This June, Brooklyn Democrats elected 22 District Leaders from the Brooklyn Can’t Wait coalition who had pledged to bring a new era of leadership to a Brooklyn Democratic Party that for too long has been weak, corrupt, and visionless. 

Those 22 District Leaders make up a majority of the 42-member executive committee that will elect the party chair once they are seated at the party’s yet-to-be-announced organizational meeting. Last month, the Brooklyn Can’t Wait coalition announced their united intent to elect Julio Peña III as the new party chair.

Today, the outgoing party chair, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, announced a vague plan to throw out the party rules and pack the executive committee with more than two dozen of her handpicked party officers so that she can overrule Brooklyn voters and hang on to her position. This would be a flagrantly anti-democratic power grab, a return to the worst days of bossism — Vito Lopez tried the same trick two decades ago before he resigned in disgrace. It would go against everything our party should stand for. All Democrats should reject it.

At a time when faith in politics is at an all-time low, our party should be working to rebuild trust with voters, not telling them once again that their voices don’t matter. The Trump Republican Party is the party of lawlessness, of authoritarian leadership, and of denying election results. Democrats must be better.

Our party should be focused on winning elections in November. We have competitive races right here in Brooklyn, across NYC, and statewide. Yet the party chair is once again showing she is only concerned about herself, threatening to throw the party into chaos and sapping attention and resources away from great candidates who want to deliver for the people of New York. This adds to a long history of feckless leadership that includes botched endorsements, borrowing and spending huge sums of money to kick other Democrats off the ballot while raising nothing to support Democratic candidates in competitive general election races, and repeated allegations of corruption.

Enough is enough. We call on Assemblymember Bichotte Hermelyn to withdraw this anti-democratic scheme before she does even more damage to the Democratic Party and to the public’s trust in our elected leaders. And we call on every Democratic elected official in Brooklyn and beyond to stand up and make sure our party respects the will of the voters. Our party needs an orderly transition of power, following the rules, so we can organize and win in November.

The Brooklyn Can’t Wait (BCW) campaign today announces that its coalition of 22 incoming District Leaders have voted to nominate and elect District Leader Julio Peña III as Chair of the Executive Committee (Party Chair) this coming September. This coalition constitutes a majority of the Kings County Democratic Party Executive Committee, and together they look forward to electing Mr. Peña as the party’s new Chair and beginning the hard work of building a new Brooklyn Democratic Party.  

Brooklyn Can’t Wait was founded in 2022 by a coalition of Democratic clubs and organizations frustrated by the party’s corruption and inaction. These failures have cost Democrats in Brooklyn – and this coalition recognized the need for new leadership to build a party that does the work: turning out voters, mobilizing to achieve policy wins, and helping our communities. To this end, the coalition supported District Leader candidates in the last three primary elections to bring change to the Party. 

Candidates endorsed by Brooklyn Can’t Wait won 14 seats in both 2022 and 2024. In the 2026 June primary, BCW candidates expanded these gains to win an unprecedented 22 seats. Eight candidates won competitive races, joining 14 candidates in the coalition who ran uncontested.

Now that this coalition controls a majority of the party’s Executive Committee, with this announcement Brooklyn Can’t Wait begins the process of transitioning the party to new leadership and a new vision of its future.

Last night, Brooklyn voters sent a message.

22 Brooklyn Can’t Wait candidates won their seats — making up a majority of District Leaders in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Democrats went to the polls and demanded a new party — one that delivers a livable, affordable city; that cultivates and supports young, talented candidates and new ideas; that rejects corruption; and that fights for our neighbors.

The self-serving machine politics of the past have failed New Yorkers time and again. It’s time for new party leadership that engages the grassroots and builds strong coalitions to deliver wins for our communities. 

The Democratic Party should lead the way in that work, and the Brooklyn Can’t Wait Slate of candidates are already showing how: