Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair and State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn. (Photo: @rbichotte on Instagram)
Party boss Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn is trying to thwart a takeover by a coalition of progressives who want to make the Brooklyn Dems a true “people’s party.”
BY COLE SINANIAN | cole@queensledger.com
A civil war is raging inside one of America’s most powerful Democratic organizations— a war whose outcome could have far-reaching effects on the future of elections and criminal justice in Brooklyn.
At a closed-door meeting in Mill Basin Tuesday night, district leaders voted to approve Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn’s proposal to nearly double the number of voting members on the party’s executive committee, a move that could allow Hermelyn to hold onto power amid a push to oust her from a coalition of progressive reformers led by Julio Peña III, a District Leader from Sunset Park.
With the party’s fall vote to elect a new leader just weeks away, Hermelyn floated the last-minute rule change on August 19 to the condemnation of nearly every prominent Brooklyn Democrat, who’ve cast the proposal as a Trumpian power grab that would subvert the will of voters. The reformers, united in coalition as Brooklyn Can’t Wait, swept the down-ballot District Leader races in the June 23 primary, boosting their numbers in the State Committee from 14 to 22 — enough to oust Hermelyn prior to the rule change.
“The 2020 MAGA playbook of trying to steal an election is being used not by Donald Trump, but by the Democratic county leader here in Brooklyn,” said State Senator Andrew Gounardes at a press conference that the reformers held Monday on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall.
High-profile Brooklyn Democrats including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, incoming Congressman Brad Lander, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, City councilmember Chi Osse and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, among others, have come out against Hermelyn’s rule change. Reformers filed an 11th-hour lawsuit to halt the rule-change vote in Brooklyn Supreme Court Monday, alleging that outgoing District Leaders lose their voting rights. The lawsuit was rejected, though Justice Jill Epstein said reformers could refile the lawsuit after the vote. According to reporting from amNY, eight outgoing District Leaders who lost their primary elections voted in favor of the rule-change.
“I’m very much opposed to the proposed changes by the current Brooklyn Democratic Party chair,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Glendale Monday morning. “I oppose them because they’re an attempt to circumnavigate the will of the voters, and what we should see is a Brooklyn Democratic Party that is a reflection of what New Yorkers want to see.”
For the reformers, Hermelyn’s attempted power grab represents the corruption and inaction that they say has plagued Brooklyn Democratic leadership since the days of former corrupt party boss Vito Lopez, costing the party elections and excluding voters from the democratic process. As Democrats nationwide struggle to win against MAGA Republicans and the party grapples with its own internal identity crisis, the reformers with Brooklyn Can’t Wait — which includes City councilmember Sandy Nurse and prominent anti-deed theft activists Carmella Charrington and Omar Hardy — have promised a way forward, pledging to build a party that’s inclusive, community-focused, and equipped to stand up against an ascendant right.
”We want to take a more egalitarian and democratic approach, where all the district leaders, the county committee, and citizens can have a more active role in shaping the priorities of the party,” said Alan Gamboa, an incoming Brooklyn Can’t Wait District Leader for Assembly District 54.
Hermelyn, meanwhile, told reporters after Tuesday’s vote that her rule-change was about expanding representation within the party.
“Democracy is what we did,” she told amNY. “We expanded.”
In a statement, the Brooklyn Democratic Party doubled down, characterizing the rule-change as a win for inclusivity.
“Last night, Brooklyn District Leaders voted to expand representation on the Executive Committee — adding leaders from every Assembly District and building a Party that truly reflects Brooklyn,” the statement read. “The vote was open, fair, and democratic. No kings in Brooklyn — we move forward together.”
Though they run lower-profile campaigns than State and City representatives, District Leaders play a key role in Democratic politics, appointing judges, recruiting election poll workers, and helping to organize campaigns.
Brooklyn Can’t Wait nominated Peña as their pick to succeed Hermelyn as party Chair. In an interview with the Brooklyn Downtown Star, Peña — who was first elected as a District Leader in 2020 — explained that he got involved in politics to help those often left out of the democratic process advocate for better legislative outcomes in their communities.
“I really wanted to broaden that role and be more of a community organizer and community educator to get people involved in local politics,” he said. “Because a lot of people like to say that they don’t do politics, but politics will do them.”
For Peña, a major goal of party reform is the appointment of judges that better reflect the diversity of the communities they preside over.
“Particularly for those who may one day interface with the court system, you want to make sure that the judge you’re going to be in front of is someone that is going to listen to you and is representative of our communities.”
”I’ve suddenly noticed that everyone who wants to be a judge is very nice to me and wants to meet me and shake my hand,” added Gamboa, who also serves on the Organizing Committee of the North Brooklyn Democratic Socialists of America (NBK-DSA). Brooklyn Can’t Wait’s 22-member State Committee block counts among its ranks an ideological spectrum, including members of the New Kings Democrats, the Brooklyn Young Democrats, the Lambda Independent Democrats, and four NYC-DSA members, Gamboa said.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Gamboa said that while NYC-DSA leadership was supportive of his decision to run for District Leader, the organization did not formally get involved in the down-ballot races, treating them instead as a sort of “side quest.”
“It’s just not something that they’re focused on,” he said.
If elected, Peña would be the first Party Chair in recent memory who’s not a career politician. Hailing from Sunset Park, Peña works with immigrant teenagers for the Chinese American Planning Council, and previously served as Chair of Community Board 7.
“I work a regular nine to five job,” Peña said. “I run after school programming for a nonprofit. So for me, I think that just speaks to my values of what I’m looking to do.”
