{"id":33043,"date":"2025-11-08T13:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T13:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/33043\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T13:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T13:27:07","slug":"mamdanis-agenda-to-be-embraced-by-increasingly-woke-city-council-as-progressive-members-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/33043\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani’s agenda to be embraced by increasingly woke City Council as progressive members surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get ready for a leftist lovefest between NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani<\/a> and the City Council.<\/p>\n

Unlike outgoing Mayor Adams<\/a> \u2014 a centrist Dem who immediately clashed with the Council upon arriving at City Hall in 2022 \u2014 the radical socialist should find a much more receptive audience when he takes office in January.<\/p>\n

Democrats will hold 46 of the Council\u2019s 51 seats, including nine new members \u2014 all Dems. <\/p>\n

NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expected to have a much cozier relationship with the predominantly far-left City Council, unlike outgoing Mayor Eric Adams. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The far-left Progressive Caucus is expected to get four new members, bringing its total to a powerful 21, sources told The Post.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just five short of the majority needed to guarantee any Mamdani-backed bill passes.<\/p>\n

Other Dems in most cases would likely step up to deliver remaining votes to cross the finish line, several pols and operatives said.<\/p>\n

Some Mamdani efforts \u2014 including his planned $1 billion Department of Community Safety that would have civilians instead of cops deal with the mentally ill \u2014 \u201cmight run into issues with some Democrats,\u201d a Dem council source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if he\u2019s moving ahead with other programs he\u2019s proposed like universal child care, I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll have overwhelming support,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n

The City Council, pictured in 2019, will swing even further left in 2026 as Democrats will gain an extra seat \u2014 leaving the party for a total of 46 of the 51 seats. Moreover, its17-member Progressive Caucus will add a least four new pols. BRIGITTE STELZER<\/p>\n

Harvey Epstein (D-Manhattan), Elsie Encarnacion (D-Manhattan\/Bronx), Justin Sanchez (D-Bronx) and Ty Hankerson (D-Queens) are the newly elected Council members expected to join the caucus, while Kayla Santosuosso, a Dem who\u2019ll represent a \u201cpurple district\u201d in southern Brooklyn, is considering it, sources said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mamdani ally and woke caucus member Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn) <\/a>is neck and neck in the race to become the next speaker<\/a> with Julie Menin, <\/a>a moderate Manhattan Democrat representing the Upper East Side.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani<\/p>\n

Menin is heavily backed by unions and party leaders in Queens, The Bronx and much of her home borough.<\/p>\n

She was the clear frontrunner heading into the annual SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico<\/a> this weekend, as she unofficially had the 26 votes lined up to win the race, with Hudson having 15 and 10 others undecided, according to multiple sources.<\/p>\n

Moderate Councilman Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) is currently the favorite to become the next City Council speaker. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

She\u2019s competing with Crystal Hudson, a Mamdani ally. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

Hudson \u2014 who appears to have much of the Brooklyn delegation\u2019s support \u2014 also has huge wild cards in her favor: Mamdani and House Minority Leader\u00a0Hakeem Jeffries\u00a0(D-Brooklyn).<\/p>\n

\u201cCrystal comes with Hakeem\u2019s support, and Mamdani wants her to be the next speaker,\u201d said a top Democratic operative.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has yet to get involved in the race, and sources said it\u2019s unclear if he will.<\/p>\n

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Such a move backfired for Adams. He failed months after being elected mayor in 2021 trying to drum up support for Councilman Francisco Moya (D-Queens) to become the next speaker.<\/p>\n

Instead, his meddling led to underdog Adrienne Adams, no relation to the mayor, securing the post and then spending much of the next four years fighting with the administration on plenty of policy issues.<\/p>\n

Newly elected Queens Councilman Ty Hankerson is expected to join the Progressive Caucus. Ty Hankerson for City Council\/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola (R-Queens), who is backing Menin in the race, said the legislative body is \u201cheading into uncharted waters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping we land with a moderate speaker, but if we end up with a radical who\u2019s in lockstep with Mamdani, this Council could turn into little more than a rubber stamp organization for the far-left agenda,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Menin already has a history of working well with far lefties: she ran multiple city agencies under ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio. <\/p>\n

Unlike Hudson, who campaigned for Mandani, Menin didn\u2019t endorse a candidate in this year\u2019s mayoral race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the midst of an affordability crisis and Donald Trump coming for New York, the mayor and speaker must work together to create a more affordable city \u2014 one where child care is free, rent affordable, and our neighborhoods safe,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to working with the mayor-elect, along with the council as an independent body, to enact these important policies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get ready for a leftist lovefest between NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and the City Council. Unlike outgoing Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[446,9894,301,81,4008,19077,57,9,56,63,65,64,87,19803,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-33043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-adrienne-adams","9":"tag-bill-de-blasio","10":"tag-city-council","11":"tag-eric-adams","12":"tag-hakeem-jeffries","13":"tag-julie-menin","14":"tag-metro","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-headlines","19":"tag-nyc-news","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-speaker","22":"tag-us-news","23":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}