Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is bringing together a panel of over 100 New York elected officials to help execute his ambitious affordability agenda — but he’s excluding politicians who didn’t support his campaign for City Hall, including incoming City Council Speaker Julie Menin. The Elected Adv isory Committee, which Mamdani was set to gather for the first time Friday afternoon in Lower Manhattan, features political heavyweights like Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Attorney General Letitia James. In a statement ahead of the first meeting, Mamdani said he will lean on the committee as he begins the process of trying to enact his agenda, which he noted “will require partnership with leaders at all levels of government.” “The Elected Advisory Committee will allow us to build an administration that reflects our city, centers the needs of working people, and is prepared to enact the affordability agenda,” said Mamdani. But Mamdani, a democratic socialist, left out Menin and several other prominent New York politicians from the committee, including both of the state’s U.S. senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as several Democratic members of the U.S. House representing the city. A spokeswoman for the mayor-elect said that was by design as the committee only engaged politicians who endorsed Mamdani’s campaign for mayor. The spokeswoman said Mamdani and his team will still regularly communicate with key stakeholders not on the committee, especially Menin, via other channels. Menin will be a critical voice in negotiating the city government’s next budget with Mamdani, a process that starts shortly after he’s sworn in as mayor Jan. 1. She didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the committee membership. By contrast, Brooklyn Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, a progressive Democrat and Menin’s chief opponent in the speaker’s race, made the cut for the committee. Mamdani is gathering his braintrust as city and state leaders are set to enter new legislative sessions in January. His affordability agenda is especially reliant on legislative and budgetary action in Albany. The mayor-elect intends to convene the leaders semi-regularly to discuss how to push forward his proposals of free public buses and childcare, a rent freeze for stabilized tenants and a Department of Community Safety to supplement the police force. The committee includes 31 Council members, 15 state senators, 32 Assembly members and outgoing City Comptroller Brad Lander, who has launched a 2026 primary challenge against Rep. Dan Goldman, another member of Congress excluded from the panel after not endorsing Mamdani’s mayoral run. ...read more read less