{"id":355445,"date":"2026-09-24T06:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/355445\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T06:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:38:14","slug":"appellate-court-hearing-today-could-shape-local-democrats-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/355445\/","title":{"rendered":"Appellate Court hearing today could shape Local Democrats\u2019 future"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 With the Kings County Democratic County Committee\u2019s organizational meeting set for 10 a.m. and the Appellate Division scheduled to hear arguments at 2 p.m. in a case<\/a> challenging bylaw changes backed by Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, Wednesday marks a pivotal day for Brooklyn Democrats.<\/p>\n

Judge Jill Epstein previously ruled that outgoing committee members improperly voted on party-rule amendments at an Aug. 25 meeting, declaring the resulting rule changes null and void. The changes would have expanded the Executive Committee from 42 members to over 68.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Appellate Division decision could determine which rules govern the Brooklyn Democratic Party\u2019s organizational meeting and who is eligible to participate in selecting its next chair \u2014 a contest principally between Bichotte Hermelyn and Julio Pe\u00f1a III.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Appellate Division has no fixed statutory deadline for issuing a final decision. If it does not issue a decision Wednesday, the stay will remain in effect, and the party will continue operating under current rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/p>\n

Bichotte Hermelyn spoke exclusively to the Brooklyn Eagle at a fundraiser Tuesday about her expectations for Wednesday\u2019s organizational meeting and the party\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a very exciting day,\u201d she said. \u201cIt will be historical. We\u2019re going into a meeting where we\u2019re going to have an opportunity to expand our executive county committee \u2014 and I think everybody is excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bichotte Hermelyn called the lower court\u2019s ruling \u201ca decision that was made incorrectly,\u201d citing New York Election Law Section 2-112.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law says that an outgoing state committee person stays in their seat until the close of the county organizational meeting and the state committee organizational meeting,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the lower court took it upon themselves to say it was wrong for outgoing district leaders to make a substantial vote. And whether it\u2019s substantial or not, it is within the right \u2014 the government right, the internal party\u2019s right \u2014 to govern and make changes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bichotte Hermelyn added that the notion of a court interfering and dictating how the party should run its organization is \u201cmorally wrong.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the misconception about this dispute is that people are thinking that there\u2019s a level of \u2018power grab\u2019 or \u2018corruption,\u2019 but there\u2019s no such thing,\u201d Bichotte Hermelyn said. \u201cIt\u2019s just politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continuing to move Brooklyn forward<\/p>\n

Bichotte Hermelyn also explained her intentions regarding another bid for party chair, which has been a central question heading into the organizational meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked if she plans to seek another term as chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Bichotte Hermelyn remained noncommittal: \u201cI think there might be a really good chance that I\u2019ll run for reelection \u2014 but we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said she does not believe Pe\u00f1a has a legitimate chance to become the next county chair, even under the rules currently in effect.<\/p>\n

She predicts \u201ca big win\u201d at the conclusion of the organizational meeting today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to continue to organize and continue to move Brooklyn forward,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to do.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also pointed out that throughout her tenure as party chair, Brooklyn has changed dramatically, with participation and engagement having increased exponentially.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur judiciary is more diverse than it ever has been,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve recently had an incredible number of high-ranking officials come from Brooklyn, including the attorney general, public advocate and more. Brooklyn is truly where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 With the Kings County Democratic County Committee\u2019s organizational meeting set for 10 a.m. and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[29026,22343,17526,98,18390,100,99,23837,651,2132,12060,45250,113753,132439,13305,9,24,5325,63,87,17961,120181],"class_list":["post-355445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-appellate","tag-appellate-court","tag-appellate-division","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-democratic-party","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-politics","tag-democratic-party","tag-democrats","tag-election-elections","tag-election-2026","tag-julio-pena","tag-local-democrats","tag-midterm-elections","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-no-paywall","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-rodneyse-bichotte-hermelyn","tag-thomas-jefferson-democratic-club"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}