They’re not bendin’ for Menin.
A collective of panicked lefty New Yorkers whined online that presumptive next City Council speaker Julie Menin will “sabotage” Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani — as progressive lawmakers avoided congratulating the moderate Dem.
The melodramatic X posts blasted Menin’s perceived lack of liberal ideological purity compared to the other top speaker contender Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn), a staunch Mamdani ally widely seen as likely to help push his socialist agenda through the Council.
“Julie Menin plans to sabotage the affordability agenda,” one posted on X.
“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 griped on X.
Some prominent Hudson backers in the Council seemed less than gracious in defeat after Menin announced Wednesday she had a super majority of votes.
Hudson conceded she lost on X, prompting her stalwarts Sandy Nurse, Chi Ossé and Lincoln Restler — all Brooklyn Democrats — to each reply they were “proud” to support her.
The trio, however, pointedly did not offer Menin congratulations.
Many Mamdani supporters also condemned Menin for winning with backing from die-in-the-wool conservatives on the Council such as Vickie Paladino (R-Queens) and Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn).
“Having the support of Inna Vernikov and Vickie Paladino should be disqualifying,” one lefty organizer proclaimed.
But seemingly unbeknownst to those rigid ideologues, Hudson and her Council allies had tried to strike an odd-bedfellows alliance with at least one far-right lawmaker to prevail over Menin, The Post has learned.
Paladino said she had a chummy lunch with Hudson — who had actually voted to take her off the Council’s mental health committee in 2022 — a few weeks back to talk about the speaker’s race.
“I think Crystal’s lovely. We had a lot of fun,” Paladino said. “It was a great lunch, but I need to go with Julie.”
Though Paladino made her support for Menin clear during the lunch, Restler then reached out last week to see if she’d change her mind. She called it “good politics” on his part.
“It’s reaching across the aisle. It’s important,” she said. “You know, people need to reach across the aisle for all survival. This is what it’s all about.”
Restler didn’t deny his outreach.
“I was proud to be part of the team that built a diverse coalition for Crystal Hudson,” he said in a statement. “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.”
One City Council member called out the hypocrisy among progressives shading Menin drawing support from Republicans.
“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,” the member said. “And 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?”
