The Brooklyn Democratic Party is at war with itself. Can they flip four seats this November?

You might not know it watching the fractious Brooklyn Democratic Party wage war with itself, but the November general election looms just around the corner, bringing with it the opportunity for Democrats to reclaim four state legislative seats in southern Brooklyn.

The average voter may not know, care or understand the baffling nature of the county party’s civil war. But it’s all anybody in Brooklyn politics has paid attention to this summer. 

There was the Brooklyn Dems’ chaotic September meeting in a dimly lit auditorium, where party members’ chants of “shame, shame, shame!” rose like a summer storm. Reformist district leaders and county committee members railed against the dais, where party leaders rammed through votes ratifying controversial new rules crafted by outgoing party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn to help her and allies remain in control of the county machine.

Those rules, which expanded the party’s executive committee, had first passed just a few weeks prior. Accused by a reformist party member of putting on a “clown show” at that August vote, former party chair and Bichotte Hermelyn ally Frank Seddio gave critics a real show: dancing like a clown while singing a circus tune.

Nearly every major Democratic elected official in New York condemned Bichotte Hermelyn’s actions as a brazen power grab, undemocratic – even Trumpian. Reformist district leaders seeking to oust her sued, imploring the courts to throw the rules out. 

“Ya’ll have been out-organized, again,” an undeterred Bichotte Hermelyn fired back in a video. “Focused, unshaken, forward Brooklyn.”

Lawyers for reformers gleefully served Bichotte Hermelyn contempt papers in October. The legal battle is ongoing.

The conflict has devoured abundant resources and time, splitting one of the largest county Democratic organizations in the country. All the while, the four legislative races in southern Brooklyn roll forward, ripe with opportunity for Democrats to retake one of the few parts of the city they’ve lost their grip on. But can a party at war with itself win?

Retaking southern Brooklyn

Southern Brooklyn, the diverse collection of neighborhoods below Green-Wood Cemetery, was largely represented by Democrats not so long ago. It’s proven fertile, flippable ground for Republicans in recent years, as several of its largest demographic groups – Orthodox Jews and Chinese and post-Soviet immigrant families – have all shifted towards the Republican Party. Now four Democratic candidates are fighting to win the area back. 

There’s Assembly District 46, stretching from Bay Ridge to Coney Island, where Chris McCreight is having another go at Republican Assembly Member Alec Brook-Krasny, a longtime Democrat who joined the GOP after losing in a 2021 Democratic primary. 

In the neighboring Assembly District 45, stretching from Midwood and Gravesend to Manhattan Beach, Joey Cohen-Saban is gearing up for a rematch against Republican Assembly Member Michael Novakhov, who narrowly defeated him in 2024 by a mere 212 votes.

Over in Assembly District 49, stretching from Sunset Park to Bensonhurst, Joyce Xiaoqiong Xie is challenging Republican Assembly Member Lester Chang, a Navy veteran who flipped the Asian majority district by defeating Democratic incumbent Peter Abbate Jr. in 2022.

And in the overlapping 17th state Senate District, Larry He is challenging Republican state Sen. Steve Chan two years after the lawmaker’s seismic upset over the Democratic incumbent, Iwen Chu.

On the surface, the races seem winnable for the Democratic challengers. Brook-Krasny and Novakhov won by narrow margins two years ago, and Democratic candidates more broadly should be in a strong position this year, with the party optimistic about a “blue wave” washing across the country next month. Here in New York, Democrats hope to strengthen their numbers in the state Legislature, especially in the Senate, eager to gain back the veto-proof supermajority they lost in 2024. He’s challenge against Chan is one of the half-dozen races Democrats in the Senate are prioritizing. 

In a midterm year, hardcore Republicans may be less incentivized to turnout – especially in races like these where both parties’ candidates hold similar positions on hyperlocal issues like public safety, transportation, shelter placement and quality of life.

“Whether it's the Democrat or Republican, the candidates who win are going to be the ones who can portray themselves as common sense, as an independent voice, someone who is actually going to benefit the community,” Democratic strategist Trip Yang said. “It is generally not to a candidate’s benefit in southern Brooklyn to lean into hyperpartisan(ship).” 

The Democratic challengers are well known in their communities and have close ties to southern Brooklyn leaders. McCreight was chief of staff to former New York City Council Member Justin Brannan. Xie is a former community liaison and budget director for Council Member Susan Zhuang. He is the chief of staff to Assembly Member William Colton. All four are district leaders, making them members of the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s executive committee. And their identities are reflective of the communities they are seeking to represent. Xie and He are Chinese American. Cohen-Saban describes himself as a “proud Sephardic Jewish candidate.”

