Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for withholding his endorsement from Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, highlighting the growing divisions within the Democratic Party.

Schumer has so far declined to back either Mamdani, who holds a substantial lead in most polls, or Andrew Cuomo, who, after losing the Democratic primary, is running as an independent candidate.

Omar argues that Schumer’s neutrality is exacerbating tensions within an already fragmented party.

“I really don’t understand. It’s baffling,” Omar remarked during a CNN interview regarding Schumer’s lack of endorsement.

“As Democrats, we have traditionally stood behind our party’s nominee. Schumer has urged fellow Democrats to do the same, so he should practice what he preaches,” she added.

Schumer has also drawn criticism from party members who accuse him of failing to effectively challenge Donald Trump and his administration’s handling of the government shutdown.

The longtime senior Senator from New York was most recently was seen walking away from the press when they questioned whether he’d vote for Mamdani.

New York Attorney General Letitia James told The New York Times that Schumer is ignoring young voters, marveling at ‘the excitement that I saw on the streets all throughout the city of New York’ during the primary. 

‘I haven’t seen this since Barack Obama ran for president of these United States,’ James added of the excitement for Mamdani among young voters, with the state assemblyman leading a recent poll by 35 points among voters under 30. 

Omar was also asked whether fellow ‘Squad’ member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -who appeared at a rally with Mamdani on Sunday – should primary Schumer when his term is up in 2028.

‘I would like Alex to do whatever it is that Alex wants,’ Omar said. ‘And I‘ll be there to support her.’

Omar was asked if Mamdani’s slow movement to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’ was to blame for the lack of endorsements. 

‘Well, everything he does or says seems to be called antisemitic,’ Omar said. 

‘What I do know is that he has support from a broad coalition of New Yorkers. He’s got a huge coalition of Jewish voters that are supporting him. He’s got a huge coalition of Muslims of every sect. 

She was further pressed on the role religion played in Democrats reticence to get behind Mamdani.  

‘Well, the tsunami of the anti-Muslim attacks that we are seeing is deeply concerning,’ she said. 

‘And I would hope that the Democratic leader in the Senate would recognize that and would offer support not just to Mamdani, but the million Muslims who live in New York City and the millions who live in New York and in America.’ 

While Mamdani has brought energy to the New York City mayor’s race, many of his opponents despair over what could happen if he wins. 

Mamdani, the 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist, is set to storm to victory in the election on November 4, the poll by JL Partners for the Daily Mail revealed.

He has a 15-point lead over his nearest rival, former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo.

The poll showed that many New Yorkers who do not support Mamdani are convinced he is going to ‘destroy’ America’s biggest metropolis and crater its economy, sending shockwaves across the rest of the country.

They think it could mark a return to the urban decay of the 1980s when the city was blighted by poverty, rampant crime, crumbling infrastructure and abandoned buildings.

Even among Mamdani’s own supporters more think he will make antisemitism in New York worse, rather than better.

Asked for one word to describe what the Big Apple would be like after four years of his left-wing policies, the most common response from non-Mamdani voters was ‘disaster.’

They also said a Mamdani-run New York would be ‘chaos,’ ‘hell,’ ‘broken,’ and a ‘s***hole.’ 

Among voters who have made up their minds, Mamdani was on 46 percent support, according to the poll.

Cuomo, running as an independent, was on 31 percent, Republican Curtis Sliwa on 22 percent, and the rest was shared among minor candidates.

Among voters aged under 30, Mamdani has a massive 35-point lead over Cuomo. Among Democrats, Mamdani has 54 percent support and Cuomo, who previously governed the state of New York as a Democrat, has 26 percent.

The poll found New Yorkers expect a wide array of the city’s problems to get worse under a ‘Mayor Mamdani,’ including crime, antisemitism and the economy.

It found 47 percent believe levels of crime and violence will get worse, with only 32 percent saying the city would be safer under Mamdani. 

On the issue of crime there was a stark split among New Yorkers based on age.

For voters under 30, 49 percent said they believed safety would improve under Mamdani, with 32 percent saying it would not.

But among over-65s only 26 percent thought the city would be safer under Mamdani and 50 percent said it would not.

Meanwhile, the poll found 43 percent of New Yorkers expect the number of businesses in the city to decrease under Mamdani, with stores going under and potential entrepreneurs forced to head elsewhere.

Only 23 percent thought the number of businesses would rise under the democratic socialist.

The poll showed 39 percent expected the risk of terrorism to increase under Mamdani, with only 18 percent thinking it will lessen. 

And 45 percent thought the problem of antisemitic views in the city would get worse, with only 21 percent thinking it would improve.

Even Democrats thought Mamdani would have a negative impact on antisemitism, with 29 percent saying he would make it better and 32 percent worse. 

Earlier this month, Mamdani faced a backlash after posting a picture of himself on social media with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn-based Muslim cleric.

Wahhaj was named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted potential co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a precursor to the 9/11 attacks. He was never charged with any crimes and denied involvement in the attack.

The poll revealed only one issue where New Yorkers thought Mamdani would improve the current situation.

It showed that 39 percent think housing would become more affordable under Mamdani, with 32 percent believing it would be less so.

Democrats backed him to reduce housing costs by 52 percent to 19 percent.

The poll also revealed a stark split among Democrat voters in New York, with many opposed to Mamdani.

It showed 33 percent of Democrats believe crime will rise, 29 percent think there will be less businesses, and 25 percent said the risk of terrorism will increase.

The poll was conducted between October 23 and 26 among 500 registered voters and had a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

Sliwa has resisted pressure to drop out to help Cuomo, suggesting if anyone was to stand down it should be Cuomo instead.

Cuomo is deeply unpopular with Republicans so Sliwa withdrawing may not greatly assist him.

Earlier this month, Sliwa vowed he would only leave the race if ‘a Mack truck hits me and I get turned into a speed bump, and they can’t recover me in the I.C.U. That’s the only way.’ 

Mamdani, who is running to be New York’s first Muslim mayor, was born in Uganda and moved to New York aged seven. 

His father is an academic and his mother a filmmaker. As a child he went to a private school in Manhattan where fees are now $66,000 a year.

Despite his ultra-privileged upbringing Mamdani is successfully appealing to working-class voters and young adults who find New York increasingly unaffordable to live in, with promises that he will bring their costs down.

His platform of policies includes a freeze on rent hikes, free bus services, fully-funded day care for under-5s, city-owned grocery stores, and turbocharging the minimum wage ultimately to $30 an hour.

He wants to fund those policies, which will cost billions of dollars, by raising taxes on the rich and companies.

There would be a 2 percent increase on New Yorkers earning over $1 million a year, and the top corporate tax rate would rise from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent.

Critics say that will lead to a surge of firms and high-earning individuals leaving New York, which will in turn decimate the city’s tax revenue and Mamdani unable to pay for his policies.

President Donald Trump has branded Mamdani a ‘communist’ and threatened to cut off federal funding to the city if he is elected.

But the president is reportedly resigned to Mamdani winning, with it seemingly tooo late for Cuomo or Sliwa to catch up.