After Brooklyn Can’t Wait secured a majority on the Kings County Democratic Party Executive Committee this past June, the reformers wasted no time in announcing Julio Pena III as their intended successor to Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn as Party Chair. Bichotte Hermelyn had other plans.
Brooklyn Can’t Wait candidates won eight of the nine June primaries they contested, bringing the number of reform-aligned District Leaders to 22 out of 42 members—enough to oust Bichotte Hermelyn at the September re-organizational meeting.
But on Wednesday, Bichotte Hermelyn announced that she planned to expand the Executive Committee of the Kings County Democratic Party from 42 members to 68, granting voting rights to the 26 officers of the party who currently do not have these rights. These 26 officers happen to be Bichotte Hermelyn allies.
According to a source with internal knowledge of the party proceedings, the vote will take place at an Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. The incumbent DLs who lost their races to the reformers still hold office until their terms expire in September, meaning Bichotte Hermelyn has a lame duck majority. The source says that after the lame duck Executive Committee votes Bichotte Hermelyn the power to appoint the new Executive Committee members, the appointments themselves will then happen at a full county committee meeting between 9/16/26 and 10/6/26. Despite the full county committee being able to vote at that meeting, Bichotte Hermelyn is likely to win the vote due to hundreds of proxy votes she holds from other county committee members. Broadly speaking, many of these members rarely show up and have given their votes over to her. This is one of the tactics that has allowed Bichotte Hermelyn to maintain control over the party for the past six years. It is a tactic the reformers have previously attempted, and still pledge, to change as part of their reforms.
Bichotte Hermelyn said that the change would “increase the perception of inclusivity.” A convenient side effect of this change would be to guarantee Bichotte Hermelyn a supermajority on the Executive Committee and allow her to remain as Chair for another term, come September.
The backlash has been swift. Even key Bichotte Hermelyn ally, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies, was not on the same page. On Wednesday evening Bichotte Hermelyn said in her Spectrum News interview that “We are working hand in hand with the minority leader.” By Thursday afternoon, Adam Daly of amNewYork had reported Jefferies did not support the move and was “surprised.”
AD 42 District Leader Josue Pierre also came out in opposition, but he is particularly noticeable as he is Bichotte Hermelyn’s cousin. Should the vote succeed, it is being widely speculated the reformers could sue.
State of the Left has compiled a comprehensive list of who has weighed in.
Elected Official and Organization Statements
Brooklyn Young Democrats- “This is a craven power grab and a slap in the face to Brooklyn Democrats who voted for change in June. Changing the rules after voters have spoken to cling to power is desperate, undemocratic and Trumpian. Democratic leaders in NYC and Albany must speak up. New Yorkers have repeatedly demanded leaders who live by their values and Democrats across NY must reject last-minute rule changes designed to override voters and say: enough is enough.”
Bay Ridge Democrats- “We need county leadership that commits itself towards building the Democratic Party, not one that evidently tries to cling to power in spite of recent election results. Bay Ridge Dems stand with the Brooklyn voters who sent a message and chose reform.”
New Kings Democrats- “This would be nothing short of an anti-democratic power grab by the party chair—changing the rules and packing the executive committee so she can overrule Brooklyn voters and hold on to her position. All Democrats should reject this as antithetical to the values of our party.”
Joint Statement from New York State Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams- “New Yorkers deserve leaders who are committed to serving their communities, not rewriting rules to hold onto power. Changing the makeup of an executive committee on the eve of a leadership vote goes against what we believe in as Democrats and should not move forward. Brooklyn Democrats deserve a process they trust.”
New York State Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs- “The value of increasing participation by expanding representation on the Kings County Executive board may have its merits and deserves consideration, however, the timing of this change stands to do more damage than good. Any proposal to change the makeup of the Executive Committee of the Kings County Democratic Committee should be taken up at its regular Reorganization Meeting by the full County committee. The focus of the Committee should be to defeat Brooklyn’s various Republican elected officials presently aligned with the MAGA agenda of Donald Trump. Now is not the time for disunity.”
Kings County Democratic Party Chair Candidate Julio Pena III- “When a party boss throws out the party rules to overrule the result of an election, it echoes the same anti-democratic playbook we criticize from Republicans: consolidating power, limiting accountability, and treating voters as an obstacle rather than the foundation of democracy.”
New York City Councilmember Chi Osse- “Corrupt, anti-democratic, and utterly embarrassing. The Brooklyn Democratic Party deserves better leadership than whatever this is.”
New York City Councilmember Lincoln Restler- “Imagine House GOP not liking outcome of an election & appointing a bunch of hacks to permanent appointed seats to ignore the will of voters and preserve their illegal hold on power. That is what @AMBichotte & @bkdems are trying to do under our noses.Brooklyn deserves better.”
New York City Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso- “The Kings County Un-Democratic Party, folks. In a time of fascism, our local Democratic party leader is spending her time disenfranchising voters, attempting to undo the results of a democratic election, and desperately trying to hold onto power. A total embarrassment.”
New York City Councilmember Jen Gutierrez- We’ve been embarrassed enough.
@AMBichotte has been concerned about the future of the party for all of 2 seconds since we all got behind @JulioPenaNY. We don’t need audibles called to save face, we need a plan to save our democracy.”
New York City Councilmember Crystal Hudson- “Why worry about Republicans trying to steal elections in battleground states when we have Democrats stealing elections right here in Brooklyn? What a disgrace.”
New York City Councilmember Sandy Nurse- “You cannot claim to be the party that is saving Democracy from Trump when your house is full of petty authoritarians. Shame on all Dems who are complicit in this.”
New York State Senator SD 26 Andrew Gounardes- “This is on par with Trump trying to get states to overturn their election results in 2020 in a desperate attempt to hold onto power. This cannot move forward. @nydems should step in and shut this down.”
New York State Assemblymember AD 44 Robert Carroll- “Won’t work. Also, who would these extra 26 people be? Julio will be the next Kings County leader.”
New York State Assemblymember AD 50 Emily Gallagher- Voters elected district leaders to usher in change, so the BK Dem Chair is changing the rules of the game to hold onto power. Beyond shady.”
District Leader AD 42 Josue Pierre- “District Leaders are elected by the voters of their districts to represent the diverse communities and interests of Brooklyn. I will not support diluting that mandate by adding unelected voting members to the Executive Committee. Our party should respect the choices voters made at the ballot box. I will be voting no on this proposal.”
District Leader AD 51 Jacqui Painter- “This “reform” is just a blatant power grab and an insult to the BK Democrats who voted for change in June. Packing the Exec Committee & weakening elected DLs after voters have spoken is desperate, wrong, and extremely undemocratic. Dem NY leaders must reject this.”
District Leader AD 44-elect Emmitt Sklar- “This is bigger than Brooklyn. The chair’s attempt at an anti-democratic power grab will be deeply embarrassing for Democrats everywhere. Refusing to accept the results of a democratic election to stay in power goes against everything the party claims to believe in.”
Editing Credit: River Shi