The 2026 midterm election season is formally underway, with Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries drawing a major challenger in New York Metropolis Council member Chi Ossé. Ossé has been teasing a major run for a while earlier than his Monday submitting.
In an interview with Axios, the 27-year-old democratic socialist stated that whereas he beforehand instructed he wouldn’t run for Congress, the present state of affairs warrants exploring a run. The younger metropolis council member has been constructing his on-line presence with a viral political ed-style video sequence that covers the whole lot from nationwide politics to community-level points.
If elected, Ossé would be a part of fellow Gen-Z elected official Rep. Maxwell Frost on Capitol Hill. The council member’s type could appear harking back to the net sensation adopted by New York Metropolis Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
In an August video, Ossé mentioned how you can “Trump-proof” the town by means of the Livable Future Bundle.
Launched in September, the Livable Future Bundle is a youth-led legislative marketing campaign knowledgeable by 4 youth priorities on local weather, housing, trans rights, and the anti-ICE motion. A number of posts mentioned inexpensive housing and deed theft within the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Mattress-Stuy and Crown Heights, each areas he represents within the metropolis council.
However having a dope on-line presence alone won’t be sufficient to win a congressional race. Jefferies has represented the district in Congress for over 10 years and may be very well-known.
A lawyer and public coverage strategist by commerce, Jefferies served within the New York State Meeting from 2007 to 2013 earlier than getting into Congress.
Jefferies occupies a fancy place in Black political areas, serving as each the highest-ranking Black particular person in Congress and a standard-bearer of the centrist establishment.
Jefferies has supplied sturdy vocal opposition to the Trump administration. In contrast to his Senate counterpart, Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, Jefferies has been agency in refusing to concede to the fascist opposition. However like his predecessor, Home Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Jefferies has had his share of performative moments and gestures. Keep in mind the social media put up of Jefferies holding that bat?
There are combined opinions throughout the Democratic ranks on primaries, notably relating to difficult incumbents. As reported by the Hill, Justin Chermol, a Jefferies spokesperson, stated they welcomed the problem.
“Chief Jeffries is preventing exhausting to decrease the excessive value of dwelling, handle the Republican healthcare disaster, fight corruption, and win again management of the Home for the nice of the nation,” Chermol stated in a press release. “We welcome this major problem and look ahead to a rigorous debate about the kind of critical management required to ship for the individuals of Brooklyn and the nation.”
He supplied tepid and considerably late help for former Reps. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman final yr, after they confronted challenges from AIPAC-backed candidates. Jefferies has come underneath criticism for his personal help of AIPAC and Israel, notably amid the continued devastation in Gaza.
Whether or not the dissatisfaction with Jefferies in nationwide progressive circles interprets to his district is but to be seen. However Jefferies is not any Eric Adams, the embattled one-term New York mayor who received pushed out within the 2025 election. A preliminary ballot of registered voters launched in October confirmed Jefferies with a commanding lead over the younger metropolis council member and different potential challengers, together with progressive New York State Sen. Jabari Brisport.
Most of these polled had by no means heard of Ossé. Nonetheless, if Ossé follows by means of together with his problem, he may have seven months to construct a case for voters of the eighth Congressional District.
Some have instructed that Osse’s problem places Mamdani and different progressives in a good spot. In accordance with reporting from Axios, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared that she didn’t assume it was the precise time to major the Home minority chief. Axios reporting additionally instructed that even Mamdani and crew might have “privately mentioned” Ossé from operating, because it might pressure coalition-building with institution Democrats.
Ocasio-Cortez is not any stranger to taking up a strong New York incumbent, operating what some thought was an not possible race in opposition to former Rep. Joe Crowley in 2018. She took on the complete New York Democratic institution in 2018 and shocked many together with her grassroots marketing campaign win.
As information broke of his submitting, the leftist journal Jacobin revealed an op-ed from Ossé on why he grew to become a socialist. Though he didn’t point out his would-be opponent or Congressional Democrats straight, Ossé referred to as out institution politicians for providing “platitudes” whereas taking payouts from rich pursuits.
The article primarily targeted on his current membership within the Democratic Socialists of America. Ossé additionally spoke on to the necessity for mass actions and political organizing to fulfill the wants of working households.”
“In deciding to run, I rapidly realized that the issues we face as working individuals in Brooklyn, in New York, and in the USA extra broadly usually are not disparate points to be solved on an advert hoc foundation however are completely different spokes coming from the identical core situation: the financial system through which we dwell,” wrote Ossé. “Our energy comes from constructing solidarity throughout the working class of each background and displaying that after we battle collectively, we win. The group is the mechanism for motion energy to be amplified in authorities and for principled politicians to be supported by the motion.”
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