U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has declined to endorse New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and said the Democratic socialist must prove his policies can work for a broader electorate. In an interview on CNBC on 15 Aug., Jeffries said Mamdani “is going to have to demonstrate … that his ideas can actually be put into reality,” adding that the candidate’s campaign still faces questions from voters in Brooklyn and other parts of the city. Jeffries also called scrutiny of Mamdani’s housing arrangement “a legitimate issue.” Mamdani, who earns roughly $142,000 as a state assemblyman and whose household income is reported to top $200,000, pays about $2,300 a month for a rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, running against Mamdani on an independent line, has seized on the matter and floated “Zohran’s Law,” which would bar high-income earners from occupying rent-regulated units. The following day, Jeffries appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” where host Joe Kernen pressed him both on Mamdani and on his criticism of President Donald Trump’s economic record. Jeffries warned that the administration’s tariff policy risks stoking inflation, while Kernen cited 2.7 percent consumer-price growth and 3 percent annualized GDP expansion in the latest data, challenging the Democratic leader’s assessment.