New York City's Democratic Socialists of America chapter is moving to install a socialist as City Council speaker, with the stated goal of keeping Mayor Zohran Mamdani firmly on the left and holding him to the group's agenda.
The chapter, which helped elect Mamdani last year, is proposing a resolution for a vote at its convention on Saturday that would set a goal of winning the speakership in 2029 when current Speaker Julie Menin will be term-limited out of office.
"DSA will work in coalition with other left and progressive organizations and with organized labor toward this end," the resolution says.
The draft also acknowledges that taking the speaker's gavel may be a long shot. "Recognizing that Speakers are rarely first-term members and that a socialist Speaker may not be achievable in 2029, DSA will as a fallback, support the most left-aligned viable candidate who commits to the bloc's priorities."
Four Council members are now DSA members: Tiffany Cabán of Queens and Brooklyn lawmakers Alexa Avilés in District 38, Chi Ossé in District 36 and Shahana Hanif in District 39. All four will be term-limited in 2029, meaning the group will have to run new candidates to replace them if it wants to keep a foothold on the 51-member Council.
The resolution says DSA wants to turn the Council into an independent "pole" that can support Mamdani while holding him accountable and preventing Republicans and conservatives from monopolizing "all discontentment" with the administration.
"DSA will maintain an organized socialist pole in New York City politics that is analytically and programmatically independent of the Mamdani administration, even as it supports his re-election and governance," the proposal states. "This pole exists to ensure that demands sidelined by the administration have an organized expression, and that disillusionment with the administration can be channeled leftward with a socialist pole, rather than allowing the right to monopolize all discontentment with the administration."
The socialist bloc would support Mamdani on budget passage, speaker selection and defense against "state preemption" from Albany, the plan says. But Council socialists would also be "prepared to offer formal dissents when strategic and championing demands the administration cannot."
"Criticism is internal to the coalition; its purpose is to strengthen Zohran against the right, not to weaken him," the resolution says.
The group also wants to use the New York City Council as a "laboratory" for policy priorities Mamdani has not yet taken up, including the NYPD and public safety. "The City Council is the site where DSA tests and normalizes bolder policy — including police reform and the expansion of a Department of Community Safety — that the mayor's office will not or cannot at this moment champion," the plan states. "The laboratory function is geographically bounded: it is concentrated in districts where Zohran's margin is strongest, and its messaging is tested before citywide deployment."
