Zohran Mamdani should stay out of and stay away from the contest to elect the new City Council speaker. Four years ago, after he was elected mayor, Eric Adams tried to push his favored speaker candidate and it blew up in his face and it created an enmity with the victor that lasts to this day.
Bill de Blasio was successful in helping get his preferred contender the speaker’s gavel after he was elected mayor in 2013, but it made it difficult for that speaker, who then sought to try to show independence from the mayor.
Mamdani is better off letting the members of the 51-person legislative chamber decide this one without any assistance or advice from him.
During his successful primary and general election campaigns, both hardly fought (which is exceeding rare) Mamdani was very disciplined and stayed focused. Even on the ballot questions on housing that would correctly strip the Council of its local veto on land use matters, Mamdani maddeningly kept his own counsel (which was a YES) until Election Day.
Keeping quiet was his strategy and he should use it again until the new speaker is chosen and then offer his congratulations to the winner.
If there’s something that the incoming mayor has clearly demonstrated, it’s that he has keen political instincts, and that was again illustrated at the Somos conference in Puerto Rico last week by his skirting around the question of his preference for Council speaker when asked. Good, stick to that.
Backing either a successful or failed candidate for speaker has downsides, as the last two mayors saw. It is a no-win game, meaning that it can only be won by not playing.
In any case, Mamdani should have plenty enough on his plate as he puts together a transition and plans for an administration that can tackle the significant issues that lie before him, not only the implementation of his own agenda (which we hope is more than buses, child care, rent and grocery stores) but the increasingly pitched fights with a federal government that seems intent on damaging the city’s finances and hurting its population.
There’s a not-insubstantial chance that Mamdani and the new speaker will be forced to contend with big cuts in federal dollars from a vengeful Donald Trump.
While Mamdani is the first mayor to win more than million votes in an election since the 1960s, that doesn’t mean he should try to throw his political weight around in this speaker election. There are just too many problems that will arise from sticking his nose into the Council’s business. And he’ll have plenty to do as mayor.
The ballot proposals on housing that were approved by voters will give this mayor (and future mayors) more power over land use matters, which was needed, as Council members have concerns that are often too parochial instead of the broader view of the mayor.
Mr. Mamdani, use those tools to speed housing development. You may not win friends in the often-recalcitrant Council, but New Yorkers will thank you. Adams put those questions before the voters because the Council would say no too many times. Mamdani, and New Yorkers, are fortunate that the days of the local veto on affordable housing projects are now over.
While Council members jockey over their leadership, it’s better for Mamdani to concentrate on setting up his own administration and working on his own plans.
