Carmen De La Rosa to drop speaker bid and back Crystal Hudson

The progressive lane in the New York City Council speaker race just got a little less crowded. Council Member Carmen De La Rosa is dropping her bid for the council’s top job and is endorsing Council Member Crystal Hudson.

Both members confirmed the decision to City & State – the latest development in a fast-moving race that is expected to pick up even more speed at the Somos conference in Puerto Rico, which begins the day after Tuesday’s election.

The City Council speaker race still has weeks to develop, but many observers and insiders see it as a matchup between front-runner Council Member Julie Menin, a more moderate Manhattan representative who has support in the council and likely backing from outside validators in labor and county Democratic parties, and a more progressive candidate like Hudson or De La Rosa. Both are viewed as more aligned with a likely incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani while also having support inside the council.

De La Rosa shared the news in an email to members on Sunday evening. Likely incoming members also got a heads up. “As women of color, we both understand exactly what is at stake,” De La Rosa wrote of her decision to back Hudson. “With Trumpism on the rise and ICE continuing to harm our communities, we must have a Council that truly represents and delivers for the people it serves – especially our most vulnerable neighbors.”

In an interview on Sunday evening, De La Rosa said she and Hudson have ideological alignment, but she denied that the decision is geared toward elevating a more progressive challenger to Menin. “For me, it has everything to do with the type of person that I have known Crystal Hudson to be – the type of person who has a temperament that is professional, someone who has taken hard votes and has made decisions based upon the greater good for our city,” she said. “There’s also alignment in lived experiences, and it is necessary for me to see our voices, diverse voices, reflected in the leadership of the council.” 

Both De La Rosa and Hudson are women of color. De La Rosa is Dominican American, and Hudson is a Black woman of Jamaican and Honduran descent. The next City Council is expected to be majority women and majority people of color, and there is some desire for a speaker who reflects that. Menin is white and Jewish. 

Hudson and De La Rosa are also both members of the council’s Progressive Caucus, and either’s path to success would count on the support of those within the caucus, though they would need support outside of it as well. Hudson was already seen as a strong contender next to Menin, and says she has both. 

“I’m running a campaign that is centered on building a big, broad coalition where everybody is welcome,” Hudson told City & State on Sunday. “I’m really honored to have Carmen’s support.”

Though it’s unclear how many votes Hudson could gain through the shake-up, De La Rosa’s move simplifies the equation for those members. Hudson’s district runs from Fort Greene to Crown Heights in Brooklyn, while De La Rosa represents Upper Manhattan.

City & State spoke to De La Rosa early last week about her campaign, and she expressed openness to making a move like this down the line. When asked if there was a speaker candidate who she would support besides herself, she mentioned Hudson as well as Amanda Farías and Chris Marte as members with whom she has a good relationship. “Those are all people that I respect, and those are all people that, if we go to the end of this race and they make it, then I’m going to be supportive,” she said of the other speaker candidates on Oct. 28. “Win, lose or draw, I will be part of the next council and moving an agenda forward. So whoever the speaker is, I will be part of their success.”

Despite being in the midst of a competitive mayoral election, the City Council speaker race has been active behind the scenes in the past week. On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, City Council members held their own internal forums with the speaker candidates. Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn met with members of the Brooklyn delegation – the largest in the council – on Saturday to discuss how they could unify their votes behind one candidate. And on Sunday, Queens Democratic Party boss Rep. Greg Meeks convened several county leaders and labor leaders – who typically hold sway in the race – to take stock of their positions.