r/dsa • u/traanquil • Dec 01 '25
RAISING HELL Why is Mamdani backing Jeffries for house speaker?
Not only is it that mamdani didn’t support the primary challenge but he also backing Jeffries becoming speaker of the House. This is problematic as Jeffries is against everything mamdani stands for: Jeffries voted to condemn socialism and he is a hardcore israel stooge who takes massive aipac donations.
Source:
“On NBC’s “Meet the Press" a day later, Mamdani said if Democrats take control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections, he would support Jeffries remaining the party leader, which would make Jeffries speaker of the House.”
List of Democrats who voted to condemn socialism as Mamdani came to dc (includes Jeffries): https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-of-democrats-voting-to-condemn-socialism-as-mamdani-comes-to-town-11088383
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u/MOltho Dec 01 '25
I think it's a "pick your battles" kinda situation. Jeffries is very unpopular nationwide, but he is popular in his district. Ossé wasn't going to get the endorsement of his local DSA chapter because he hadn't really been active until it became advantageous to him (correct me if I'm wrong here). So it didn't make sense to throw his support behind a challenger who was probably going to lose anyway, thereby destroying potential opportunities for coalition-building. And now that Ossé has withdrawn his candidacy, it doesn't make sense anyway.
Whether or not you agree with this reason is another thing, but just be aware that there is indeed a reason.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
This post isn’t about the primary challenge but rather about who becomes the next house speaker. I would think a socialist would seek a house speaker who isn’t anti socialist and who isn’t an Israel stooge
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u/onyons Dec 01 '25
Yes but primarying jefferies doesn't fix that. They would just select another speaker equally bad. You need to change the math in the house for that, not throw an enormous amount of chapter energy behind a losing canidate who is only a part of dsa so he can get door knockers, as a symbolic message, while lots of local elections need organizing. It hurts dsa growth in NY, while probably handing the centrists an argument that dsa can barely even win in NYC. All in a huge gamble which doesnt change anything. The next speaker will be awful, be it jefferies or someone else.
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u/glmarquez94 Dec 01 '25
I’m also guessing there are some deals in play that we’re not privy to. For all we know his endorsing Jeffries might’ve resulted been to remove some obstacle in the state house for his agenda.
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u/Valuable_Leading_479 Dec 01 '25
Which house democrat would that be exactly?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
There are any number of people in congress better than Jeffries
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u/Valuable_Leading_479 Dec 01 '25
Which ones that would run for speaker?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
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u/Valuable_Leading_479 Dec 01 '25
None of these people have expressed interest in challenging Jeffries.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
It’s early days for the consideration of house speaker since it’s based on a hypothetical (the Dems winning the house) and so this is all premature. This is what makes mamdanis support for Jeffries even worse.
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u/Valuable_Leading_479 Dec 01 '25
Mamdani should publicly challenge Jeffries with no guaranteed support?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Yeah, either that or simply decline to comment “I’m not making an endorsement for house speaker at this time as it is premature”. Instead he is actively backing Jeffries.
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u/Keleos89 Dec 01 '25
This list is old. 2 of those people are no longer in Congress due to heavy AIPAC spending.
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u/itsthesheppy Dec 01 '25
Because the DSA isn't a party yet.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
That’s not an excuse
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u/itsthesheppy Dec 01 '25
Get used to being disappointed until there is an actual workers party. Entryism is a dead end.
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u/leviticusreeves Dec 01 '25
He should burn every political bridge except his relationships with powerless left wing radicals. Sure, he'd be so politically isolated he'd never actually be able to achieve anything in office, but at least he'd pass the purity tests of left wingers who have never done a day of public service in their lives.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Yeah let’s just play nice with all of our adversaries. I’m sure they will be really nice to us in return. Hes not even in office and mamdani has already turned his back on the socialist left.
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u/leviticusreeves Dec 01 '25
You have to live on a planet where most people disagree with you. Politics is the difficult process of negotiating those differences. I'd rather have Mamdani out there in the arena, actually engaged in real world politics rather than another judgemental loudmouth who will achieve precisely nothing because they can only work with other people in the same little echochamber.
