Progressive Caucus elects (somewhat) new leadership team

New, or at least somewhat new, leadership is coming to the New York City Council Progressive Caucus this session. The caucus elected City Council Members Sandy Nurse and Shahana Hanif as co-chairs, elevating Nurse and reelecting Hanif to the role. Hanif previously served as co-chair alongside Council Member Lincoln Restler, who said he decided to step down from the leadership team in order to focus on his new committee assignments.

The caucus’ leadership election, which also saw Council Members Jennifer Gutiérrez and Carmen De La Rosa reelected as vice chairs, came on the heels of a more controversial shakeup in leadership positions in the council at large. Nurse and Hanif were among members who were shuffled around in Speaker Adrienne Adams’ reorganization of committee positions earlier this month. Nurse was assigned to chair a different committee than the one she led in the previous session, while Hanif was stripped of her committee chair role and will now co-chair a task force.

Nurse and Hanif noted that the caucus’ new leadership team will be fully made up of women of color for the first time. “We’re honored to continue the productive work of the Progressive Caucus over the last two years: passing landmark bills to address the housing and homelessness crisis, police transparency, securing budget wins, and pushing back on Mayor Adams’ austerity, while building the collective power and trust of our Caucus Members,” they said in a statement.

The Progressive Caucus, which currently includes 18 members, shrunk slightly with Charles Barron and Kristin Richardson Jordan leaving the council at the end of last year and has yet to pick up any new council members. The bipartisan Common Sense Caucus – which is on the opposite side of most issues as the Progressive Caucus – has grown slightly in the new session, though it still has only nine members.