Julie Menin Elected Speaker of New York City Council

 

Speaker Menin is a three-time City Commissioner and former regulatory attorney with a history of strengthening consumer and worker protections

The New York City Council voted today during its 2026 Charter Meeting to elect Julie Menin as Speaker. Speaker Menin will lead the City Council during a pivotal moment, when the lawmaking body will address the affordability crisis, an affordable housing shortage, and other key issues. Speaker Menin has laid out a bolder, more proactive vision for the Council to confront New York’s challenges, including building more affordable housing; lowering skyrocketing health care costs; slashing fines and bureaucratic red tape for small businesses; and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse from city government.

Speaker Menin is a three-time City Commissioner and former regulatory attorney. The daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she is the first Jewish Speaker to lead the City’s legislative body. Speaker Menin will preside over a continuing women-majority City Council.

“I am deeply honored and humbled that my City Council colleagues have elected me as Speaker,” said Speaker Julie Menin. “New York has a long history of turning moments of challenge into moments of opportunity. Together, we will forge a new City Council that takes a more forceful and proactive approach to New York’s shared goals. That includes enacting universal child care, lowering skyrocketing health care costs, building more affordable housing, and slashing fines and bureaucratic red tape for small businesses.”