New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is blasting a controversial rule change within his own party that critics say could dilute the power Brooklyn voters handed to a new group of reformers.
The dispute began after reform-minded candidates won 22 of Brooklyn’s 42 Democratic district leader seats in the June primary, the New York Amsterdam News reported on Tuesday, August 25. Those district leaders help choose the Brooklyn Democratic Party chair, and the reformers backed longtime Sunset Park district leader Julio Peña III to replace current chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, per the report.
However, the newly elected district leaders won’t take office until the fall, Fox News reported. Before they could do so, Bichotte Hermelyn, 53, proposed adding more than two dozen voting members to the party’s executive committee, expanding the group that will choose the next party chair.
Per the report, Mamdani, 34, came out against the proposal before Tuesday’s vote.
“I very much oppose these proposed changes, by the current Brooklyn Democratic Party chair,” Mamdani said, according to the Fox News report. “I oppose them because they are an attempt to circumnavigate the will of voters.”
Mamdani argued that the Brooklyn Democratic Party should reflect what New Yorkers want rather than the kind of politics that has left people “disengaged and disaffected with politics at large,” the outlet reported.
Bichotte Hermelyn defended the changes as an attempt to bring more people into the party’s decision-making process. “We want to create a perception of inclusiveness,” she told NY1, according to Fox News. In a separate video released by the Brooklyn Democratic organization, she said the proposals would “expand leadership” and “expand representation,” per the report.
Despite the opposition, the executive committee voted on Bichotte Hermelyn’s proposal Tuesday, August 25. Early posts from New Kings Democrats said the amendments passed 21-19, with one abstention and one absence, according to the New York Amsterdam News. The outlet reported that the changes would give newly elected officers and representatives from every Assembly district full voting rights, bringing the executive committee to more than 68 members.
Bichotte Hermelyn and the county committee defended the vote in a joint statement via Instagram the following day: “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. 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.”
Per the New York Amsterdam News, the reformers see it differently. New Kings Democrats have accused Bichotte Hermelyn of “packing” the committee with additional seats that could help her retain power. The group claimed it already had the 22 votes needed to oust her before the rules were changed.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also sided with Mamdani in opposing the changes before the vote.
“New Yorkers deserve leaders who are committed to serving their communities, not rewriting rules to hold onto power,” they said in a joint statement, according to Fox News. “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.”
The changes may not end the fight. The Amsterdam News reported that New Kings Democrats are likely to pursue legal action in an effort to stop the amendments from being implemented.
The party feud comes as Mamdani faces mounting challenges of his own. As Globe previously reported, his administration recently admitted in a court filing that it mistakenly sent pied-à-terre tax notices to more than 1,200 property owners who had since established residency and were actually exempt.
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