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On Tuesday night, district leaders of the Brooklyn Democratic Party approved significant and controversial changes to the county party’s bylaws. According to sources familiar with the voting, these changes could help the current chair, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, retain control of the organization.
Despite opposition from all major state Democratic officials—including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Sen. Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Attorney General Letitia James—Bichotte Hermelyn proceeded with the vote.
The evening saw several party rule changes pass, backed by 21 district leaders, including eight who had lost their seats in the June primaries. This move paves the way for adding numerous new seats to the executive committee before Bichotte Hermelyn seeks re-election as party chair, as reported by those familiar with the voting. Between 18 and 20 district leaders opposed various measures in individual votes.
The vote on Tuesday seems to undermine the efforts of a reform group of district leaders who had gathered enough votes after June’s primary to pick their own county boss for the first time in nearly two decades.
“What’s going on in there is a miscarriage of the will of the voters,” said Luke Ohlson, a district leader from North Brooklyn aligned with New Kings Democrats and Brooklyn Can’t Wait, who addressed reporters during a break in voting. “We are disenfranchising thousands of voters by putting these measures into place plain and simple.”
The meeting was held behind closed doors in Mill Basin at the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club, which is managed by Frank Seddio, a former county Democratic party chair who remains a district leader. Journalists from The City Reporter and other outlets were not permitted entry.
Seddio informed reporters outside that the executive committee meetings are private. However, several individuals not on the committee were allowed entry, including Bichotte Hermelyn’s husband, Edu Hermelyn, a former district leader, and Corey Ortega, a Manhattan Democratic party insider.
As journalists tried to observe the vote through the clubhouse windows, someone inside taped up sheets of paper to block the limited view of the club’s interior.
Following a nearly four-hour meeting, Bichotte Hermelyn exited through a backdoor, avoiding reporters waiting outside as she drove away.
She later issued a statement from the party early Wednesday morning.
“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. “This strengthens our fight for working families, affordability and against the Trump agenda. The vote was open, fair and democratic. No kings in Brooklyn — we move forward together.
Keeping Control
The vote on Tuesday occurred as Bichotte Hermelyn was on the brink of losing control of the party she had led for six years.
Reformers associated with New Kings Democrats and a campaign named Brooklyn Can’t Wait had managed to flip enough district leader seats in June’s primary to gain a majority for the first time in nearly two decades of organizing against the county establishment.
With 22 newly-elected district leaders, some of whom had not yet taken office, the group backed longtime district leader Julio Peña as their choice for the new chair this fall.
District leaders, who volunteer as elected representatives for each Assembly district in Brooklyn, constitute the executive committee of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Before Tuesday, they were the sole voting members deciding the party chair every two years.
As her leadership was potentially ending, Bichotte Hermelyn called for a quickly arranged vote the prior week, advocating for rule changes she termed as “reforms,” which would introduce numerous additional voting members to the executive committee.
Bichotte Hermelyn and the Brooklyn Democratic Party portrayed the changes as a chance to “expand leadership” and “expand representation.”
Critics, however, argue that the changes would enable the county establishment to easily fill new seats with loyalists and proxy votes, effectively sidelining the newly-elected district leaders’ voting power.
Speaking to reporters outside the Thomas Jefferson Club before the vote, Seddio defended the changes.
“The opportunity of doing it now may appear to seem that there’s an attempt to grab power. I don’t know that I see it that way myself,” he said. “I think that these are a chance at this point to democratize a lot of the positions that the progressive group in our party has looked for over the years.”
“We’re not doing anything wrong,” said Renee Collymore, a former district leader who lost her seat to a reform-aligned challenger. She serves as a volunteer “liaison” to the district and as the 7th vice chair for the party. Collymore expressed hope that if the changes were implemented, she would have the opportunity to vote on party leadership in the future.
“We are fighting so people can be included. Isn’t that a better Democratic party?”
Collymore suggested that all elected officials opposing the vote were pressured into doing so.
“These are politicians, what do you expect of them. It’s about survival for a lot of these people,” Collymore said.
Asked if she believed Bichotte Hermelyn was also trying to survive being ousted as party chair, Collymore said, “She’s not fighting for survival. We are doing our job right now.”
Reformers had filed a lawsuit before the vote, claiming the executive committee voting violates the party’s bylaws and New York State election law.
A judge declined to intervene before the vote due to insufficient evidence of irreparable harm, as explained by Mark Hanna, an election lawyer who is both a district leader and the attorney behind the reformers’ lawsuit.
Hanna stated that they plan to refile the lawsuit now that the vote has passed.
Bichotte Hermelyn succeeded Seddio in 2020 during a rare moment of unity among Brooklyn Democrats.
Throughout her tenure, she faced strong criticism for using the party’s limited resources fending off progressive challenges from within the party as Republican candidates in Brooklyn gained ground.
