It is difficult to stop focusing on NYC’s next mayor. Zohran Mamdani must now appoint his senior staff and be ready to begin governing New York City in less than 60 days. But that doesn’t mean we should forget that there is another branch of government in NYC.

The City Council, our legislature, has significant legal authority over the city’s budget, land use, and regulatory policy and a new speaker is about to be elected. Even though we do not directly elect the speaker, the Council members elect their speaker, we should be knowledgeable about this race.

The speaker has an important formal role in city governance appointing committee chairs, determining the legislative agenda, and negotiating with the mayor. However, our system of district-based representation makes the speaker even more critical. Our Council members are elected to represent districts, which are geographic units that vaguely reflect the city’s diverse neighborhoods.

District based representation ensures that Council members focus primarily on the interests of their neighborhoods and this often........

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