Chi Ossé, a far-left New York City councilman, confirmed on Friday that he was officially pulling the plug on a primary challenge against Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader.
Mr. Ossé, 27, had hoped to capitalize on a rush of momentum on the left following Zohran Mamdani’s victory last month in the New York City mayor’s race. But after the councilman filed paperwork to run for the Brooklyn seat, Mr. Mamdani intervened to try to block him.
The mayor-elect took the unusual step of lobbying the Democratic Socialists of America, the small but increasingly influential leftist group that helped power his campaign, not to back Mr. Ossé, an ally. He argued that a race against Mr. Jeffries would be a messy distraction that could undermine his mayoralty.
At the time, Mr. Ossé said he was “definitely not running for Congress” without the group’s backing. He did not receive it, and so on Friday, he made his exit official.
“After the exploratory process, we determined that a campaign against the House minority leader this year would not be viable,” Mr. Ossé wrote in an email to supporters. “And so we will be ending the exploration process and not launching a campaign.”
Mr. Ossé confirmed the email’s authenticity in a text message, but did not respond to a question about Mr. Mamdani’s attempts to stop him from running.
Justin Chermol, a spokesman for Mr. Jeffries, did not directly address the councilman’s exit in a statement, but said the congressman “remains laser-focused on lowering the high cost of living, protecting the health care of the American people and making life better for the communities he is privileged to represent.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Ossé, a first-term councilman with a lively social media presence, had made his strong distaste for Mr. Jeffries, 55, clear. Last month, he called the party leader “an emblem of betrayal” who “empowers conservative policies.”
On Friday, via text message, Mr. Ossé called Mr. Jeffries a “corporate shill” who was “unfit to lead the fight against fascism.”
But any challenge against Mr. Jeffries would have been an uphill fight. While Mr. Mamdani ran up huge margins in gentrifying neighborhoods within the district, polls show the congressman remains popular there. The district stretches from Fort Greene, through Bedford-Stuyvesant to Canarsie and down around the coast to Coney Island
Many leading Democrats quickly lined up to defend Mr. Jeffries as he leads the party’s attempt to retake the House next year. And even prominent members of the D.S.A. who loathe the congressman and the party establishment, argued that Mr. Ossé was trying to opportunistically draft off Mr. Mamdani’s success in a race he most likely could not win.
Even with Mr. Ossé out of contention, New York City is still preparing for an unusually large number of spirited Democratic primaries in June that may test the appeal of democratic socialism and the strength of competing party factions.
Mr. Mamdani has taken an active role in trying to shape several of them. For example, he has urged Brad Lander, a progressive ally, to challenge Representative Dan Goldman from the left in a district connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan. And this week, he signaled his support for Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist, to run for an open seat in Brooklyn and Queens.
Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government.
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