Judge halts Brooklyn Democrats’ chair vote hours after appeals court voids rule changes

The Brooklyn Democratic Party will not pick a new chair just yet. On Tuesday afternoon, a State Supreme Court judge blocked the leadership vote the party had scheduled for that evening, pending a hearing on Oct. 6 about which set of rules should govern it.

The temporary restraining order, issued by Judge Lisa Lewis, came only hours after a separate win for the reform bloc tied to the New Kings Democrats. Earlier that day, a state appeals court upheld a lower court’s ruling from the previous week and declared the party’s recent rule changes null and void.

Why the appeals court threw out the Brooklyn party rules

Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the outgoing chair, put forward the amendments in August. By that point, reformers controlled enough district leader seats to unseat her and had announced their support for Julio Peña III, who has served for years as a district leader in Sunset Park. Her changes added dozens of seats to the executive committee. Approval came from committee members on their way out, and some of them had lost their own races in June’s primary.

The bylaws in effect then allowed only elected state committee members, also called district leaders, to vote. The appeals court concluded that as of Aug. 25, 2026, the outgoing members did not meet that test, so the lower court had been right to stop the changes. On Monday, Bichotte Hermelyn said she would not seek re-election. She is expected to support Assemblymember Nikki Lucas.

What the Oct. 6 hearing will decide

Under the original rules, reformers and their Brooklyn Can’t Wait slate hold a majority and are positioned to elect Peña. Under the voided version, roughly two dozen new executive committee members picked by Bichotte Hermelyn and her allies would also get a vote. Those members were approved with hundreds of proxy votes during an eight-hour county committee meeting last week.

Fearing the party would hold the vote under the amended rules regardless, reformers went back to court Tuesday afternoon with a second lawsuit. Tony Melone, who leads New Kings Democrats, said that at last week’s meeting county committee members ratified the rules already in place and never voted to amend them.

Mark Hanna, an election lawyer and district leader allied with the reformers, made the case for the order at a short hearing. No lawyers who had previously represented the party showed up. Attorneys for Rep. Nydia Velázquez backed the reformers. Velázquez ended up as county committee chair by accident last week: Bichotte Hermelyn’s allies left the chair slot off their slate, so she ran unopposed.