DSA recommends against endorsing Ossé’s congressional bid

On Saturday night, members of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America voted not to recommend endorsing New York City Council Member Chi Ossé’s nascent primary challenge against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

In an online vote, roughly 52% of eligible members of NYC-DSA’s Electoral Working Group voted against endorsing Ossé’s congressional campaign. In total, 1,205 DSA members voted, with 626 voting against the endorsement and only 555 voting in favor, with 24 abstaining. The online vote opened on Wednesday night following the candidate forum where Ossé made his case to members of the socialist group. The vote closed at 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Those DSA members who had signed up to attend the candidate forum, which was held in packed Manhattan church and streamed on Zoom, were sent an email from the Electoral Working Group’s Organizing Committee on Saturday night announcing the results of the online vote.

“Given that Council Member Ossé failed to win support for a recommendation of endorsement from a majority of voting members, the Electoral Working Group OC does not make a recommendation for endorsement at this time,” the email reads.

“NYC DSA FOREVER ❤️ IM NOT GOING ANYWHERE,” Ossé wrote on X shortly after the results of the vote were released, signaling that he intended to remain a member of the socialist group despite not being for endorsement. Ossé told City & State that he has already applied to join the City Socialists in Office committee, a caucus of DSA-backed City Council members who work closely with the socialist organization. Currently, Council Members Alexa Avilés and Tiffany Cabán are the only elected officials in the committee.

The outcome of the vote will likely come as welcome news to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who has tried to discourage Ossé from running and even attended Wednesday’s DSA candidate forum to appeal to comrades in person not to recommend endorsing Ossé’s congressional bid. Mamdani argued that DSA should focus on achieving the affordability agenda that he and DSA had successfully campaigned on during the mayoral race, instead of focusing on launching a likely doomed primary campaign against the most powerful Democrat in the House.

The Electoral Working Group’s non-binding vote against an endorsement makes it exceedingly unlikely, though not impossible, that DSA will endorse Ossé.

In order for Ossé to get the endorsement, the leadership of the four NYC-DSA branches that overlap with the 8th Congressional District (North Brooklyn, Central Brooklyn, Flatbush and South Brooklyn) – would need to decide to hold endorsement votes, in spite of the Electoral Working Group’s recommendation not to do so. Ossé would need to receive the support of at least 60% of members in at least two of those branches. He would also need to receive at least 60% of the votes in a vote of all NYC-DSA members. And then he would need at least 60% of NYC-DSA’s Citywide Leadership Committee to vote in favor of an endorsement – bucking both the Electoral Working Group’s recommendation and Mamdani’s wishes.

Moving forward without support from the DSA will make toppling Jeffries exceedingly difficult. Though he’s a charismatic TikTok star and popular City Council member, Ossé faced long odds against Jeffries even with full-throated backing from the socialist organization. Without it, it’s difficult to see how he could build a viable campaign.

The question of whether to endorse Ossé’s congressional campaign has led to robust internal debate within DSA. The 27-year-old has been a strong supporter of Mamdani and helped pioneer the policy-focused social media video strategy that the mayor-elect used to such success. But some within DSA questioned Ossé’s commitment to socialist organization – which he only recently joined – and were reluctant to back him when he seemed to have no realistic path to victory

NYC-DSA has already endorsed one congressional candidate in next year’s midterm elections . Earlier this month, NYC-DSA formally endorsed City Council Member Alexa Avilés’ planned primary challenge against Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th Congressional District – even though Mamdani reportedly plans to back city Comptroller Brad Lander’s own bid against Goldman.   

The socialist organization is also expected to endorse a congressional candidate later this year to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, whose left-leaning 7th Congressional District overlaps with many DSA-backed elected officials’ state legislative districts. State Sen. Julia Salazar, the first DSA-endorsed candidate to be elected to the state Legislature and a close ally of Velázquez, is widely seen as the early front-runner for DSA’s endorsement.