House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has a new primary challenger: New York City Councilman Chi OsseMamandi.
On Monday, Ossé filed to run for office in New York's 8th Congressional District, which covers parts of eastern and southern Brooklyn. In a statement, Ossé said: “Not only has the Democratic Party leadership failed to effectively push back against Donald Trump, but it has also failed to deliver on a vision we can all believe in.”
The councilman, 27, supported Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary, leading a rally and campaigning for him. Like Mamdani, Osse has a large number of subscribers on social networks and is seeking to capitalize on public dissatisfaction with Democratic leadership by joining other young candidates running for main problems all over the country.
Ossé enters the race with some notoriety in New York, having been featured in New Yorker, GQAnd New York magazine. But according to AxiosMamdani will not offer any public support to Ossa to ensure that Jeffries and other leading New York Democrats do not oppose his policies as mayor.
However, the upstart candidate could look not only to Mamdani's example, but also to that of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who in 2018 defeated member of the Democratic leadership, just 27 years old, to enter Congress representing New York's neighboring 14th District. Ossa will have to win the support of many of Jeffries' critics, who believe the congressman ineffectual in leading the Democrats against Donald Trump and the Republican Party. The question is whether Brooklynites agree.
