Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is throwing a temper tantrum again, this time because Democratic Party leaders are not all rallying behind her chosen NYC mayoral candidate.
Zohran Mamdani is a powder keg, and they all know it, so many top Democrats are delaying support until the last possible moment, likely waiting to see who drops out of the race.
Well, AOC has had enough, openly calling out the top Dems for failing to fall in line with their party's official nominee.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has met with Mamdani twice now, but still, there has been no endorsement.
I believe this goes a bit further than just his politics, however, as Mamdani’s camp took a rather nasty shot at Jeffries very early in this race, and the minority leader could be perceived as weak if he caves and endorses without an open apology from Mamdani's campaign.
Yvette Buckner, a Democratic Party operative, offered her take, stating, “Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is playing chess, not Checkers. It’s not about the next move, but the next five moves. It’s not just about New York City but the entire country."
She continued, “Hakeem is cautious even when it comes to just New York City politics and he has to be extra cautious when it comes to politics that affects all of his party members.”
Some Democratic Party leaders have accepted Mamdani into the party without actually endorsing his candidacy,
For instance, the DNC's own chair and several other notable Democrats have talked about how their party is diverse and has a rather large umbrella.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, has still not hinted whether she will be backing the controversial candidate, stating, “I’m having very interesting conversations right now. There’s no urgency.”
I think AOC would beg to differ, especially with President Donald Trump considering putting his thumb on the scale and recent polling suggesting that Cuomo would beat Mamdani in a head-to-head race, hence her urgency to get people locked in to Mamdani before they decide to back Cuomo.
So, what do you do when the voters have selected a nominee you know could destroy the party? Well, you sit on the sidelines, but AOC is now calling these officials out for doing so.
When asked about the lack of full endorsement by the likes of Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the minority leader in the Senate, AOC went off, stating, “We have a Democratic nominee. Are we a party who rallies behind our nominee or not?”
She continued, “Because what we do is we use our primary to settle our differences, and once we have a nominee, we rally behind that nominee. I am very concerned about the example that is being set by anybody in our party … if an individual doesn’t want to support the party’s nominee now, it complicates their ability to ask voters to support any nominee later.”
Imagine the damage in the 2028 election cycle if Dem leaders get behind Mamdani, he wins, and we see rising crime rates, a mass exodus of wealthy New Yorkers, and the city plummets into bankruptcy because of all these free programs. That is what Democrat leadership is deciding upon right now, so I would not expect a slew of endorsements anytime soon. In fact, if the race comes down to just Cuomo and Mandani, it will give them even more reason to stay out of the fight and allow the voters to decide on their own.