House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to
address a statement that Zohran Mamdani, the leading Democratic candidate for
mayor of New York City, made years ago on his college application regarding his
ethnicity.
Jeffries joined the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC's
"PoliticsNation" on Saturday to discuss Democratic mayoral candidate
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who defeated former Democratic
Governor Andrew Cuomo for the party's nomination. Jeffries had previously
criticized Mamdani for past comments on Israel and Palestine, calling them
"unacceptable."
The discussion arose after a New York Times report on
Thursday revealed, based on hacked records, that Mamdani identified himself as
"Black or African-American" and "Asian" on his 2009
Columbia University application. Mamdani, born in Uganda to Indian parents,
told the newspaper in an interview that he "didn't consider himself Black
or African-American, but rather 'an African-born American.'"
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