Jeffries spokesperson on Van Hollen criticism: 'Chris Van Who?

A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) referred to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) as “Chris Van Who?” after the Maryland senator criticized New York Democrats for not endorsing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani in New York City's mayoral race.

“Leader Hakeem Jeffries will have more to say about the general election well in advance of Nov. 4,” Jeffries spokesperson Justin Chermol told the New York Times in response to Van Hollen's remarks.

“Meanwhile, confused New Yorkers are asking themselves the question: Chris Van Who?” Chermol said.

The Hill has reached out to Jeffries’s office for further comment on Van Hollen’s remarks and has also reached out to Van Hollen’s office regarding the statement from Jeffries’s spokesperson.

Van Hollen, speaking at the Polk County Steak Fry in Des Moines, Iowa, over the weekend, backed Mamdani for mayor less than two months before the general election.

Without naming Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) directly, Van Hollen criticized the fact that “many Democratic members of the Senate and House representing New York have stayed on the sidelines” in the mayoral race.

“That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of,” Van Hollen said. “They need to get behind him and get behind him now.”

When Mamdani won the ranked-choice primary earlier this summer, shocking former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York Democratic establishment, Jeffries and Schumer congratulated the third-term state lawmaker. Both, though, stopped short of endorsing Mamdani. 

Schumer met with Mamdani last week, telling reporters on Capitol Hill that the two will “keep talking.” Jeffries has also met with Mamdani twice since the latter's primary victory. 

Van Hollen said Mamdani “is focused on ensuring that people can afford to live in the place that they work.”

“That should be our goal in New York City, Des Moines and every town and city and place across the United States of America,” Van Hollen added. “Donald Trump and New York’s financial elites see that as a threat, the idea that everybody who works in New York City should be able to afford to live in New York City, and they have mobilized to defeat him.”

Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June, outlasting a long list of contenders — most notably Cuomo, who is now running an independent campaign for mayor. 

While New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) endorsed Mamdani in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday, Jeffries and Schumer have yet to do so.

According to the latest poll conducted by Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill, 43 percent of respondents backed Mamdani in the general election. His three chief rivals — Cuomo, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and embattled Democratic incumbent Eric Adams, also running an independent campaign — garnered 28 percent, 10 percent and 7 percent support, respectively. 

Mamdani’s edge in the polls comes as President Trump’s Middle East liaison, Steve Witkoff, met with Adams in Florida to discuss a post in the administration earlier this month, as reported by The Associated Press.

If Adams were to accept a role, the mayoral contest would be reduced to a three-person race between Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa. The first-term mayor vowed to stay in the race Sept. 5, however. 

At a fundraiser in August, Cuomo predicted Trump and top Republicans would help bring voters into his camp, according to audio of the event obtained by Politico. Cuomo then denied that he wants Trump to get involved in the race at a press conference earlier this month. 

Trump said on "Fox & Friends" on Friday that “it would look like [Mamdani] is going to win,” based on the polls.

Updated at 10:41 a.m. EDT