Jerry Nadler

Oct. 24 (UPI) — U.S. House Democratic Party leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday endorsed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, 11 days before the Nov. 4 election.

Jeffries hasn’t issued a public statement but his endorsement was confirmed in a statement to The New York Times, with sources telling USA Today and Politico about the House minority leader’s plans.

Early voting begins Saturday.

Mamdani, who was born in India and raised in Uganda, is attempting to become the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Jeffries, who serves Brooklyn in New York, had held off endorsing Mamdani, who is a state assembly member serving Queens since 2020.

The state’s two U.S. senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, haven’t endorsed Mamdani.

Mamdani has been endorsed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letita James.

Also, he has been backed by New York Reps. Jerry Nadler, Adriano Espaillat and Yvette Clarke. Two other House members, Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, have said they don’t plan to endorse in the election.

And New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said he doesn’t plan to endorse him.

In the June 24 primary, Mamdani, 34, defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, and Mayor Eric Adams, 65. His opponents then chose to run as independents, but Adams dropped out on Sept. 28 and endorsed Cuomo on Thursday.

Mamdani is favored to defeat Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, 71, a Guardian Angels founder and radio show host. President Donald Trump has pressured Sliwa to drop out to give a better chance for Cuomo over Mamdani, whom he has labeled as a Communist.

Jeffries told The New York Times said they have had “areas of principled disagreement,” including Israel’s war in Gaza, but agreed on other matters, such as the desire to retain New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“Zohran Mamdani 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,” Jeffries wrote.

“In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.”

Jeffries first met with Mamdani in July in Brooklyn before the primary. They met again in August.

Jeffries had said he was focused on the federal government shutdown rather than the New York City race.

“Stay tuned,” he told reporters this week in Washington. “I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to articulate my position, and I will momentarily, at some point, in advance of early voting.”

Jeffries has questioned how Mamdani would implement his policies and combat antisemitism and gentrification.

“We’ve got to figure out moving forward how we turn proposals into actual plans so that he is successful if he becomes the next mayor, because we need the city to be successful,” Jeffries told CNN last month.

Jeffries noted that his district, which includes historically Black communities, has “been subjected to gentrification and housing displacement.”

Mamdani has sharply criticized Israel and the war in Gaza, which Mamdani describes as genocide.

During Wednesday’s debate, he said: “I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls the city home. All 8.5 million New Yorkers, and that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I’ve shared about Israel and Palestine.”

Hundreds of rabbis had signed a letter criticizing him.

And powerful real estate and finance industries have donated millions of dollars to political action committees opposing his candidacy.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY, speaks during a signing ceremony for The Respect for Marriage Act in the Rayburn Room of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on December 8, 2022. On Monday, Nadler announced in an interview with the New York Times that he would not seek re-election next year. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 1 (UPI) — Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, the longest-serving congressional member from New York, announced he has decided not to run for re-election next year in order to make room for a younger generation.

Nadler, 78, who serves New York’s 12th Congressional District — which includes Midtown and the Upper West and Upper East sides of New York City — told the New York Times in an interview published Monday that it is time, after 34 years, for a generational change.

“Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,” Nadler told The Times, adding that someone younger “can maybe do better, can maybe help us more.”

In December, Nadler said he was forced to step down as the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee in favor of a younger colleague. He threw his support behind Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., as his replacement.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as chairman and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee these past seven years,” Nadler wrote last year in a letter to his colleagues.

“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help lead our party’s efforts to preserve the rule of law and to provide for a more just society that respects the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans,” he said. Nadler served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2023.

Nadler was also preparing to face a much younger primary challenger in next year’s election. Liam Elkind, 26, who created an organization during the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver food and medicine, said his election challenge was a way of “respectfully asking” Nadler to retire.

While Nadler did not discuss who might replace him, he urged other aging Democrats to follow his lead.

“I’m not saying we should change over the entire party,” Nadler said. “But I think a certain amount of change is very helpful, especially when we face the challenge of Trump and his incipient fascism.”

On Labor Day, Nadler honored “the generations of working people who built this country and the unions that won us safer workplaces, fair wages and the weekend.”

“I will always stand with workers and their unions. And I will continue fighting back against the Trump administration’s unprecedented attacks on labor, attacks on the right to organize, on workplace protections and on the dignity of work itself,” Nadler wrote Monday in a post on X.

“Because when organized labor is strong, America is strong.”

Aug. 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Monday fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook as he continues to feud with her boss over lowering interest rates.

The legality of Cooks’ firing was unclear, and has prompted Democrats to accuse the Republican president of perpetrating an “illegal authoritarian power grab.”

Trump informed Cook of her dismissal in a letter he made public on his Truth Social platform, informing the first Black woman to sit on the Reserve Board that he has “determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position” over allegations of making false statements on mortgage agreements.

“In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity,” Trump said in the letter.

Trump fired Cook following months of applying political pressure on her boss, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, to lower interest rates. Amid the insults and demands Trump has made of Powell, the Trump-nominated chair from his first administration has stated economic policy will not be influenced by politics.

On Aug. 15, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, a Powell critic, sent a criminal referral for Cook to Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing Cook of falsifying documents as well as mortgage, bank and wire fraud for signing mortgage documents. She is accused of signing two separate mortgage documents for two separate properties that claim each is her primary residence. One property is in Michigan and the other is in Atlanta. The two documents were allegedly signed two weeks apart during the summer of 2021.

After Pulte made the criminal referral public, Trump called for Cook to resign, which she did not do.

In his Monday letter, Trump cited the allegations against Cook, saying her signing of both mortgage documents “exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”

Cook was fired under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which stipulates that the president may only remove members of the board for cause.

“The illegal attempt to fire Lisa Cook is the latest example of a desperate president searching for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, ranking member of the Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

“It’s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”

Pulte on Monday night thanked Trump for his “commitment to stopping mortgage fraud” by firing Cook.

“Fraud will not be tolerated in President Trump’s housing market,” he said on X.

Trump campaigned on using the office of the presidency to retaliate against his political rivals. Since returning to the White House in January, he has used his executive powers to strip security clearances from perceived political rivals, including lawyers who prosecuted his criminal cases, as well as law firms and former security officials.

Along with Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff of California have also been accused of mortgage fraud.

Early this month, Trump has also fired Erika McEntarfer, the Senate-confirmed head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after job growth was slower than expected, claiming the numbers were inaccurate. Democrats and critics accused Trump of dangerously politicizing economic data.

Cooks’ firing is expected to be challenged in court, but her vacancy permits Trump to nominate a replacement.

Following Cooks’ firing on Monday, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., described Trump’s move as “reckless” and clearly unlawful.”

“The Federal Reserve Act permits removal only for cause, serious misconduct, not partisan smears dressed as ‘referrals’ from a hack like Ed Martin,” Nadler said in a statement. Martin has been tapped to be the special attorney on mortgage fraud cases.

“Trump undermining the Fed for political reasons endangers financial stability and every American’s livelihood, and must be challenged in court immediately.”

July 17 (UPI) — California Democratic congressional lawmaker Ro Khanna announced on Fox & Friends Thursday morning that he will endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York.

“He spent a lot of time talking about the cost of living in New York, in this country, and how we address it,” Khanna said. He said Mamdani is a “very charismatic, relatable person.”

Host Lawrence B. Jones asked Khanna if he agrees with Mamdani’s views on Israel. Mamdani has said that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to New York, he’d have him arrested.

He answered that he doesn’t agree with Mamdani on every issue. He argued that the Democratic party should focus more on the working class. It should work to raise wages and have a more economically populist agenda.

Since Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor, he’s been seeking endorsements from higher-ranking progressives. Khanna fits that bill.

The endorsement came after a breakfast meeting in New York hosted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., where Mamdani met with a variety of Democratic representatives.

Other endorsements Mamdani has gained include: Reps. Jerry Nadler,D-N.Y., and Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. Espaillat initially endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo on Monday formally announced he is running as an independent for mayor, three weeks after he lost to Mamdani.

Former Mayor Eric Adams announced last month that he will also run as an independent.

Mamdani is expected to meet soon with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., The Hill reported.