New York Democrat Congresscritter Hakeem Jeffries is today’s Profile in Courage, as he tries to tepidly embrace “democratic” socialist (but still a Democrat) NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, while running away from him at the same time.
Coming from the party of “Have your cake and eat somebody else’s, too,” Jeffries’ contortion should come as no surprise.
Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Jeffries had an answer locked and loaded when Tapper asked, “You’ve already cast your ballot for mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Do you see Mamdani as the future of the Democratic Party?”
“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 great work all across the country,” Jeffries answered.
Translation: “I AM THE FUTURE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.”
Tapper followed up — gently, because Jeffries is a Dem and Tapper is a loyal enabler — by asking whether Jeffries was “concerned about Republicans using [Mamdani] as a lightning rod so as to hurt your ability to win back the House in 2026.”
“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.”
I had a truly sadistic seventh-grade English teacher who nevertheless lacked quite enough cruelty to make us diagram a sentence like that one.
But the point is this. Just ten days ago, Jeffries gave an endorsement of Mamdani that the New York Times called “more meaningful than most.” As the House minority leader, Jeffries “is also one of the city’s most prominent Black politicians and has been a sharp critic of the Democratic Socialists of America, which counts Mr. Mamdani as a member.”
Nevertheless, in his endorsement, Jeffries praised Mamdani. He has “relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy.”
If that’s not the future of the party — at least in one of the largest and richest states in the nation — then what is it?
Don’t get me wrong. Absent finding Mamdani in bed with the proverbial live boy or dead girl — and even that formula is suspect these days — not a single high-profile Democrat, not even Jeffries, is about to rescind their Mamdani endorsement.
What you see here is something much more cowardly: Jeffries attempting to show enough daylight between himself and the man he virtually hugged less than two weeks ago to disassociate himself from NYC’s impending disaster.
Jeffries waited until almost the last possible moment — Oct. 24, the day before early voting started — to endorse Mamdani. It was practically a Friday news dump.
For all of Jeffries’ endorsement talk about Mamdani winning “a free and fair” Democratic primary, there’s another Democrat on the ticket. His name is Andrew “Granny-Killer” Cuomo, and while he’s no prize, he’s still a Democrat in the race that Jeffries could have endorsed.
But no. Jeffries wants to be associated with the likely winner. He just doesn’t want to be associated with what the likely winner does in office following his likely win.
Profiles in courage, indeed.
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