Seize the means of obstruction!
The Democratic Socialists of America are plotting to install a socialist as the City Council speaker – with the goal of making sure Mayor Zohran Mamdani stays firmly to the left.
The city chapter of the uber-liberal group, which helped elect card-carrying member Mamdani last year, is proposing a resolution to be voted on by comrades at its convention on Saturday that would set a goal for a socialist speaker for the next election in 2029, when current Speaker Julie Menin will be term-limited out.
“DSA will work in coalition with other left and progressive organizations and with organized labor toward this end,” the resolution says.
The draft resolution states the DSA wants to turn the 51-member council into an independent “pole” to hold the socialist mayor accountable to the DSA’s agenda – and prevent Republicans and conservatives from monopolizing “all discontentment” with the administration.
But it admits taking over the speaker’s seat may be a longshot.
“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.”
There are now four members of the council who are DSA members – Tiffany Cabán in Queens, and Brooklyn lawmakers Alexa Avilés in District 38, Chi Ossé in District 36, and Shahana Hanif in District 39.
All four DSA reps will be term-limited out of office in 2029, which means the DSA will have to run candidates to replace them.
Having a DSA-friendly council as an “independent pole” will both help Mamdani and also hold him accountable to the left-wing group’s agenda, the resolution said.
“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 in the City Council will support Mamdani on budget passage, speaker selection, and defense against “state preemption” from Albany, the plan says.
But socialists on the council would be “prepared to offer formal dissents when strategic and championing demands the administration cannot.”
The resolution claimed that “criticism is internal to the coalition; its purpose is to strengthen Zohran against the right, not to weaken him.”
Conversely, the DSA wants the council to be its “laboratory” and make demands on policy priorities the socialist mayor has not yet addressed, such as regarding 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.”
