Bichotte Hermelyn exits Brooklyn Democratic leadership race on eve of party vote

Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn is stepping away from the top job in the Brooklyn Democratic Party. The Assemblywoman announced Monday evening that she will not ask the executive committee for a new term, closing out six years as county leader a day before members were set to choose who runs the party.

Bichotte Hermelyn, whose Assembly district covers part of central Brooklyn, broke new ground in 2020, when she became the first woman to lead the county organization. No Black woman had held the post before her. She said in a statement that the moment had come “to pass the baton.” She has a candidate in mind to replace her and is supporting that person, she said, but she declined to give a name. Whatever the outcome, she expects to stay involved in party leadership in some form.

Brooklyn Democratic Party chair vote set for Tuesday

The executive committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday night, Sept. 29. Until Monday, the race looked like a head-to-head fight, with the incumbent on one side and Julio Peña III, a veteran district leader the reform camp backs for chair, on the other. That camp, the New Kings Democrats, took 22 district leader posts in June’s primary. That gave it a majority large enough to threaten her hold on the job.

Soon after the primary, Bichotte Hermelyn proposed rule changes that raised the number of voting members on the executive committee from 42 to 68. She described the expansion as a way to open leadership to new voices, and on Monday she said the committee will grow more inclusive. Reformers read it as a bid to keep control. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Aug. 24 that the changes were an attempt to “circumnavigate the will of voters.” Sen. Chuck Schumer, state Democratic chair Jay Jacobs and the state’s top lawyer, Letitia James, objected as well.

Court fight over the new party rules

The New Kings Democrats sued over the rewrite. Earlier this month, a justice of the Brooklyn Supreme Court struck down the new rules, ruling that the closed-door session that adopted them was improper. The party appealed. An appellate court issued a temporary stay, so the county committee’s organizational meeting went forward last week with the expanded rules in effect.

At that meeting, members backed the rule changes and elected dozens of countywide officers, some of whom now hold votes on the larger executive committee. No chair was chosen. The appellate court’s decision was due before Tuesday’s meeting. With Bichotte Hermelyn out of the running, the fight for control of the party is wide open.