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With the mayoral election in the rearview, Big Apple politicos have turned their attention to another important contest: the race for City Council speaker.
The current speaker, Adrienne Adams, is term-limited at the end of this year, meaning the body’s 51 members must choose her replacement come January. Next to the mayor, the City Council speaker may be the most influential figure in city politics — as the chamber’s leader sets the body’s agenda, works with other parts of the municipal government, controls what legislation gets voted on, and wields great power in negotiating the yearly budget, which the Council controls.
So far, five candidates are running to replace Speaker Adams, who was first elected to the post in early 2022 and has served for the duration of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ (no relation) tenure: Council Members Julie Menin (D-Manhattan), Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn), Amanda Farias (D-Bronx), Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens), and Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan).
Although there is still over a month to go, the race appears to have narrowed down to two candidates: Menin and Hudson. Whoever becomes speaker will need a majority (26) of the 51-member council in the election at the start of the new session in January.
A council source told amNewYork it is hard to say exactly how many members currently support Menin and Hudson. However, they provided an assessment of where the members from each borough stand, noting that Queens is mostly aligned with Menin, Brooklyn and Staten Island are mostly aligned with Hudson, and Manhattan and the Bronx are split between the two.
Julie Menin: Why she’s running
Menin took office in 2022 and represents a significant portion of the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island. She told amNewYork she is vying for the post both to counter aggressive federal actions by Republican President Donald Trump toward the five boroughs, such as his threats to send in the National Guard, and to lower soaring costs across the city.
“We’re clearly in a crisis in New York City in terms of some of the threats that we face from Washington with draconian federal cuts, the risk of ICE raids, the potential for military deployment,” she said.
Menin said her experience of serving as commissioner of the Departments of Consumer and Worker Protection, Media and Entertainment, and as census director under former Mayor Bill de Blasio — prior to being elected to the council — has prepared her for this fraught moment.
“I’m running for speaker based on my experience running three city agencies, my legal experience in these very choppy waters that we’re in right now,” she said.
Crystal Hudson: Why she’s running
Hudson is a progressive who has represented Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Crown Heights, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill, since 2022.
“We are in a pivotal political moment, locally, nationally, even globally,” Hudson told amNewYork about why she is running.
“I think it’s really important that we have strong and steady leadership that’s rooted in action and accountability,” she continued, “that shows New Yorkers that they have strong leadership in City Hall that will always stand up for them, that will fight back against any interference with the laws of this land.”
Prior to being elected in 2021, Hudson was a staffer in both the Council and the Public Advocate’s office. Before entering government, she worked in sports marketing and advertising, and then was inspired to become a public servant after having to navigate complex bureaucracies for her mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Working with the new mayor
Perhaps the biggest question looming over the race is who, if anyone, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will throw his support behind.
The new 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor-elect will need a willing partner as council speaker to help accomplish his sweeping affordability proposals — including fare-free buses and universal child care. Outgoing Mayor Adams had a very contentious relationship with Speaker Adams that often led to public fights over legislation and the balance of power in City Hall.
Hudson, who endorsed Mamdani in the mayor’s race, said she wants to be a speaker who balances a working relationship with the new mayor with the ability to also push back when necessary.
“I think that New Yorkers have made a clear mandate that they want and need a more affordable New York City,” Hudson said, referring to Mamdani winning the mayoral general election by just over 50%.
“We need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to make the city a livable, affordable city for them,” she continued. “Now that doesn’t mean, of course, that we’re going to agree with everything that the mayor proposes, and when we don’t, I think it’s important that we are loud and clear about our opposition.”
While Menin is more moderate than Hudson, she sought to highlight the “many areas” where she and Mamdani can work together. She said those include countering the Trump administration and making the city more affordable — specifically by implementing free universal child care.
“We’ve got to focus on the issues and the threats that we have coming from Washington,” Menin said. “We need to focus on the affordability issues around universal child care and housing. We also need to focus on lowering skyrocketing health care prices…These are all areas of alignment.”
However, Menin also noted she would still ensure the council holds the new administration accountable through its oversight hearings.
Who’s backing Hudson and Menin?
When it comes to the level of support Hudson and Menin have at this point, they both project confidence in their ability to win — but declined to give specific counts of how many members are backing them.
Hudson said she has “support all across the city.”
The Progressive Caucus member has the vocal backing among many of the body’s more left-leaning lawmakers, including Brooklyn Council Members Lincoln Restler, Sandy Nurse, and Rita Joseph. Also standing with Hudson is Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, who abandoned her own speaker bid to stand with her colleague.
Nurse said she believes Hudson should be the next speaker based on the diversity of her district and her ability to balance being a progressive with standing up to parts of the left when they do not have “a clear path for solving a problem.”
“I think in that way, she represents a healthy check on the Zohran [Mamdani] administration,” Nurse said of Hudson. “I think she will be both a collaborative partner, but also someone who will work to build the council’s agenda and assert our agenda.”
Meanwhile, Menin said she has a “broad, diverse coalition of support,” including a mix of progressive and moderate Council members such as Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan), Kevin Riley (D-Bronx), and Linda Lee (D-Queens). Menin also has the powerful Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, which supported Mamdani in the general election, and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks — the Queens County Democratic Party chair — standing with her.
One of Menin’s Council member supporters, Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan), said he thinks she is “the right leader for our time.”
“She has a proven track record of leadership as a community board chair, a commissioner for various agencies, a City Council member,” said Bottcher, who on Thursday declared his candidacy for the Congress seat held by the retiring Jerry Nadler. “I think she’d be a steady and forceful hand of our body.”
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Ethan Stark-Miller
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