The chairman of the New York State Democratic Party said on Thursday that he would not support Zohran Mamdani, his party’s nominee for mayor of New York City, citing fundamental disagreements over Israel and democratic socialism.
The position puts the chairman, Jay Jacobs, directly at odds with both Democratic primary voters and Gov. Kathy Hochul, his de facto boss, who endorsed Mr. Mamdani on Sunday despite her own differences with the nominee.
Mr. Jacobs, a moderate from Long Island, was so opposed to the governor’s endorsement that he told associates in recent days that he would sooner resign as chairman than back Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker and democratic socialist, according to people who spoke with the chairman.
It appears not to have come to that. But Mr. Jacobs’s exceedingly rare public break with Democratic voters and the governor underscores the deep divisions that persist around Mr. Mamdani within the party’s establishment, even as more elected officials move toward supporting him.
In a statement to The New York Times on Thursday, Mr. Jacobs, who is Jewish, said he told Mr. Mamdani directly that “I strongly disagree with his views on the State of Israel.”
“Furthermore, I reject the platform of the so-called Democratic Socialists of America and do not believe that it represents the principles, values or policies of the Democratic Party,” Mr. Jacobs said.
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The post New York Democratic Chairman Won’t Endorse Mamdani for Mayor appeared first on New York Times.
