NYC Council Member Files Paperwork For Primary Run Against Hakeem Jeffries

NEW YORK CITY — New York City council member Chi Ossé has filed paperwork to challenge House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in next year's primary election.

“The Democratic Party’s leadership is not only failing to effectively fight back against Donald Trump, they have also failed to deliver a vision that we can all believe in,” Ossé said in a statement to Axios, seemingly confirming the decision.

Ossé has represented the city’s 36th District since 2021, which includes Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.

The Brooklyn council member had previously said it would “take a very dire situation in order for me to even consider spending the rest of my 20s in DC.” He also recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America

Ossé's decision comes after Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the general election earlier this month.

At a press conference in the Bronx on Monday, Mamdani appeared to make the case for Ossé to stay in the city.

“While I appreciate the great work that Councilmember Ossé has done on the council, especially for tenants,” Mamdani told reporters, “I believe that there are many ways right here in New York City to both deliver on an affordability agenda and take on the authoritarian administration in the White House.”

According to a New York Times report, Mamdani does not want Ossé to run against Jeffries, fearing it could disrupt his affordability agenda.

If Democrats win back the majority in 2026, Jefferies is viewed as a contender to be speaker of the House

Justin Chermol, a Jefferies spokesperson, told AMNY, that they " welcome this primary challenge and look forward to a rigorous debate about the type of serious leadership required to deliver for the people of Brooklyn and the nation.”