Overview
- Menin says she has at least 36 of 51 Council votes, with fresh backing on Monday from the Transport Workers Union and the NYC Central Labor Council.
- The Council is set to hold its speaker vote on Jan. 7, and chief rival Crystal Hudson has conceded.
- If elected, Menin would become the first Jewish speaker in the Council’s history.
- The speaker sets the chamber’s agenda and co-negotiates the city’s roughly $116 billion budget with the mayor.
- Menin emphasizes an affordability push including universal child care, as observers flag likely tensions with Mamdani over Israel policy, the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and the Cornell–Technion partnership on Roosevelt Island.