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New York City council member Chi Ossé filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission on Monday for a congressional campaign, positioning him to launch a primary challenge against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for New York’s 8th Congressional District.
Ossé is a far-left Gen Z activist and political ally of socialist Zohran Mamdani. The New York Post reported last week that Mamdani had urged Ossé against challenging the Democratic House leader.
His campaign marks a direct challenge to the old guard of the Democratic Party establishment from the party’s young, progressive wing, and it comes as Democrats are riding high following Mamdani’s success in New York City and their gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia.
Jeffries was reluctant to endorse Mamdani’s mayoral campaign after the socialist shocked the political establishment when he secured the Democratic nomination in June. After four months, Jeffries finally offered Mamdani an 11th-hour endorsement ahead of early voting.
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The party leader’s reluctance to endorse Mamdani exposed a Democratic Party rift that has been brewing since Republicans won major gains in 2024, leaving Democrats without clear party leadership to respond to President Donald Trump’s sweeping second-term agenda.
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New York’s 8th Congressional District covers part of Brooklyn. Ossé currently represents Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant and North Crown Heights neighborhoods.
He began his career in politics as an organizer during the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020 and was elected to City Council in 2021 at 23 years old, becoming the youngest member of the Council and its first Gen Z member.
Ossé filed a statement of organization for “Chi Osse for Congress,” through Katz Compliance, a political campaign finance provider. He has not released an official statement announcing his candidacy.
But responding to criticism that just last month he said, “It would take a very dire situation in order for me to even consider spending the rest of my 20s in DC. Just to be clear, I’m not running for Congress,” Ossé wrote on X on Monday afternoon that it “seems like we’re in a dire situation.”
Jeffries is up for re-election next year as Democrats battle to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries, Mamdani and Ossé for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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