At long last, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday endorsed Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, ending months of hand-wringing over whether the party establishment would finally get off the fence.

The nod, first reported by Politico, lands just ahead of early voting, which begins Saturday.

Jeffries had said earlier he would weigh in “well before” the start of early voting. But as The New York Times reported, the minority leader pushed the announcement back because of the ongoing government shutdown—a delay that only fueled speculation about his political calculus.

The backing carries weight since Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, is a national party leader, one of the city’s most visible Black politicians, and a long-time critic of the Democratic So

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