Meet the new, bigger City Council Progressive Caucus
he New York City Council Progressive Caucus is growing. Six new members were voted in at an internal meeting last week, growing the group’s ranks to 24 people.
That includes Gale Brewer, one of the council’s most experienced and well-known members, who is returning to a caucus that she left several years ago. And five freshman electeds: Elsie Encarnacion, Shirley Aldebol, Justin Sanchez, Shanel Thomas-Hentry and Kayla Santosuosso. (Harvey Epstein, another new council member, is also part of the caucus, though he joined back in November after taking office early.) Together with returning members, that puts the caucus just shy of a majority in the 51-member council – a fact the group is eager to start seizing upon.
Council Member Shahana Hanif, one of the caucus’s leaders last session, said she expects the next few years to be rife with opportunities to deliver policy wins, especially with a new mayor in office who aligns politically with the group. Pursuing initiatives aimed at tackling the city’s affordability crisis will be a major focus, and Hanif said she expects far smoother waters under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The Progressive Caucus was frequently at odds with the Adams administration, clashing over budget cuts, fighting for funding initiatives like affordable housing program Our Homes Now and sponsoring legislation vetoed by the mayor. At the last stated meeting of 2025 alone, former Mayor Eric Adams rejected several bills that were caucus priorities.
“We were able to accomplish as much as we did because of the size of our caucus and the incredible discipline that we had between leadership, among our colleagues, among our members – that is going to need to stay important,” Hanif said. “It’s going to be critical as we work with a mayor who is aligned with our goals and agenda and working with the speaker who similarly is prioritizing an agenda that is for the working class.”
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/01/meet-new-bigger-city-council-progressive-caucus/410777/?oref=csny-category-lander-top-story