Brooklyn’s “reformer” group, headed largely by a grassroots civic coalition called the New Kings Democrats (NKD), swept a new slate of district leaders into office during the June primary. This could potentially mark the end of an era of Black leadership at both the party executive and foundational levels.
The borough has 21 state assembly districts, with one man and woman representing each as a district leader/state committee member — an unpaid position. Eight of the nine NKD-endorsed candidates won their primary bids over several incumbent candidates.
In the 43rd Assembly District, Akel K. Williams, an NKD member, beat out activist Anthony Beckford, a progressive Democrat, with 26% of the votes, and Nakisha “Nikki” Evans scored 33% of the votes over Michelle Tege, according to the city’s Board of Elections (BOE) results.
Williams’s race was contentious. He initially ran against lobbyist Edu Hermelyn (43rd District), who is the husband of Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair and Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn (42nd District), to be elected as district leader from 2022 to 2024. “When Rodneyse appointed her [now] husband into the seat … that caused sort of an uproar. There was a little bit of backlash from the community,” said Williams.
He was not necessarily an ally of Bichotte Hermelyn either during that time and lost his re-election to Beckford in 2024. He took time to step back and “reflect” as a political operative, he said, until the current election cycle came up.
The borough’s Democratic county party was besieged by scandal and federal investigations this April, involving Councilmember Farah Louis; her sister, Debbie Louis, who is Governor Kathy Hochul’s assistant secretary of New York City Intergovernmental Affairs; and Edu Hermelyn, although the elected officials were not specifically named in the indictment or arrested as of June.
“I’m quite confident that in addition to having a better operation in terms of more volunteers, et cetera, this time from (the) New Kings Dems or Brooklyn Can’t Wait slate, having more experience based on the last couple of years, everything sort of fell into place,” said Williams. “ I don’t want to cast a dark cloud on everybody, but the indictments and the federal investigations that exist — they all show and prove that something is wrong and something has to change.”
In the past, Beckford ran aggressively against Bichotte Hermelyn for her assembly seat and lost in 2018. He was equally disheartened by the loss this time around in the primary.
“More could’ve been done. To be honest, I didn’t see myself losing the election,” said Beckford. He said Williams’s supporters at one point accused him of being a socialist. “It brought out a wave of emotion — just confusion at first, but then that turned into irritation because I was [saying] this is not a game. We’re playing with people’s democracy, their rights, their housing, their livelihoods in our community.”
Beckford claims that the NKD went after Black district leaders who supported Bichotte Hermelyn, while district leaders, like Jacqui Painter in the 51st AD and Chris McCreight in the 46th AD, went uncontested. “They targeted all the Black district leaders; they used Black people to do it. At the same time, I always ask a question: If this isn’t racist, then why is it that the white district leaders (who) voted for the chair are not being targeted as well,” said Beckford.
In the 54th, Councilmember Sandy Nurse got 46% of the votes and Alan Gamboa got 20%. In the 56th, Stop Deed Theft activist Carmella Charrington narrowly defeated Kenesha Traynham-Cooper with 29% of the votes, and Omar Hardy beat Brooklyn Dems Executive Vice Chair Henry Butler with 24%. In the 57th, Shaquana D. Boykin got 43% of the votes and Akwasi Agyeman replaced long-time district leader Michael Boomer with 28%.
Separately in the 58th district, Assemblymember Monique Chandler-Waterman unseated Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse as district leader with 41% of the votes, reported the BOE.
NKD versus the DSA
The NKD aims for transparency in Brooklyn’s Democratic party. They readily identify as progressive Democrats, but have a wide coalition of members who are more moderate or conservative, said Williams.
NKD was formed in 2008 and is headed currently by President Tony Melone. The group is not directly affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) or the wave of DSA wins in the primary, but has been criticized by Black Brooklynites for having a similar structure as the DSA — Black and Brown candidates with a lack of the same diversity among executives in leadership roles. Even so, NKD had a problem winning an election at the congressional level, the same as the rest of the Democratic party.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso didn’t get support or an endorsement from the Brooklyn Dems in his congressional bid in the 7th District against Claire Valdez. As a co-founder of the NKD and an avid reformer, Reynoso wasn’t shocked, but as a longtime progressive, it was fairly surprising that Reynoso lost with such a wide margin to the DSA-backed candidate.
“It’s quite clear that spending money for Democrats to fight Democrats makes no sense,” said Williams. “He’s the incumbent and he was not the Rodneyse favorite.”
According to Valdez’s campaign, she won over Latino voters, white non-college voters, younger voters from 18–34, and older voters from 65 and up, as well as Black voters.
“I think what we’ve seen with DSA is definitely a younger base that’s very intentional. They have some values that they stand on and even if you’re progressive but not necessarily in line and veering away from the message, then it’s fair game for a competition,” Williams said. “Everyone is being a pundit right now and I don’t think anyone has the answers.”
Beckford added that he sees DSA as an organization fighting for legislative power, while NKD is focused on controlling the county party. He did agree with the push all around for more transparency.
County leadership
District leaders on the executive committee also vote to elect the chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Bichotte Hermelyn has been the party chairperson since 2020. She is not only the first woman voted into the position, but the first Black woman to lead the party in any of the Five Boroughs. She was the first Haitian-American woman to hold elected office in the city back in 2014, and has been a district leader since 2010.
Williams said with the uncontested seats they already have added to the eight district leaders who just won their primaries, they now hold a majority of the Brooklyn Dems executive committee. Should Bichotte Hermelyn not get enough votes (at least 23 district leaders), she could be replaced. The next vote is scheduled for September 2026.
“Hopefully, we can usher in a new era of leadership that is much more responsive to people and is not as punitive,” said Williams.
“We’ll just see exactly how they make it work and how they’re going to push forward … They have to uphold and make sure that Democrats are truly represented,” said Beckford about the future of the party. “I just need our community to take a deep dive. I understand politics seems like it’ll never change, but they need to do a dive and realize that they cannot allow third parties or special interests to continue to remove representation from our communities.”
Bichotte Hermelyn declined to comment directly to the Amsterdam News by presstime. However, she issued this statement to NY1 shortly after the primary: “Any decision about the future of the party will depend on the voice of the community and the will of our committee members come this fall. My priority is to be supportive of our members and to make sure we’re building a team that can beat Republicans and keep Democrats united. Change can be hard, even within our own party, but I believe in moving forward — and moving forward with change.”
