Personality

Who do New York pols follow on Twitter?

Based on the data, here are the most influential political accounts in New York.

Gordon Heights, N.Y.: Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie (D-Bronx), center, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, left, and E. James Freeman, the President of the Gordon Heights Civic Association, right, speaks at a community meeting to discuss environmental issues and redistricting, at the Gordon Heights firehouse, in Gordon Heights, New York, on June 20,2022.

Gordon Heights, N.Y.: Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie (D-Bronx), center, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, left, and E. James Freeman, the President of the Gordon Heights Civic Association, right, speaks at a community meeting to discuss environmental issues and redistricting, at the Gordon Heights firehouse, in Gordon Heights, New York, on June 20,2022. Photo by Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images

By Eric Holmberg

|

Members of the state Legislature and the New York City Council get on New York political Twitter for some of the same reasons as the rest of us: to stay informed, spar with other users and get the latest hot goss. 

So it is insightful to look at who these powerful decision-makers are following and where they’re getting their information. For some, they may be following influential members to track what they’re saying about key issues, or because a fellow legislator has an engaging account.

For instance, it’s no surprise that more Assembly members follow Speaker Carl Heastie than any other legislator in the chamber. And City Council Member Justin Brannan’s Twitter account is always fire. Plus, the journalists that are being followed by lawmakers also gain some amount of influence in their own right.

Legislata, a political productivity and information platform, scraped 204 official and personal accounts for members of the state Legislature and 90 accounts for New York City Council members to analyze hundreds of thousands of follows.

Here are the top lawmakers and journalists who legislators in each chamber of city and state government are reading on Twitter.

STATE LEGISLATURE

Top legislative follows

Assembly members

1. Carl Heastie (81%)

2. Nily Rozic (59%)

3. Crystal Peoples-Stokes (58%)

4. Latoya Joyner (57%)

5. Richard Gottfried (56%)

State senators

1. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (74%)

2. Gustavo Rivera (71%)

3. Liz Krueger (69%)

T-4. Brian Kavanagh (68%)

T-4. Brad Hoylman (68%)

Influential journalists

1. Zack Fink, NY1 State House reporter (81%)

2. Nick Reisman, Spectrum News state politics reporter (77%)

3. Jimmy Vielkind, Wall Street Journal reporter (70%)

4. Susan Arbetter, Spectrum News political anchor (68%)

5. Jon Campbell, WNYC/Gothamist reporter (63%)

CITY COUNCIL

Top council follows

1. Justin Brannan (84%)

2. Adrienne Adams (83%)

3. Keith Powers (82%)

4. Gale Brewer (81%)

5. Carlina Rivera (79%)

Influential journalists

1. Sally Goldenberg, Politico New York City Hall bureau chief (76%)

2. Ben Max, Gotham Gazette executive editor (74%)

3. Errol Louis, NY1 political anchor (71%)

4. Jeff Coltin, City & State New York City Hall bureau chief (70%)

5. Katie Honan, The City reporter (58%)

NEXT STORY: This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.