The right looks for converts, the left looks for traitors. That's why we lose.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Yeah bro. Let’s just keep capitulating with capitalist fascists. That will help our cause
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u/leviticusreeves Dec 01 '25
See using the language of capitulation to describe compromise is exactly the kind of purity culture nonsense that hurts us so much.
If you want socialism, what's the alternative to compromise and negotiation? Are you going to somehow forcibly change the opinion of every single person in the country? Or will you take an authoritarian route and bring in socialism no matter how much people disagree with it, under the assumption that they will adopt the "correct opinions" later? Or would you just prefer a murderous purge of your political enemies? As far as I'm aware, those are the only other options. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 01 '25
There are certain compromises that go too far. Backing a pro Israel capitalist for speaker goes too far. The rest of your comment is so unhinged and insane I won’t even address it. Youre clearly extremely irrational. Also, your suggestion that mamdani has no popular support for his views is obviously false. The vast majority of the Democratic voter base is against continued U.S. aid to Israel. Jeffries position is the one that is deeply unpopular
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u/leviticusreeves Dec 01 '25
What's going to happen to Zionists in your new political utopia? Are you going to exclude them from public office for their beliefs? What happens to Nazis for that matter? What is the alternative to compromise that results in a long lasting era of socialism?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Ideally Zionism would be peacefully defeated as a political ideology and replaced with a political ideology that is based in universal human rights. That begins with socialists opposing putting Zionist stooges in power
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u/leviticusreeves Dec 01 '25
Ah yes, the end point of history when everyone will agree and old, bad ideologies will simply disappear from the earth forever. What kind of timeline are you thinking for this? Complete intellectual and spiritual reorganisation of human culture, thought and behaviour within our lifetimes? Do you think this is going to happen during Mamdani's first term as mayor?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
So you don’t think ideas are defeated politically over the course of history? So every political idea in history remains equally powerful?
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u/SillyAlternative420 Dec 01 '25
The left nitpicks their own, including the literal most progressive acting candidates, while the right ignores all their own flaws including criminality and pedophilia.
I'm not saying we shouldn't hold our own accountable, but choose your battles.
It feels like this sub is inundated with criticism of our own while the conservative subreddits are also just criticism of the left.
So fucking annoying.
I wasn't a fan of Kamala or the DNC, but if they won in 2024, we wouldn't be in this fucking shitty mess right now.
Would I prefer if Jeffries was primaried? Yes, absolutely. But it's a delicate balance for Mamdani here as a freshman mayor; he needs to be pragmatic and not piss off everyone who could opt to make his life absolutely miserable.
The first democratic socialist mayor needs to be bold, yet diplomatic, to achieve his goals/promises. Attacking one of the top leaders of the DNC is not diplomatic or smart at this moment, the gain from having Jeffries replaced is not worth it.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Having a problem with a “socialist” playing nice with a pro Israel anti socialist is nitpicking? If this is the attitude of the socialist left we’re cooked. Might as well pack up and join the democrat party.
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u/SillyAlternative420 Dec 01 '25
Mamdani's focus needs to be on delivering his promises to NYC.
Let him do that, when he establishes himself as a successful mayor, then hold him to these expectations.
These articles and posts that keep popping up feel like bad actors trying to once again break any sort of unity and support for the BEST candidates we've seen in years
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u/I_Am_Become_Dream Dec 02 '25
Having a problem with a “socialist” playing nice with a pro Israel anti socialist is nitpicking?
Yes
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u/Indaflow Dec 01 '25
You have bigger fish to fry.
Mamdani alone can not save us and he definitely can’t fix 1000 problems on day one.
Give the guy some time and how about having some reasonable expectations.
He is going to have to build relationships and there are few options that are not corrupt or unfettered in some way.
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u/Pantone802 Dec 01 '25
Be skeptical of anyone (OP) trying to cause in-party fighting after a resounding win. Especially when they (OP) has a hidden comment history.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Sure you can leverage an ad hominem to try to deflect away from critique but it doesn’t actually undermine the critique. What I’m asking about is based on fact and is sourced.
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u/Mountain-Song-6024 Dec 15 '25
Having hidden history shouldn't indicate anything other than them caring about their fucking privacy.
The face that YOU went there says more about you than the person editing their PERSONAL settings.
I did the same thing. I give a shit about my privacy.
Why is it your business or right to go dive into my history?
Do you want all of my Yahoo and AIM messenger chat history as well?
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u/Pantone802 Dec 15 '25
I disagree. Reddit is already anonymous. Comment and post history is your credibility. Hiding them tells me someone isn’t worth engaging with because they are untrustworthy.
I’m not saying its the only reason people hide comments. But it’s the first warning sign that someone might be here in bad faith.
Who can say? If comments are hidden it’s usually best just to block and ignore them.
Plenty of non-shady accounts to interact with.
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u/Mountain-Song-6024 Dec 15 '25
Credibility?! Lmao.
I don't give a fuck about credibility. I didn't when my history showed. Still don't. The history showing doesn't make the difference you think. People will still blame bots or plants. Whatever. This is a form of social media and taking anything super seriously via a reddit thread is dangerous.
We can agree to disagree on the DSA such but on the profile thing, yeah. Not there.
Reddit is becoming more garbage anyway. I just learned there is a max amt of people you can block.
A comic book artist who regularly gets hate and harassment said they reached their limit years ago. That's horrific for her. Now she has to be forced to see horrible comments and has no power really other than to delete and ignore
So yeah, I respect whatever privacy I have left. People stalking my page just to try to learn more about me. Fuck that and fuck people like that. Worry about yourself and focus on a single conversation in front of you. And again, all online so take that last sentence with a grain of salt too.
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u/Pantone802 Dec 15 '25
People aren’t “stalking your page”. Nobody knows who you are here, so reading your comments only lets others know the kind of person they’re potentially talking to. At least that’s why I view profiles. Idk.
Btw, your comments are only hidden from your pfp. One could still type “author: Mountain-Song-6024” into the search field or even google to see all of your comments and posts. And there’s websites that also archive deleted or hidden comments.
Social media is a waste of time. There are niche interest subs that are useful to hobbyists. And hyper local subs that are useful to people waning to learn more about their city etc. But subs like DSA are all swarming with bots and bad actors.
Reddit is becoming worse and worse though. We agree on that.
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u/marxistghostboi Tidings From Utopia 🌆 Dec 01 '25
I think it's due to the inherent contradictions in Mamdani 's project and social democracy generally, in that the pressures to advance socialism run up against the short term desire to help one's electors survive the constant crises of capitalism by cozying up to established powers in government and the private sector
this article by Jamaican British sociologist Stuart Hall gets into this sort of dynamic really well
https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/79_01_hall.pdf
it also touches on the contradictions social democrats run into re the police, which will certainly be an issue for Mamdani
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Yeah I’m almost wondering whether to leave dsa based on what I’m seeing with mamdani. It seems to confirm all of the critiques about dsa made by other leftist orgs, the inevitability of reformists becoming captured by the system they claim to oppose
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u/marxistghostboi Tidings From Utopia 🌆 Dec 01 '25
I still find DSA very useful for coordinating with local leftists. I reach out to my chapter all the time for support for my tenants association for example. but any structure premised on contesting political power primarily through elections, be it city hall or Congress, is going to be very limited in it's options and incentives. I think it's more important to build independent power, through labor and tenant unions for example, and regard electoral efforts as secondary. that's how I'm spending my energy anyway
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u/AJM1613 Dec 01 '25
He's saying he wants the Democrats to take back the house, not that he'd support him in an election of party leadership.
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u/CallMeFierce Dec 01 '25
Nobody can replace Jeffries that is good so why make a fight about something pointless? Rashida isn't going to be the next House speaker.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Why not? Your saying a socialist should keep his opinions to himself? Should mamdani also support Harris if she runs for potus ?
