{"id":68716,"date":"2025-12-12T13:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/68716\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T13:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:38:09","slug":"mamdani-says-dsa-still-his-political-home-after-house-endorsements-irk-some-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/68716\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani says DSA still his ‘political home’ after House endorsements irk some members"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday the Democratic Socialists of America<\/a> group remains his \u201cpolitical home,\u201d even as a couple of his recent congressional endorsement moves have rankled some members of the leftist organization.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Mamdani threw his weight behind Brad Lander<\/a> for the city\u2019s 10th Congressional District, an announcement that came after the city\u2019s 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<\/a> DSA member Chi Osse\u2019s since-suspended primary bid for the 8th Congressional District, a move that benefitted incumbent Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, a centrist Democrat.<\/p>\n

Asked at a Thursday morning press conference if he\u2019s concerned he might anger his fellow socialists with his endorsements, Mamdani demurred, saying of the organization, \u201cIt continues to be my political home, I continue to be a proud member, like thousands of other New Yorkers of New York City DSA \u2026 and I\u2019m so excited at the work that we will continue to do together alongside a large coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed on why he appears to be discouraging some DSA-driven primary runs, Mamdani told the Daily News: \u201cThat\u2019s not something that I have said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew 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)<\/p>\n

Aviles and Osse, who are both City Council members representing mostly parts of Central Brooklyn, didn\u2019t immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Both Council members abandoned their congressional runs after Mamdani leaned into their races. They have not criticized Mamdani since then.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

As mayor, Mamdani will be one of the DSA\u2019s most prominent elected members in the country, and his campaign gave the group a form of political legitimacy that it didn\u2019t previously have, with its endorsements now being seen as highly coveted, especially in New York.<\/p>\n

Given Mamdani\u2019s deep ties to the group, some members have reacted with anger to his snubs of DSA candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so beyond disappointed in zohran for backing lander and sidestepping the organization that got him elected,\u201d David-Desyr\u00e9e S., a member of the New York City DSA\u2019s Leadership Committee, wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cDSA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

ny<\/p>\n

\"CityCity 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)<\/p>\n

In the 8th District, Mamdani\u2019s 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\u2019s midterm elections. Mamdani even said a few days after the DSA declined to back Osse that he wants Jeffries to become speaker.<\/p>\n

In the 10th District, spanning lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, Mamdani had a complex set of potential reasons for backing Lander over Aviles.<\/p>\n

Lander, the city\u2019s comptroller, at one point was seen as likely to join Mamdani\u2019s administration<\/a>. That\u2019s because Lander was key in helping Mamdani win June\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

But Lander was reportedly passed over for a top job in Mamdani\u2019s administration, leaving the soon-to-be mayor with what many saw as an expectation to help the comptroller in some other way.<\/p>\n

Lander is running against Rep. Dan Goldman<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s press conference, Mamdani highlighted the fact that it\u2019s unusual for an incoming mayor to endorse against a sitting Congress member of his own party like Goldman: \u201cI have weighed in, specifically in endorsing Brad Lander, who is the candidate that is challenging the incumbent in that race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday the Democratic Socialists of America group remains his \u201cpolitical home,\u201d even as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[584,8069,128,2494,302,9,24,63,129,131,130,82],"class_list":["post-68716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-alexa-aviles","tag-brad-lander","tag-bronx","tag-chi-osse","tag-city-hall","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}