![New York City Hall, May 9, 2007.](https://media.wnyc.org/i/800/0/l/85/1/New_York_City_Hall.jpg)
Election Day has come and gone, and New York City Councilmembers are turning their eyes toward the race for their next speaker. The job is arguably the second most powerful role in city government right after the mayor, and with current Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito term-limited, her seat is up for grabs.
Currently, eight city councilmen are jockeying to succeed her: Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, and Ydanis Rodriguez of Manhattan; Donovan Richards and Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens; Robert Cornegy and Jumaane Williams of Brooklyn; and Ritchie Torres of the Bronx.
And no matter who wins when the city council votes in January, for the first time in 12 years the city council speaker won't be a woman (Mark-Viverito followed Christine Quinn, who held the speaker position for eight years before her). Gotham Gazette's executive editor, Ben Max, says that's partly because the number of women in the city council will dwindle to just 11 next year, and the number of incumbents is even smaller. But even so, the Women's Caucus has managed to get some significant promises from the speaker candidates, regardless of who wins the seat.
"They interviewed each of the eight men seeking to become speaker and basically got them all to guarantee they would devote more resources to the Women's Caucus and make sure there were some female members of their leadership team should they become speaker," Max tells WNYC's Jami Floyd.