Recapping Brooklyn County Dems saga as party wrestles for new leadership

Editor’s Note: Elements of this story are ongoing and will be updated online as developments unfold.

After weeks of dramatic turmoil, Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair and Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn abruptly decided not to run for reelection in the middle of a lawsuit that overturned her last-minute rule changes.

“After six years of steering this historic institution, I am ready to leave the throne and serve as a general among the people,” said Bichotte Hermelyn in a statement on Sept. 29. “Brooklyn’s strength has always come from its neighborhoods, its families, and its grassroots power. That is where I am called to be right now.”

Bichotte Hermelyn, the first Black and Haitian woman to hold the position of party chair, proposed controversial new rules this year before her departure that set the ball rolling, among other things, on her stepping away. The amendment rules that expanded voting seats were passed in a private executive meeting on Aug. 25, but were vehemently opposed by the reformer group, New Kings Democrats.

By Sept. 2, the feuding factions had taken the matter to court. A judge initially denied the party rules on Sept. 14, but after an appeal, the changes were restored until an official ruling could be made. On Sept. 29, an appellate court decided to toss the party rules.

However, the contentious rules were in place as the Brooklyn (Kings) County Democratic Committee members gathered for an organizational meeting on Sept. 23 at New York City College of Technology (City Tech) to vote on the aforementioned rules as a collective. Outside, elected officials like Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Councilmembers Sandy Nurse and Crystal Hudson, and Assemblymember Monique Chandler-Waterman joined avid reformer and district leader Julio Peña III to protest Bichotte Hermelyn’s leadership.

“I honestly believe as a woman official, as a Black or Brown elected official, you are often treated differently. As a Black woman, you are often treated differently, but I think what people exploit is the ability to hold two things [at once]. You can be mistreated and still be doing something wrong,” said Williams outside of City Tech. “What’s happening in Brooklyn County is wrong, and I think some of it is illegal, as a judge has agreed with.”

Despite several fraught hours of technical delays, late proxy submissions, public arguments over vote tallies and at least three people being escorted out of the building by officers, the organizational meeting concluded with members officially passing (76% yes, 23% no) Bichotte Hermelyn’s rules. Many committee members the Amsterdam News spoke to were happy to support the amendments, while reformers remained unhappy about them being approved.

County committee members also technically named Rep. Nydia Velázquez as replacement party boss in the organizational meeting, argued reformers. Regardless, an executive committee vote for party chair was scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29.

The night before, on Sept. 28, Bichotte Hermelyn announced she was not going to seek reelection and is supporting Assemblymember Nikki Lucas as her successor. She insists that this decision is “not a retreat from public life but a strategic pivot.”

Peña, the reformer favorite for the next party chair, and the New Kings Democrats coalition vowed to be relentless in their opposition. The reformers’ lead lawyer and fellow district leader, Mark Hanna, requested a temporary restraining order that delayed the scheduled vote on Sept. 29. He argued that the organizational meeting last week “didn’t successfully adopt the amendment changes,” and that committee members “weren’t notified ahead of time” about what they would be voting on.

They’re due [to] back in court on Oct. 6, he said.