on Friday’s classified briefing in the House on the U.S. strikes on Iran, Jeffries was skeptical of the information provided by the Trump administration.

“Why did they not seek the congressional authorization required by the Constitution for this type of preemptive strike?” he asked. “I still haven’t seen facts presented to us as a Congress to justify that step, and I certainly haven’t seen facts to justify the statement that Donald Trump made that Iran’s nuclear program has been completely and totally obliterated.”

On the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling

On Friday, the Supreme Court granted a partial stay of nationwide injunctions against President Donald Trump’s executive order to effectively end birthright citizenship. Jeffries called the decision “unfortunate” and “reckless.”

“If there is any instance where nationwide injunctions are appropriate, it would be in a manner like what we’ve just experienced in terms of birthright citizenship, which is clearly a part of the Constitution. If you are born as a child in the United States of America, you are a citizen. So, it was a procedural setback that was quite unfortunate, and it was a reckless decision, in my view,” he said.

He said Democrats will need to “intensify our efforts” in district courts or work on a class action suit on behalf of individuals “adversely impacted.”