Pick the Right Fight: Against Endorsing Chi Ossé
SMC Editorial Board Note: This piece is not an official caucus statement, but the opinion of the author.
This week, NYC-DSA will be considering an endorsement of Chi Ossé, a city councilman representing the 36th District in Brooklyn, to run for Congress against sitting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. This would be NYC-DSA’s biggest endorsement since last October, when we decided to back a then little-known state Assemblyman named Zohran Mamdani for mayor. That endorsement showed our organization was ready to meet the political moment in NYC. The city had languished under years of an increasingly unpopular Democratic governance; locally, Eric Adams put the city through a corrupt austerity regime—nationally, the Democratic Party was proving incapable to address the rising Right, the cost of living crisis, and the genocide in Gaza.
Now that Zohran has been elected mayor, our orientation towards the political moment should account for this shift in the political terrain. To seize this moment, we must ensure Zohran’s affordability agenda succeeds by running campaigns that keep his volunteer base mobilized and securing state legislative power that can be the foundation for decades of New York–wide socialist power.
“Communities across New York City want elected officials who will fight for Zohran’s affordability agenda.”
When Zohran’s campaign launched there was quite a bit of internal NYC-DSA discussion about the stakes of the race. The argument I put forth in The Agitator centered both on the awfulness of Eric Adams and the need for the Left to not sit out the mayor’s race. What others at the time often stressed was a concern about the lack of vision and plan for our organization if Zohran were to sit in Gracie Mansion. That reality has now forced our organization and the movement behind Zohran to suddenly think extremely hard about how city government works, what are the levers of power that can really be pulled, and what is the best way to manage the many contradictions that we will be faced with.
We cannot let that weight paralyze us. Instead, it should make us strong tactical thinkers and force us to critically analyze how the campaigns we run align towards fulfilling Zohran’s affordability agenda and empowering Zohran to be a successful mayor.
A State-Focused Strategy
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Democratic primary victory over Joe Crowley in late June 2018 sent shockwaves nationally, broadcasting the sudden emergence of a post-Bernie 2016 Left. However, for NYC-DSA, the September victory of Julia Salazar into the New York State Senate was arguably more impactful.
Salazar’s victory represented both the growth of the organization and a tenants movement that, in the following year, would help pass some of the most transformative housing laws in decades. Salazar’s victory also helped orient NYC-DSA firmly towards a pursuit of state power. Presently, we have three State Senators and six Assemblymembers, all of whom are invested into our Socialist in Office (SiO) project.
We’re in the process of potentially endorsing a slate of more than a half-dozen candidates for the Assembly. Each of these races will show that communities across New York City want elected officials who will fight for Zohran’s affordability agenda and that the state must be forced to make it reality. Zohran entering his second year of office with up to 15 DSA members in the New York Assembly will only magnify the volume of his demands.
The national environment appears like it’ll be strong for the left to make real gains. 2028 is a presidential year and we know rumors abound of AOC potentially running for President or Senate, either of which would help produce strong coattails for downballot races in New York. It seems we have two potential cycles of real anti-incumbent energy to use.
Chi Ossé
The concrete power of a larger socialist bloc in Albany stands in contrast to a single House seat under a Republican presidency. The toppling of Jeffries would show that the Democratic base is rabid for change, which we can agree would be good. However a single congressional seat by itself wouldn’t help further Zohran’s agenda. Zohran himself seems to agree and has expressed disapproval of Chi’s plans to primary Jeffries.
Some have taken Zohran’s statement as evidence that Zohran has ingrained himself with the establishment and is abandoning the insurgent movement that helped elect him. The issue is obviously not that Zohran is attempting to avoid confrontation with the establishment; Zohran continues to mobilize his volunteers to pressure Democrats across the state to help him fulfill his agenda. While Zohran is willing to conflict with establishment Democrats, he’s doing so under the tactical strategies of NYC-DSA that helped put him in office—a strategy that puts fulfilling a radical affordability agenda over symbolic efforts.
“We should be using Zohran’s victory to secure a state-level presence that will fortify a socialist bloc, not just a symbolic effort against a horrible Democrat.”
Some within NYC-DSA have decried Chi Ossé as an “opportunist.” That a politician sees our organization as a potential vehicle for advancement shouldn’t necessarily be a cause for alarm; on its face, it’s a good thing! However, Chi Ossé has repeatedly failed to align with NYC-DSA over the years until our endorsement could help propel him to Congress.
When given the chance to endorse Eon Huntley for State Assembly in 2024 against an opponent backed by the real estate and pro-Israel lobby, he decided to stay silent. He sought and didn’t get DSA’s endorsement back in 2020 during his initial city council run. Unlike Emily Gallagher, who ran without NYC-DSA then joined our Socialist in Office Committee, Chi declined to join our SiO.
Compare this to Zohran, who received NYC-DSA endorsement after working his way through the organization and into the State Assembly. Zohran built the trust for us to take a leap of faith in endorsing him for mayor. Chi has not built the same level of internal commitment. When SMC members in NYC-DSA voted on if the caucus should vote for the chapter to endorse Chi, the response was overwhelmingly against Chi’s endorsement.
Zohran won Jeffries’s district in the primary and general, but Chi is not Zohran and Jeffries is not Cuomo. Cuomo was scandal-ridden and unpopular. While the establishment flocked to back him, many left-of-center Democrats did decry his candidacy and endorsed other options (including Zohran). Additionally, Jeffries remains popular in his district. Though Chi is incredibly media-savvy, Jeffries is still the #2 Democratic fundraiser in the House (although he is a distant second to AOC). Speaking of AOC, she is apparently reluctant to endorse—a reticence that (again) Zohran himself shares.
Heading into 2026, the whole world will be looking at the success or failure of New York City. NYC-DSA will need to be in a strong coalition with many of the same organizations and unions that put Zohran into office. However, the political project of NYC-DSA should be one where we’re fighting for tangible power that can both pull people into our movement and materially improve lives. We’ve matured and built up enough strength that we should be using Zohran’s victory to secure a state-level presence that will fortify a socialist bloc, not just a symbolic effort against a horrible Democrat.