There could be hundreds of candidates an what is expected to be a free-for-all election to fill the next class of the City Council. 

Fifty-one seats in total, the majority of them soon to be vacant thanks to term limits and a handful of incumbents who are also facing challenges. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Working Families Party has endorsed eight candidates this week, including some challenging incumbents

  • A majority of the seats will be open thanks to term limits

  • The new City Council will be taking over at the same time the city elects a new mayor

When it's all said and done, the city's legislative body will not only look different than the last eight years but possibly slant even further to the left. 

That is the plan, according to Sochie Nnaemeka, NY state director for the Working Families Party.

"Especially in this moment of crisis we know that New Yorkers will need real front line advocates who will work together to ensure that working people, Black and Brown communities who are bearing so much of this crisis get included and centered in the recovery," Nnaemeka said. 

With the race for mayor heating up, organizers like Nnaemeka say they are focusing on Council races, where they believe they could play the same influential role once played by the county organizations, which have become politically diminished in recent years. 

"We are getting down on the ground early," Nnaemeka said. "We need the folks that are committed to their communities, not committed to county bosses, not committed to a status quo that isn't working."

But for now, it's unclear just how far left the mayoral field will swing. Even less clear is who the Democratic nominee for mayor will be. The last eight years saw two speakers, zero mayoral vetoes and a Council seldom willing to break with the mayor.

This week, the Working Families Party is endorsing eight candidates. Among them, Juan Ardila, a 26-year-old first generation New Yorker and the child of immigrants. Ardila is looking to unseat Councilman Bob Holden, who represents parts of Queens.

"I don't believe this incumbent fights for our low and middle class everyday New Yorkers," Ardila said. "My district is very diverse and we have not been represented in the ways that we could be."

And there is Felicia Singh, a public school teacher running in what is currently a red district. She's hoping the flip the seat held by Republican Council Member Eric Ulrich, who is term limited out of office.

Around this time next year, a new class will be gearing up to get sworn into a new Council, mostly made up of political rookies and a new mayor all taking office at a time of deep crisis and economic instability for the city.