Chi Ossé, a member of the New York City Council, has filed paperwork to launch a primary challenge against House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The campaign filing, first reported by Axios and filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission, notes Ossé is running as a Democrat in New York's Brooklyn-based 8th District, which Jeffries has represented since 2013.
Ossé did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He he said in a statement to Axios, “The Democratic Party’s leadership is not only failing to effectively fight back against Donald Trump, they have also failed to deliver a vision that we can all believe in."
Ossé also publicly hinted at a run Monday afternoon by writing in an X post, “Seems like we’re in a dire situation,” responding to another post noting that he had recently said he would not run for Congress and that it would take a "dire situation" for him to spend his 20s in the nation's capital.
Jeffries, meanwhile, welcomed the challenge.
“Leader Jeffries is fighting hard to lower the high cost of living, address the Republican healthcare crisis, combat corruption and win back control of the House for the good of the country," spokesperson Justin Chermol said in a statement. "We welcome this primary challenge and look forward to a rigorous debate about the type of serious leadership required to deliver for the people of Brooklyn and the nation.”
Jeffries, the top House Democrat, has not faced a competitive primary fight in the recent past, and he has run unopposed in primaries in five of his last seven elections, including last year, in the deep-blue district. Jeffries won a seventh term last year by 51 points, and former Vice President Kamala Harris won the district by 44 points, both winning more than 70% of the vote.
Ossé was first elected to the City Council in 2021 at just 23 years old, and he reportedly joined the Democratic Socialists of America this year. Ossé is an ally of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, although The New York Times reported that Mamdani discouraged Ossé from challenging Jeffries.
