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Zohran Mamdani’s seemingly inevitable occupation of Gracie Mansion has given a much-needed jolt to a Democratic Party still recovering from 2024 election–induced P.T.S.D. After all, the 34-year-old democratic socialist was an extreme longshot to win the Democratic primary, especially against former Governor Andrew Cuomo. But Mamdani ran a flawless social media campaign, stuck to a clear and concise affordability agenda—and, in the final stretch, he’s gone out of his way to meet with the city’s billionaires, explain himself to prominent rabbis, court the N.Y.P.D., and charm Martha MacCallum on Fox News.

Perhaps most notably, he’s done it all without the public endorsement of the top two Democrats in Congress, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom also live in New York City. Mamdani “should be the kind of candidate that Democrats want in every state in the country,” Senator Bernie Sanders declared during a CNN town hall last week. Senator Chris Van Hollen, hardly a firebrand liberal himself, called the Democratic leaders “spineless” for failing to support him. “You’d think being the Democratic nominee would be enough” for Schumer and Jeffries to endorse, one Democratic aide told me.

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And yet… at the highest levels, party leaders are still reluctant to embrace a candidate they fear could subsequently hurt their chances at retaking the House, or even the Senate, which are their top priorities. Republicans have painted Mamdani as an extremist—a “Marxist,” according to Speaker Mike Johnson, a “100 percent communist lunatic,” according to President Trump, and a “jihadist,” per likely New York gubernatorial candidate Elise Stefanik—after Mamdani initially deflected MacCallum’s questions about whether Hamas should “lay down their weapons and leave the leadership in Gaza.” (He later clarified at the debate, saying “of course” they should lay down their arms.) A Jeffries and Schumer endorsement could allow Republicans to more easily tie him to Democratic candidates running on far more moderate platforms. The Mamdani mania, according to this logic, could be weaponized in swing districts and statewide races far beyond New York, where candidates like North Carolina’s Roy Cooper and Maine’s Janet Mills have presented themselves as pragmatists and problem solvers. Guilt by association is not always an effective political strategy, but the threat of it does make centrists nervous.

At the same time, the Mamdani snub has moved pretty far down the list of things the base is mad about. Schumer and Jeffries have built up a reservoir of good will with the left over the past month via their handling of the government shutdown. Schumer, in particular, has rebuilt some of the cred he lost after folding during the last government funding showdown in March. Meanwhile, the two leaders have kept the party mostly united and on message, refocusing the debate on healthcare—a winning issue for them. Success in their day jobs has thus taken pressure off both Schumer and Jeffries to capitulate to the demands of the base to lock arms with Zohran. They’re showing they can fight, and stand for something, in their own domains.

Campaign money is yet another consideration for Schumer and Jeffries, both of whom are tasked with being rainmakers for the party. While Mamdani may have a strong lead in the polls, he hasn’t yet won the hearts and minds of the wealthy and connected New Yorkers who bundle and donate millions of dollars to the major fundraising arms of the Democratic Party—the D.N.C., D.C.C.C., and D.S.C.C. In many ways, that’s the key base to which the House and Senate leaders must cater. Many Jewish donors, in particular, remain skeptical of Mamdani despite his attempts to explain old decisions, like declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” “It says a lot about the roots of the party given the fact that they’re not endorsing,” another Democratic aide told me.

Some in Washington speculate that Schumer’s non-endorsement is a sign that he’ll retire when his current term expires in 2029. Threats of a primary challenge erupted during Schumer’s fumbling of the March funding deadline, with the left encouraging Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run against him. But people close to Schumer say that Mamdani is just not that important in the scheme of the Senate leader’s six-year term and his eventual legacy. When Schumer is asked if he will endorse Mamdani, he gives the same non-answer: “We’ve had several good conversations,” he says, adding that the “conversations will continue.” And if Mamdani becomes mayor but doesn’t fulfill his campaign promises, ending up as the second coming of Bill de Blasio, Schumer’s non-endorsement could look shrewd in hindsight. As one New York political operative put it, “New Yorkers love the guy they elected until the day he takes office—then they hate his fucking guts.”

Jeffries, for his part, said on This Week this morning that he expects to meet with Mamdani in the coming days (which would be only their third meeting) and that he’ll have “more to say” before early voting starts on Saturday. Since Mamdani’s primary win, Jeffries has been focused on the House, trying to counter Texas’s gerrymandering gambit, and dealing with the shutdown. But, for him, an endorsement might carry even more political risk than for Schumer. Jeffries, after all, has to protect his centrist colleagues, such as Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen, two Long Island Democrats who flipped their seats and are on Republicans’ target list in the midterms. (Neither has backed Mamdani.)

Jeffries could also face threats to his own seat: City councilmember Chi Ossé, a Gen Z Black Lives Matter activist and Mamdani supporter, has considered challenging Jeffries in a primary, a New York Democratic strategist told me. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that Jeffries would lose a primary: He has the campaign cash to defend his seat, and Democratic leadership has learned that you don’t take anything for granted, whether your challenger is a sitting city councilmember or an unknown bartender.

Jeffries, after all, is still relatively new to the national spotlight. While he’s carved an impressive political path, rising swiftly through the House ranks, he’s still a long way from becoming a Schumer-like institution in New York, especially outside of his Brooklyn district. While Jeffries’s profile has risen by picking a fight with Trump via a government shutdown, his take on Mamdani is, for better or worse, being watched very closely in New York City. “Jeffries faces a much bigger challenge,” said the New York Democratic operative. “With Schumer, it’s like Grandpa Chuck, whatever.”

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