{"id":360558,"date":"2026-09-30T07:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T07:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360558\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T07:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T07:02:30","slug":"state-supreme-court-blocks-brooklyn-democratic-party-from-voting-on-new-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360558\/","title":{"rendered":"State Supreme Court Blocks Brooklyn Democratic Party from Voting on New Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

A State Supreme Court judge has blocked a hotly anticipated vote of the Brooklyn Democratic Party<\/a> to select a new party chair planned for Tuesday evening, until another judge can clarify what rules will govern that vote.<\/p>\n

Judge Lisa Lewis signed a temporary restraining order Tuesday afternoon, hours after a state appellate court sided with reformers aligned with the New Kings Democrats. That court ordered that recent dramatic changes to party rules<\/a> voted on by district leaders, some of whom had lost their seats in the June primary election, are null and void.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest in the saga over control for the Brooklyn Democratic Party and a blow to the outgoing chair, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who a day earlier had announced on NY1 she would not seek re-election<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But with a planned leadership meeting hours away, exactly what rules would govern that vote were up for debate between warring factions of the party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the original party rules remain in effect, the New Kings Democrats and their Brooklyn Can\u2019t Wait slate will have a majority of votes and will be to select Julio Pe\u00f1a III, a longtime district leader from Sunset Park, for whom reformers had previously announced<\/a> their support.<\/p>\n

But if the vote proceeds under the new rules, now deemed null and void by the appeals court, voting members would include around two dozen new executive committee members handpicked by Bichotte Hermelyn and her allies and rubber stamped by hundreds of proxy votes during a raucous eight-hour long county committee meeting<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

Bichotte Hermelyn has already indicated she intends to support Assemblymember Nikki Lucas as her successor, City and State reported.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

On Tuesday afternoon, reformers filed a second lawsuit<\/a> asking the State Supreme Court to step in to block Tuesday night\u2019s vote and affirm that the old rules are in effect until before the vote can proceed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During a brief hearing on their request for a temporary restraining order, Judge Lewis sided with the reformers, granting a temporary restraining order<\/a> until a judge can consider the matter after a hearing slated for Oct. 6.<\/p>\n

Attorneys who had previously represented the Brooklyn Democratic Party were not present, but attorneys for Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (D-Brooklyn), recently elected as chair of the county committee by accident<\/a>, were in court and, unsurprisingly, sided with reformers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vel\u00e1zquez was elevated to county committee chair due to a snafu during last week\u2019s county committee vote, where allies of Bichotte Hermelyn mistakenly didn\u2019t list a chairperson in their preferred slate of candidates.<\/p>\n

While the rest of their preferred slate of officers for the county committee slid to victory thanks to hundreds of proxy votes, Vel\u00e1zquez, who was selected by reformers, ran unopposed and became the highest-ranking member of the party until the organization votes for a new chairperson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge Lewis heard from attorney Mark Hanna, a district leader aligned with reformers and an election lawyer representing them, on why the restraining order should be granted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hanna brought up the appeals court ruling that invalidated the rules changes and expressed concern that, without a temporary restraining order, members of the Brooklyn Democratic Party would attempt to push forward a vote Tuesday night with dozens of new voting members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lewis then asked Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s attorneys to weigh in.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe consents to such a TRO, she agrees,\u201d said attorney Jason Adolfo Ota\u00f1o.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are irregularities,\u201d he added. \u201cIt makes the most sense for tonight\u2019s meeting to be held off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bichotte Hermelyn, her attorney Anthony Genovesi and the Brooklyn Democratic Party didn\u2019t return a request for comment right away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the meeting room where Brooklyn Democrats were slated to gather sat empty, but a small crowd of district leaders aligned with New Kings Democrats shook hands and hugged outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are finally seeing the county party machine get what it deserves,\u201d said district leader Diana Gonzalez. \u201cThis victory has been hard won over a decade, and we\u2019ve set out from the beginning to reform this party, to make it the kind of institution that includes people, supports people, elects Democrats, defeats Republicans. And now, you know, at this point, I want us all to put our heads down and get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pe\u00f1a, the reformers\u2019 would-be party chair, said he was cautiously optimistic but not convinced the fight with county leadership was over just yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not counting my chickens quite yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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