Brooklyn Metropolis Council Member Chi Ossé.
Credit score: William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit
Left-wing Brooklyn Metropolis Council Member Chi Ossé neither confirmed nor denied the potential for difficult Democratic Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries in subsequent 12 months’s get together primaries, following a report that he’s privately weighing to do exactly that.
“All I have to say is that it would take a very dire situation in order for me to even consider spending the rest of my 20s in DC,” the 27-year-old Ossé stated in a press release to Axios, which first reported that he’s discussing the potential for operating. The council member declined to expound upon his assertion when requested by New York News in Metropolis Corridor on Thursday.
Whereas Ossé’s remarks have been hardly a affirmation that he’s significantly contemplating operating, he additionally didn’t utterly shut the door.
Why may Jeffries be challenged?
U.S. Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) holds a press convention on the ninth day of a partial shutdown of the federal authorities on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, Oct. 9, 2025.REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Jeffries could possibly be one in all a number of institution Democrats weak to challenges from the left in subsequent 12 months’s midterms, notably if Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani wins the Nov. 4 normal election. Mamdani defeated extra established Democrats, similar to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, within the June main and is the frontrunner within the polls, with a robust likelihood of changing into the town’s subsequent mayor.
A Jeffries spokesperson didn’t reply to New York News’s request for remark.
Very similar to Mamdani, Ossé — who was first elected to a council seat protecting a lot of Bedford-Stuyvesant in 2021 — is understood for his viral social media movies, which regularly garner tens of hundreds of views. He additionally authored and efficiently pushed by means of “The FARE (Fairness in Apartment Rentals) Act” — a legislation requiring property homeowners to pay the charges for brokers they rent relatively than forcing tenants to bear the associated fee.
Ossé is an in depth ally of Mamdani’s who has performed a central function within the nominee’s marketing campaign. The council member has campaigned, each in individual and thru viral social media movies, and rallied for Mamdani all through the election.
The most recent chatter on the left about primarying Jeffries first sprouted up when Mamdani received his district, which covers a broad swath of neighborhoods from Mattress-Stuy to Coney Island, within the Democratic mayoral main. Mamdani doubtless benefitted from the district’s quickly shifting demographics, with youthful progressive voters shifting into areas like Mattress Stuy that have been as soon as older and extra centrist. To date, nonetheless, no different potential challengers have emerged.
Jeffries has additionally drawn the left’s ire for refusing to endorse Mamdani whilst different average Democrats, together with Gov. Kathy Hochul, have lined up behind their get together’s nominee.
The Home Democratic chief has additionally publicly scolded Mamdani for the lawmaker’s sharp rebukes of the Israeli authorities and ties to the Democratic Socialists of America, with whom he has a long-running feud.
The pair met in individual twice over the summer season and have spoken over the telephone a number of extra occasions. The New York Put up reported late final month that the officers’ groups have been in talks about Jeffries endorsing Mamdani, however he has but to take action.
