Chi Osse, one of many Metropolis Council’s most progressive members, has spoken in recent times about how voting for Bernie Sanders within the 2016 presidential main was a formative expertise for him politically.
The revelation comes at an ungainly time for Osse, who’s looking for an endorsement for a possible 2026 congressional run from the Democratic Socialists of America, the influential left-wing group that counts Sanders as one in all its champions.
Osse was anticipated to seem Wednesday night time earlier than the DSA’s Electoral Working Group to make the case for why the group ought to again his 2026 main problem towards Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the U.S. highly effective Home minority chief whose district covers a swath of central, japanese and southern Brooklyn.
Osse’s push to problem Jeffries, New York’s second highest-ranking Democrat on Capitol Hill, has ruffled feathers amongst native left-wing energy gamers.
Incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the native DSA chapter’s most outstanding elected official, has urged Osse to not problem Jeffries, and a member of the DSA’s Socialist Majority caucus revealed an op-ed this week additionally discouraging him from operating, arguing the group’s focus for the time being needs to be on enacting Mamdani’s agenda.
New York Metropolis mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani talks to reporters at a information convention in New York, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Picture/Seth Wenig)
Osse’s Sanders help provides one other wrinkle to his fraught interactions with the DSA.
Osse talked about the 2016 race in that reply regardless that the corresponding query solely requested who he supported within the 2025 mayoral main and the 2020 presidential election.
In a textual content message late Tuesday, Osse mentioned his reply wasn’t deceptive as a result of he used the phrase “supported,” not “voted.”
“My DSA questionnaire states I supported Bernie in 2016 and 2020, which is true,” Osse wrote, bolding the phrase.
On different events, although, Osse has indicated he voted for Sanders within the 2016 election.
“The first election that I voted in was the 2016 election when it was initially the primary between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bernie really engaged me in politics,” Osse, on the time operating for his Bedstuy and Crown Heights-based Metropolis Council seat, mentioned in a November 2020 interview with Revolt.television.
The information additionally present the primary time Osse truly voted was within the 2018 basic gubernatorial election, which featured Democrat Andrew Cuomo and Republican Marc Molinaro as the primary social gathering candidates on the poll.
Requested concerning the inconsistencies, Osse acknowledged he has misspoken prior to now about voting within the 2016 election.
“I was a strong supporter of Bernie and thought I voted for him,” he wrote, noting he turned 18 in March 2016. In a tongue-in-cheek reference to findings about Russian authorities meddling within the 2016 contest, Osse added: “Maybe the Russian stole my vote lol.”
Because it pertains to the precise first election he voted in, Osse clarified he didn’t vote for both Cuomo or Molinaro. Slightly, he mentioned he wrote in left-wing actress Cynthia Nixon’s title on his basic election poll.
Osse, who signed up as a dues-paying member of the DSA over the summer season after Mamdani’s mayoral main victory, is positioning himself as an unapologetic socialist in looking for to problem Jeffries.
As an example, Osse wrote in his DSA questionnaire that he helps growing taxes on people incomes greater than $350,000 yearly, a place additional to the left than Mamdani, who has favored a hike on these making greater than $1 million.
In his questionnaire, Osse additionally made clear he’s unlikely to in the end run towards Jeffries until he will get the DSA’s nod.
“I hope NYC-DSA will be my first endorsement, because I can’t run this race without the organization,” he wrote within the questionnaire.
