The Brooklyn Democratic Party’s new rules — introduced by outgoing party leader Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn — must be tossed out, an appellate court ruled Tuesday, upholding lower court decision and delivering a victory to party reformers aligned with New Kings Democrats.
The party had been slated to vote to elect new leadership, including a new chair, on Tuesday night. That vote has been delayed by court order after reformers filed a new lawsuit, citing concerns over exactly which rules are truly in effect. On Monday, Bichotte Hermelyn abruptly announced she will not seek re-election.
Bichotte Hermelyn proposed the rule changes in August, after reformers won enough district leader seats to vote her out as chair and announced they would support longtime district leader Julio Peña III instead. Facing near certain defeat, she moved to add dozens of members to the executive committee, nullifying the new majority and likely ensuring her victory. The amendments were passed by the outgoing executive committee, which included several lame-duck members who had not been re-elected in the June primary.
Reformers are expected to support longtime district leader Julio Peña III as the next party chair. File photo by Gabriele Holtermann
A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge last week blocked amendments, declaring the vote where they were approved was “improper” and that the outgoing executive committee members “had no authority to vote … with respect to the rule amendments.”
The party appealed. But, on Tuesday, the appellate court ruled against Bichotte Hermelyn again, upholding most of the Supreme Court decision.
Party bylaws in place at the time of the vote say that only elected state committee members (a.k.a. district leaders) are authorized to vote, the ruling reads.
“The operative question, therefore, is whether the outgoing members ‘were elected as State Committee members’ as of August 25, 2026,” the ruling says. “We agree with the petitioners that they were not.”
As such, it said, the Supreme Court was correct in preventing the party from certifying the rules and declaring that the amendments adopted at the meeting should be “null and void.”
The ruling appeared to have cut the executive committee down to its old size, restoring the reformers’ majority. Bichotte Hermelyn is likely to endorse endorse Assembly Member Nikki Lucas to replace her, while reformers are backing Peña. If the vote proceeds under the old rules, Peña would likely secure an easy win.
But the New Kings Democrats and their lawyers worry Bichotte Hermelyn and her allies will attempt to run the vote using the amended rules. Those rules seemed to have been approved by the full county committee at its organizational meeting last week.
But the committee actually voted to ratify the existing rules, said Tony Melone, president of New Kings Democrats.
“The county committee members voted to ratify the current rules at that meeting. They did not vote to amend the rules,” Melone said. “That’s important because according to what the court just decided, the valid rules of the party are the ones that were in effect at the time of the June primary, where the district leaders get to elect the party chair.”
The party did not properly notify county committee members about the amendments, he said — which several attendees noted at the time — and did not show the amendments on the screen.
The Brooklyn Democratic Party’s organizational meeting descended into chaos as members battled over rule changes and party leadership. File photo by Gabriele Holtermann
“We’re afraid that the current party establishment may say, ‘Oh, well we passed those amendments again at the county committee meeting,’ and that’s not true,” he said. “And the court has also been very clear that you can’t change the results of an election after you lost.”
Mark Hanna, a district leader and lawyer who has been representing the reformers, filed suit in Brooklyn Supreme Court, requesting a Temporary Restraining Order to delay Tuesday’s executive committee meeting and vote.
“The gross irregularities of the County Committee Meeting must be addressed before this meeting is held, as it may cause further, permanent harm, or potential new harms, depending on the outcome of the instant petition,” the petition reads.
Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Lisa Lewis granted the TRO, delaying the meeting until after a hearing next week.
Bichotte Hermelyn and the Brooklyn Democratic Party did not return request for comment.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Last updated 9/29/26, 5:26 p.m.