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 Far\u00edas, 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.)<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 collectively. \u201cIt was a really good opportunity for members to talk about the speaker\u2019s race in a room together,\u201d said Council Member Erik Bottcher.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cFolks felt like the process last time got hijacked by union leaders, county leaders and other forces,\u201d they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019s some interest in moving away from. \u201cThe process is hyper-individual and transactional, inside and outside,\u201d the member said. \u201cSo I think there\u2019s just a lot of interest in exploration around how do you make a better process so that people feel good about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Attendees of the meeting said it wasn\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though outside groups like unions, party leaders and the incoming mayor\u00a0typically 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<\/a>, Menin has donated the most to returning and likely incoming candidates since last September, though Far\u00edas and Hudson have also made a sizable number of donations.\u00a0<\/p>\n