Jeffries Asked Point Blank: Why Have You Not Endorsed Dem NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani?

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On Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) spoke to CNN's Dana Bash about his lack of endorsement for NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

Transcript

00:00You have yet to endorse Zoran Mamdani, who, of course, your party elected about two months

00:07ago to be the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City.

00:11As a New Yorker, what does he need to do to secure your endorsement?

00:16Well, we had a very candid and constructive and community-centered conversation a few

00:25weeks ago before he went off to Africa.

00:28I've, of course, been on the road for the last several weeks dealing in part with the

00:33Republican effort to try to rig the midterm elections through their gerrymandering scheme.

00:38But Congresswoman Yvette Clark, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and myself

00:44are scheduled to sit down with him in the next few days.

00:47I look forward to that conversation.

00:48What do you want to hear from him?

00:50What's missing?

00:51I mean, it's pretty, just for context, it's pretty unusual for a high-ranking Democrat like

00:57yourself to withhold the endorsement of your party's nominee for candidate for New York

01:04City mayor.

01:05So what are you hoping to hear from him that you haven't yet?

01:09I don't think we've withheld an endorsement.

01:15We are engaging in a conversation about the future of New York City, about the issues that

01:19need to be addressed, particularly the housing crisis.

01:24And the Assemblyman has actually spoken pretty forcefully and strongly about the need to deal

01:29with affordability in the city of New York.

01:32Of course, we've got to figure out, moving forward, how we turn proposals into actual

01:39plans so that he is successful if he becomes the next mayor, because we need the city to

01:47be successful.

01:48And certainly, the communities that I represent, which have been subjected to gentrification

01:53and housing displacement.

01:55These are all issues to be worked through, and we'll continue to work through them.

01:59As I mentioned, we're sitting down next week.

02:01Does it have anything to do with the fact that he hasn't denounced using the term or

02:07supporting the term, globalize the intifada?

02:11Well, listen, I've raised several of the issues with him privately, as well as publicly spoken

02:18about some of the concerns that I've had.

02:21But at this particular moment, we're going to keep those conversations moving forward.

02:27They will continue to be candid and constructive.

02:30And I'm looking forward to sitting down with him in the next few days, along with Chairwoman

02:35Yvette Clark, who represents the neighboring congressional district to mind, right here in the heart

02:41of central Brooklyn.

02:42One last final quick question, because we are out of time.

02:45The government is going to run out of money on September 30th in about a month.

02:49The president has not yet met with you or the Democratic leader in the Senate.

02:55Any plans that you know of?

02:57Well, it's my expectation that at some point upon our return to Washington, we will have

03:03a conversation with President Trump and perhaps Republican leadership about making sure we avoid

03:09a painful government shutdown.

03:11But we have to fund the government in a way that meets the needs of the health, the safety,

03:16the economic well-being and the national security of the American people.

03:21As Democrats in the House, we are not going to accept a partisan spending bill that continues

03:27to harm and hurt everyday Americans and rewards their billionaire donors.

03:32They did that with respect to the one big ugly bill that's now law.

03:36Not a single Democrat in the House and the Senate supported it.

03:40And so if they want to move forward in a bipartisan way, then we actually have to solve problems

03:45for hardworking American taxpayers, not create a country of the billionaires, by the billionaires

03:50and for the billionaires.

03:51OK.

03:52Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, thanks so much for

03:57being here.

03:58I appreciate it.

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