New York Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn announced to NY1 that she will not seek reelection as the Brooklyn Democratic Party chair.
“I’m now up to my next chapter in life and I’ve served as the Brooklyn Democratic Party chair for over six years,” Bichotte Hermelyn reportedly told NY1 political anchor Errol Louis during an interview. “And I’m very proud of what we’ve done. We’ve built a very strong organization.”
Reformers in the party have accused Bichotte Hermelyn of engaging in a “power grab” after she changed the group’s leadership selection parameters in August, according to The New York Times.
The tension began after reformers won a majority of seats on the executive committee in June, and would’ve had the votes to elect a new leader. Bichotte Hermelyn proposed amendments to party laws which would increase the number of committee members and thus those in support of her.
As The New York Times reported, New York's leading democrats including Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul had publicly objected to those proposed rule changes.
During the NY1 announcement, Bichotte Hermelyn said that the executive committee will expand and be “more inclusive to have every day Brooklynites participate,” and that she was excited to leave the party “in that capacity.”
“This was never a power grab,” she said in her announcement on YouTube. She described her six years of service as having built “one of the most transparent, most engaged, most inclusive Democratic organizations in New York State.”
In a Brooklyn Democratic Party press release, Hermelyn also emphasized that her departure is not a retraet from public life but a pivot.
"I am stepping aside from one role so I can step up in another,” Hermelyn said. "Brooklyn deserves leaders who are present, accessible, and unafraid to stand shoulder‑to‑shoulder with the people. That is the work I intend to do and want to do."
According to the The Brooklyn Paper, the vote would likely result in the election of new candidate Julio Peña III if it proceeds under new rule changes. However, the committee voted to ratify existing rules, prompting a Temporary Restraining Order filed by district leader and lawyer Mark Hanna on Sept. 30.
The restraining order has delayed the executive committee meeting originally scheduled for Sept. 29 to an undisclosed date.
