Council Member Keith Powers represents New York City’s Council District 4, covering Manhattan’s East Side and Midtown.
Council Member Powers was recognized as New York City’s top lawmaker in 2019 by City and State and has also been selected as a CUNY Lindsay Fellow and NewDEAL Leader.
He currently serves as Chair of the City Council’s Rules, Privileges, and Elections Committee. Previously, he was Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee and also served as the Majority Leader.
In 2019, Council Member Powers helped pass a historic affordable housing deal at Waterside Plaza that lowered rents by 30% for long-term tenants. In 2023, he successfully helped preserve rent stabilization for nearly 6,000 thousand units in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Currently, Council Member Powers has been working to rezone Midtown South to allow empty offices to be converted into thousands of new housing units. In addition, he has delivered long-term storm protections on the East River and secured hundreds of millions in transit upgrades in East Midtown.
During his time in office, he’s passed landmark pieces of legislation, including laws to prevent housing discrimination, broaden sexual harassment protections, and protecting small businesses. More recently, he established a first-in-the-nation battery trade-in program for e-bikes, created a new program to tackle noise pollution, and accelerated the city’s timeline to electrify the it’s municipal fleet of over 30,000 vehicles.
He is a graduate of the University of Dayton and the CUNY Graduate Center.