Court delays Brooklyn Dems leader vote

Those waiting with bated breath to see who will take over control of the Brooklyn Democratic Party will have to hold on a bit longer. 

A Brooklyn judge granted the reform faction’s request for a temporary restraining order to block the executive committee meeting that had been scheduled for Tuesday night – throwing a wrench in Brooklyn Democratic Party Boss Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn’s plans to have Assembly Member Nikki Lucas take over as leader of the party. 

After Bichotte Hermelyn’s surprise declaration Monday night that she wouldn’t seek reelection as party chair, City & State reported that she had picked Lucas to succeed her. 

“The judge did what was required,” Howard Graubard, a lawyer for the reformers, said of Judge Jill Epstein’s decision. 

Bichotte Hermelyn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The stay on Tuesday night’s meeting comes mere hours after reformers scored a major win in court. The appellate panel lifted its stay on and confirmed the lower court’s decision throwing out the controversial rules amendments pushed by Bichotte Hermelyn to help her remain in power. It was a major win for the coalition of reformist district leaders, which coalesced behind Julio Peña III this summer as the candidate they’d hoped to elect to replace Bichotte Hermelyn.

Lucas formally announced her bid for chair earlier Tuesday, promising an era of unity.

“Regardless of whom someone supported in the past or where they may stand on a particular issue, their voices and their communities matter,” she said in a press release.