Even on Election Day, Schumer Is Mum on Mamdani

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation and an avatar of old New York politics, made it to Election Day without endorsing Zohran Mamdani, the young Democratic nominee for mayor with leftist views.

Mr. Schumer, who voted early, was reticent on Tuesday to even say whom he cast his ballot for.

A spokesman for Mr. Schumer would not say whether he had voted for Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Schumer was set to take questions at the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon during his weekly news conference, but it was not clear that he would reveal his choice even then.

It was a sharp break from the tradition of party leaders getting behind their party’s nominees for local races in their states. And it reflected the complicated calculus of a leader facing his own political challenges while trying to guide a divided Democratic Party seeking to win seats in competitive states with little appetite for a Democratic Socialist who is deeply critical of Israel.

Some Democrats called it a failure of leadership.

“It is hard to imagine something more emblematic of what’s wrong with the Democratic Party than an aging insider refusing to support a young generational talent who has built a movement that looks like the future,” said Ben Rhodes, who worked as a top adviser to former President Barack Obama. (Mr. Obama has been privately encouraging of Mr. Mamdani but has not officially endorsed him.)

But Mr. Schumer ultimately saw little upside in getting involved.

For months, Mr. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the country, has dodged questions about why he was withholding an endorsement for Mr. Mamdani, the young Democrat with ultraprogressive views who has been harshly critical of Israel. “We know each other well and we’re going to keep talking,” was all Mr. Schumer would say, over and over and over again, when pressed on the subject.

He held out even as Mr. Mamdani racked up endorsements from Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York; Carl Heastie, the speaker of the New York State Assembly; Representative Yvette D. Clarke, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus; Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller; and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader.