New Yorkers are railing against Julie Menin’s potential role as Council speaker.
A group of anxious left‑wing New Yorkers took to X to complain that Julie Menin, the presumptive next speaker of the City Council, would “sabotage” Mayor‑elect Zohran Mamdani. They felt that progressive lawmakers had refused to congratulate Mamdani, a moderate Democrat, after the election.
On X, users blasted Menin for allegedly lacking the same ideological purity many see in her rival, Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn, a fierce Mamdani supporter who many thought would help push the mayor’s socialist agenda through the Council.
“Julie Menin plans to sabotage the affordability agenda,” one user posted.
“Menin’s plan has always been to block progress and set the city on fire as much as possible (thankfully the mayor also has checks on her), blame Mamdani, then run for mayor in 2029 promising to fix the mess she created,” another user conspiratorially mashed out.
A ripple of anger spread when Menin announced she had won with a super‑majority of votes. Hudson posted her concession on X, and her close allies—Brooklyn Democrats Sandy Nurse, Chi Ossé and Lincoln Restler—responded, saying they were “proud” to have supported her. The trio, however, omitted any congratulations to Menin.
Many supporters of Mamdani also slammed Menin for getting the backing of “die‑in‑the‑wool” conservatives such as Vickie Paladino (R‑Queens) and Inna Vernikov (R‑Brooklyn). One left‑wing organizer tweeted, “Having the support of Inna Vernikov and Vickie Paladino should be disqualifying.”
Hudson’s attempt to rally a coalition that would cross ideological lines came to light. Paladino had a friendly lunch with Hudson a few weeks ago to discuss the speaker race, even though Hudson had previously voted to remove Paladino from the Council’s mental‑health committee in 2022. Paladino admitted, “I think Crystal’s lovely. We had a lot of fun,” and added, “It was a great lunch, but I need to go with Julie.”
Restler reached out afterward, calling his outreach “good politics” and stressing the importance of reaching across the aisle for the city’s survival. He said, “It’s reaching across the aisle. It’s important,” and later claimed, “I was proud to be part of the team that built a diverse coalition for Crystal Hudson. I disagree with Vicki on many issues, but we have a solid working relationship and that helps us deliver better results for all of our communities.”
A city council member shot down the idea that progressives could simultaneously seek Republican votes and then criticize the alliance. The member remarked, “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t beg for Republican votes and then whine that the other side won because your coalition was simply too pure of heart,” and questioned “what was the plan if Vickie had pledged her vote to Crystal Hudson? Add her name to a list of supporters and then immediately condemn her? Issue an apology after the vote is done?”
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