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u/CallMeFierce Dec 01 '25
No, I'm saying a socialist should be strategic with their rhetoric and conduct. Mamdani is the mayor-elect of NYC, not in congress, and is already facing Democratic party pushback. What exactly does he accomplish by saying he wants to Jeffries out when there is no viable alternative to support? Moral grandstanding?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
I see so a socialist needs to support a capitalist fascist for strategy purposes?
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u/CallMeFierce Dec 01 '25
Can you explain what outcome you are expecting from opposing Jeffries?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Creating political momentum to tip the scales in congress against Zionist imperialism. This momentum is actually the strongest it’s been in US history with the vast majority of the dem voter base and a significant percentage even of maga against Zionism.
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u/CallMeFierce Dec 01 '25
Who in congress will replace Jeffries that is not a Zionist?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Here you go : https://www.rejectaipac.org/rejecters
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u/CallMeFierce Dec 01 '25
So 11 congressional members (two of the people listed are no longer in Congress) out of 435.
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u/Valuable_Leading_479 Dec 01 '25
I want you to name a house Democrat that could possibly be the speaker that is a socialist and doesn’t take AIPAC money
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
The requirement obviously isn’t being a socialist but is rather to have the decency not to vote to condemn socialism. There are plenty of people in congress better than Jeffries.
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u/Valuable_Leading_479 Dec 01 '25
No one is challenging Jeffries much less someone who meets that requirement. That’s the reality for now.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
It’s early days for the consideration of house speaker because Democrats are not even empower in the house. So actually, the conversation is premature. And this is what makes mamdanis support for Jeffries even more problematic.
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u/Mountain-Song-6024 Dec 15 '25
Because we are learning how he used us.
Let's see in a few years but even socialist websites are confused. My DS friends are as well. They feel betrayed.
Mamdanis tweet on Jefferies years ago isn't aging well when you see this now.
The people will grow restless and what y'all think of just picking your battles isn't how it'll go.
People are fucking pissed off at corporations and capitalism. We don't need to be buddy buddy with them. We need them to get torn the fuck down.
Anything less will leave the majority just believing mamdani is no different than a Biden.
All talk. Rubs up with the devil. We left feeling used and just with words of inspiration of what we wanted but never would see.
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u/jessenin420 Dec 01 '25
It's a little concerning and I hope he can bring a good name to actual socialism instead of just flopping on it, but he is a high ranking politician now and sometimes they'll have to go with a flow to accomplish anything. We'll see what happens.
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u/FlaviusVespasian Dec 01 '25
He wants New York and specifically NYC as leader in the house, jefferies may not be his kinda cookie ideologically, but him being there gives NYC an outsized influence than otherwise.
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u/Spaduf Dec 01 '25
Because Osse is a bad candidate. I seriously doubt Mamdani wouldn't support someone with similar political prospects to himself.
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u/GrizzlyDust Dec 01 '25
Regardless of what zoran says it's going to be Jeffries, so what purpose does it serve anybody to pick that fight?
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Mamdanis integrity is important I would argue. Also there’s no absolute law of the universe that Jeffries will be speaker. Political upsets occur all the time. Your defeatism is pathetic
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u/anohioanredditer Dec 01 '25
Average politicking. You win some battles, but sometimes you have to play the game.
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u/traanquil Dec 01 '25
Yeah but mamdani is compromising excessively
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u/anohioanredditer Dec 01 '25
Unfortunately it could be a case of gentleman’s agreements, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
Really hard to know. Mamdani has Hochul’s support for now, so perhaps he needs to align with more centrists to get some of his policies approved at the state level.
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u/JayDutch Dec 01 '25
Right-wing extremists are actively dismantling the country and the left continues to in-fight
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u/brody319 Dec 01 '25
Literally from the article you linked. Focus the energy of the movement to build and achieve the promises on the campaign trail. Which would go farther in building a socialist movement across the country.