If elected, Julie Menin would be the first Jewish speaker of the City Council in its history.
The frontrunner in the race to be speaker of the New York City Council secured new union endorsements on Monday in the first sign of potential hedging on mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Julie Menin, a Democrat representing Manhattan’s Upper East Side, is a Jewish, pro-Israel moderate, who could counterbalance the self-described democratic socialist and staunch Israel critic in city government.
Menin declared on Wednesday that she had a supermajority of support on the 51-seat council ahead of the Jan. 7 vote. On Monday, she added endorsements from the Transport Workers Union and New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.