By Nayaba Arinde
Editor at Large
Suddenly deciding to “pass the baton” to new forward-thinking leadership after corrosive public and court battles, on Monday, September 28th, embattled Kings County Democratic County Committee Democratic Party chair Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn decided to step down from the position she has held since 2020.

She made her announcement, stating, “In the words of Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Texas and the South… ‘A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.’ We must define the ‘common good’ and begin again to shape a common future.”

In a Daily News op-ed, Bichotte Hermelyn declared, “For six years, I’ve sat in the center of what many call Brooklyn’s political game of thrones — a place where power is coveted, alliances shift overnight, and battles erupt without warning. Some joked I was the Mother of Dragons, holding fire in one hand and strategy in the other.”

On Tuesday, 29th September, in the wake of the infighting and jostling for control that took over the local political stage last week, the Brooklyn Democratic Party was set to finally choose its new chair.
On the same day, the New York State Appellate Court declared that Bichotte Hermelyn and supporters’ “amendments to the Rules for the Government of the Kings County Democratic County Committee adopted at the meeting held on August 25, 2026, are null and void.”
This was the latest outcome of a series of ongoing political and legal squabbles.

With households balancing the harsh domino-effect economic side effects of an ongoing war, and the specter of the midterms possibly adding some degree of relief, these last few months, Kings County Dems have waged either a legitimate struggle for genuine party leadership or what some said was an ultimately unsuccessful “power grab.”
Chair Bichotte Hermelyn had been fighting to hold on to the leadership she has held for six years. Her opponent, reformer Sunset Park-based Democratic District Leader Julio Pena, felt better suited to the role.

While she did not attend, a raucous Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026, committee meeting was held at the New York City College of Technology in Downtown Brooklyn to accommodate a large, vociferous crowd. The ‘ayes’ and the ‘nays’ were there to discuss and vote on the leadership of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. It was rowdy and tense, revealing the rift that has been growing for quite some time.
“It makes the party and the Majority Leader’s backyard look disorganized,” political commentator Professor Basil Smikle told Our Time Press after the meeting. “It’s not a good look for the party or the County Committee. From an optics point of view it makes them look disorganized and unfocused.”

In a joint statement sent to Our Time Press, Attorney General Letitia James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said, “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.”

With mere weeks leading up to the November General Election, an engaged, if perhaps disillusioned, electorate is armchair color-commentating on what some see as Brooklyn Democrats in an extended micro-macro battle for local leadership.
With wide support, as she replaced controversial Democratic Party stalwart Frank Seddio in 2020, Bichotte Hermelyn took over as the head of Brooklyn’s Democratic Party. Representing the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, encompassing Ditmas Park, Flatbush, East Flatbush, and Midwood, she is the first woman to hold the position of chair and the first to lead the Democratic Party in any of New York’s five boroughs. A proud US-born Haitian-American, she had to consolidate support over the next four years, as Republicans garnered growing support in South Brooklyn state elections. Exercising power and control in district leader races, the county leader began to hear from her opposition.

Voices got louder when Gov. Kathy Hochul chose former City Council Speaker, Queens own Adrienne Adams as her choice for Lieutenant Governor.
In a highly criticized move, Bichotte Hermelyn first endorsed, then un-endorsed, and finally re-endorsed Hochul in response to not being involved in the decision.
In a June primary action, the New Kings Democrats and Brooklyn Can’t Wait grew a controlling majority coalition to 22, by winning over eight district leaders. Able to lead the county machine, they decided to oust the incumbent, Bichotte Hermelyn.
They picked district leader Peña to replace her, to lead the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

But, in detailed countermeasures, in August, she enacted a maneuver allowing her to add dozens of new members to the committee, in effect maintaining control. The change increased the committee executive members from 42 to over 68.
Those in opposition sued for redress to the bylaws, which led to the just-resolved dilemma. While Supreme Court Justice Jill Epstein struck down the changes, last week the Appellate Division stayed Epstein’s ruling. Until this week, when the changes were declared obsolete.
On Tuesday night, Brooklyn Dems were supposed to hold a meeting to vote to choose their next chair.

But earlier in the day, State Supreme Court Judge Lisa Lewis issued a temporary restraining order to block the vote until another judge’s ruling determines what the legal specifics of the voting are. Will the additional executive members be able to vote as Hermelyn Bichotte orchestrated in August, or not?

So, despite her stepping aside this week and Pena poised to take the seat, there still is no vote, and Brooklyn Dems do not have a new chair.
Bichotte Hermelyn did not respond to an Our Time Press request for a statement.
While saying that he does “think that Rodneyse has tried,” Julio Peña told The City Reporter. “I don’t think the way in which she tried was very helpful or productive. The past six years have not been great.”
Governor Kathy Hochul’s office declared, “Democrats need to be focused on defeating Donald Trump and his MAGA enablers this November. Everything else is a distraction.”

Smikle agreed that this political kerfuffle was taking focus and energy from a bigger issue. “Operationally, this has the impact of affecting turnout from a borough, and at a time when the Governor really needs the support. It doesn’t have any real impact on the midterms per se, but it could impact turnout, at a moment where the polls seem to be tightening, and this type of disorganization and lack of focus and lack of consensus only helps disrupt the important turnout models that are needed to make sure that the Governor get re-elected, and other local leaders that they care about, to get across the finish line.”

“This Democratic demolition derby, no matter how legit some of the foundational points may be, has the overall effect of destroying general voter confidence,” a Bed Stuy-based political operative told Our Time Press. “The party has bigger issues to focus on. Jeffries and Schumer may get primaried next time around. Hochul is leading right now, but the republicans are still fighting for her seat. And the people may not even come out in November, because who is talking about their kitchen table issues? Trump is down in the polls; capitalizing on that should be the focus, not bickering.”

Smikle concurred that Democrats should not lose sight of the real issue on their overall agenda. “I don’t think anyone from the outside looking in cares too much about who the county leader is, as opposed to marshaling the efforts to get the Governor re-elected, and make sure that [Minority Leader Congressman] Hakeem [Jeffries] is supported. Those are the two main things that Democrats really care about right now. There may be some close races in Brooklyn, but people largely view Brooklyn politics as safely blue. So this is largely about how this makes Hakeem look. How does this hurt the Governor? Whoever the leader is, what are the political capital and resources were being used to fight these fights?

It does not hurt him nationally, but maybe Hakeem could have stepped in to stop the hemorrhaging. It was more of a headache than he needed right now.”