Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday the Democratic Socialists of America group remains his “political home,” even as a couple of his recent congressional endorsement moves have rankled some members of the leftist organization.
On Wednesday, Mamdani threw his weight behind Brad Lander for the city’s 10th Congressional District, an announcement that came after the city’s DSA chapter voted weeks ago to endorse one of their own, Alexa Aviles, for that seat. The Lander endorsement came after Mamdani convinced the DSA last month to not endorse DSA member Chi Osse’s since-suspended primary bid for the 8th Congressional District, a move that benefitted incumbent Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, a centrist Democrat.
Asked at a Thursday morning press conference if he’s concerned he might anger his fellow socialists with his endorsements, Mamdani demurred, saying of the organization, “It continues to be my political home, I continue to be a proud member, like thousands of other New Yorkers of New York City DSA … and I’m so excited at the work that we will continue to do together alongside a large coalition.”
Pressed on why he appears to be discouraging some DSA-driven primary runs, Mamdani told the Daily News: “That’s not something that I have said.”
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani reads a Christmas book to students at Little Scholars on Dec. 11, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Aviles and Osse, who are both City Council members representing mostly parts of Central Brooklyn, didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Both Council members abandoned their congressional runs after Mamdani leaned into their races. They have not criticized Mamdani since then.
A longtime dues-paying DSA member, Mamdani has credited the group with being pivotal in his political rise. DSA endorsed his mayoral campaign in October 2024, when Mamdani was seen as the longest of long shots in the race for City Hall, polling at less than 1% with very little name recognition.
As mayor, Mamdani will be one of the DSA’s most prominent elected members in the country, and his campaign gave the group a form of political legitimacy that it didn’t previously have, with its endorsements now being seen as highly coveted, especially in New York.
Given Mamdani’s deep ties to the group, some members have reacted with anger to his snubs of DSA candidates.
“I’m so beyond disappointed in zohran for backing lander and sidestepping the organization that got him elected,” David-Desyrée S., a member of the New York City DSA’s Leadership Committee, wrote on X. “DSA is an organization trying to build up democratic socialist politics in the US and zohran is a member. For him to sidestep the democratic whims of DSA membership is frustrating at best.”
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City Councilman Chi Osse speaks at a rally on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan, New York, on Thursday, April 21, 2022. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)
In the 8th District, Mamdani’s decision to oppose an Osse run was seen as an indirect boon to Jeffries, the House minority leader who is all but certain to become speaker if Democrats flip the chamber in next year’s midterm elections. Mamdani even said a few days after the DSA declined to back Osse that he wants Jeffries to become speaker.
In the 10th District, spanning lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, Mamdani had a complex set of potential reasons for backing Lander over Aviles.
Lander, the city’s comptroller, at one point was seen as likely to join Mamdani’s administration. That’s because Lander was key in helping Mamdani win June’s Democratic mayoral primary, having cross-endorsed him toward the end of the race in a concession of sorts for his own, ultimately unsuccessful campaign for City Hall.
But Lander was reportedly passed over for a top job in Mamdani’s administration, leaving the soon-to-be mayor with what many saw as an expectation to help the comptroller in some other way.
Lander is running against Rep. Dan Goldman, a more centrist Democrat who was first elected in 2022 and has been seen as vulnerable to a leftist primary challenge due to the political makeup of his district.
At Thursday’s press conference, Mamdani highlighted the fact that it’s unusual for an incoming mayor to endorse against a sitting Congress member of his own party like Goldman: “I have weighed in, specifically in endorsing Brad Lander, who is the candidate that is challenging the incumbent in that race,” he said.