Rahm Emanuel is still talking about his meeting with Zohran Mamdani

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is continuing to say that he met with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani where they discussed Israel, but also that he didn’t want to dwell on Mamdani. The potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate told City & State that he had a meeting where he told Mamdani that “over my dead body” that Israel would not be a Jewish state, which Emanuel originally recounted during a July podcast. Mamdani’s communications director, Anna Bahr, said in July on X that the meeting did not happen. Emanuel spoke to City & State while campaigning on Sept. 5 for Democratic congressional candidate Rebecca Bennett in Westfield, New Jersey, in her challenge against Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr.

“That was a long no. We talked. I said, this is, are we doing an interview, or (are) we trying to recap?” Emanuel said.

Emanuel pointed City & State to previous speeches where he spoke out against the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea” and saying that it is support for the end of Israel. In the podcast, he said he brought that phrase directly up to Mamdani.

Emanuel declined to comment in-depth on Mamdani. When questioned directly about Mamdani’s job performance, Emanuel pivoted to Bennett.

“I'm here for Rebecca. You want to talk about Rebecca, I'm ready to talk about it,” he told City & State.

Emanuel has centered his political brand on being a “raging moderate” putting him on a collision course with Mamdani and others on the progressive left, including the Democratic Socialists of America. Earlier this year, he spoke to the Partnership for New York City, which has been largely opposed to many of Mamdani’s tax policies. The pro-business group has been hosting likely 2028 presidential contenders.

While there has been an increase in Democratic congressional candidates, particularly on the left, declining to endorse or opposing U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for reelection to their leadership posts, Emanuel believes both Brooklynites will prevail.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Emanuel told City & State. “Now what I think, which is we’ve got to go win the election, and Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries will stand in front of their caucuses, and I have all the confidence they’ll get elected, because if you win, winners get rewarded.”

When asked about recent DSA congressional primary victories, including Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevaliar, Emanuel was quickly critical of the DSA’s national platform.

“I’ve been very clear as it relates to we have a progressive wing, a pragmatic wing of the party, and that the Democratic Socialists are a separate party.”

Emanuel specifically cited national DSA planks on defunding the police, border enforcement and prisons.

“When you change those positions, we can talk,” Emanuel said of the DSA.

Emanuel told the roughly 60-person crowd gathered in the backyard of the local Democratic Party chair in the New York City suburb to canvas for Bennett that he sees many commonalities for Democrats between this year’s midterm election and 2006 when he chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. These include an unpopular Republican president, a war and affordability issues.

“Don’t screw it up,” Emanuel said.