New York City
At closed door meeting, about 30 NYC Council members discussed the next speaker
Some members who attended the meeting said they are not keen to “give their votes away to outside actors.”
Council Member Althea Stevens organized the meeting, along with Council Member Lincoln Restler. Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit
On Oct. 9, a majority of New York City Council members and incoming members gathered for a meeting at 250 Broadway to discuss the council speaker race, according to 10 sources with knowledge of the meeting. About 30 people were in attendance. Republicans, outgoing members, staffers and speaker candidates themselves were not invited. (For the purpose of this meeting, speaker candidates included Council Members Julie Menin, Amanda Farías, Carmen De La Rosa, Crystal Hudson, Chris Marte and Selvena Brooks-Powers. Brooks-Powers confirmed in a text to City & State that she is running.)
The meeting was organized by Council Members Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn and Althea Stevens of the Bronx, both members of the progressive caucus. The purpose was to discuss the process of electing the next speaker and what the likely incoming council wants from that speaker – collectively. “It was a really good opportunity for members to talk about the speaker’s race in a room together,” said Council Member Erik Bottcher.
Historically, the speaker race has been a complicated citywide deal including major labor unions, the county Democratic Party machines, members of Congress and the incoming mayoral administration. Unlike the new council of 2022, the incoming council of 2026 is made up of a majority of returning members. Several of those members said they are not keen to approach the race passively, according to one person who attended the meeting. “Folks felt like the process last time got hijacked by union leaders, county leaders and other forces,” they said.
One member in attendance also pointed to the horse-trading for committee and other leadership positions that takes place between speaker candidates as members as an unspoken tradition that there’s some interest in moving away from. “The process is hyper-individual and transactional, inside and outside,” the member said. “So I think there’s just a lot of interest in exploration around how do you make a better process so that people feel good about it?”
One idea that was brought up during the discussion was holding forums in which speaker candidates could answer questions from council members in one group setting, according to a person in attendance.
Attendees of the meeting said it wasn’t about the merits and flaws of specific candidates. Attendees included members from the Bronx and Queens who are thought to be loyal to their party machines as well as members who are expected to vote with progressives.
Though outside groups like unions, party leaders and the incoming mayor typically have (or try to have) outsized influence in the race, speaker candidates also typically do extensive outreach to individual members. Donations to new and returning members in competitive races are common, as are informal coffees and lunches in the months leading up to the race. According to The City, Menin has donated the most to returning and likely incoming candidates since last September, though Farías and Hudson have also made a sizable number of donations.
The next mayor, who at this point looks likely to be Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, could hold major sway in the race too. Among the candidates, at least Menin, Farías, De La Rosa and Hudson have met with Mamdani about the speaker race.