All that to say, there’s a lot working in Democrats' favor here. 

But instead of pouring into southern Brooklyn as one, from deep blue neighborhoods in Central and North Brooklyn, to support their fellow party members, the two factions of the Brooklyn Democratic Party are busy warring over who will lead them. These competitive races have become an afterthought. Party leaders typically pull Democrats from across the city together each fall for a fundraiser at Junior’s, the Flatbush Avenue cheesecake emporium. This year, no date has been set. (Bichotte Hermelyn said to stay tuned.) 

On one side of the battle: Bichotte Hermelyn, her handpicked successor Assembly Member Nikki Lucas and their allies are fighting to maintain control over the party. On the other: A coalition of reformist district leaders seeks to elevate one of their own, Julio Peña III, after winning a majority of seats on the party’s executive committee in the June primary election. 

Even the allegiance of the four Democratic challengers, Xie, McCreight, Cohen-Saban and He, is divided between the two factions. In a legally dubious Oct. 4 meeting, Xie, Cohen-Saban and He all voted by proxy for Lucas to become leader of the party. McCreight, a member of the coalition of reformist district leaders, did not attend. Like others in the Brooklyn Can’t Wait coalition, he wants Peña to be chair. Xie and He did not respond to requests for comment.

A party torn in two

Both factions of the party hold the other responsible, charging that they aren’t doing enough to help the four southern Brooklyn candidates. 

The party’s official email and social media accounts, which are still being operated by Bichotte Hermelyn and her allies, sent an email to party members on Oct. 20 accusing the reformist coalition of sowing "unnecessary division” and “helping their Republican opponents” by forcing He, Xie and Cohen-Saban to respond to legal challenges tied to the party leadership fight. 

“What’s disappointing is these so-called reformers, attacking these very same candidates who are running. We don’t have time to be going to court because you are whiners and you want to change stuff,” Bichotte Hermelyn said. “You are literally hurting Joey, Larry He and Joyce because Republicans are looking at us fighting internally and making fun of us. We don’t need that kind of distraction right now.” 

Mark Hanna, a district leader and lawyer representing reformers, scoffed at the accusation that he and reformers were to blame. “What am I supposed to do? I tried to get them not to show up. I called up people. I emailed them the notices. I told them not to,” he said of his attempts to alert party members including Cohen-Saban, He and Xie that they’d be violating a judge’s order if they participated in the Oct. 5 meeting. “At the end of the day, if they don’t hold illegal meetings that then need to end up being subject to legal challenge – which they know is going to happen – then we won’t be in this situation.”

Hanna added that He, Xie and Cohen-Saban don’t have to show up to court (and none have so far). “The case only needs to name them as parties so they are listed when it comes time for a judgement that has to do with their vote,” he explained.

The party’s official email account sent out one other message about the southern Brooklyn races on Oct. 9. Instead of taking aim at reformers, this one urged Brooklyn voters to “vote Democrat down the entire ballot to protect our majorities, safeguard our rights, and continue delivering for working families.” It also highlighted Xie, He, Cohen-Saban and McCreight, linking to each of their websites. 

Tony Melone, president of the New Kings Democrats, an organizer of the reformer-aligned Brooklyn Can’t Wait coalition, was unimpressed by the release – and the party’s efforts. He slammed the former as looking like it came from “a comms person who did a Google search and pasted those in.”

But Melone argued that’s nothing new. “We haven’t seen any organizing (from the county party) for Democrats in competitive races in years,” he said. “We haven’t seen anything different this year. There hasn’t been a dollar spent as far as we can tell and we haven’t seen any volunteers that come from the Brooklyn Democratic Party.”

Lucas did not respond to a request for comment. But Bichotte Hermelyn argued that they’ve long been supportive of He, Xie, Cohen-Saban and McCreight, helping them build a pathway to district leader and to higher office. Bichotte Hermelyn said Lucas has been dispatching volunteers, helping with phone banking and fundraising for the candidates, though she was unable to provide evidence when asked prior to publication. 

Reformers, meanwhile, have been eager to cast themselves as workhorses who will go to bat for candidates in southern Brooklyn with or without the party’s support. Peña has led several canvassing sessions as the legal battle drags on, knocking doors for McCreight and congressional candidate Mike DeCillis, who is challenging Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in the 11th Congressional District, which spans Staten Island and southern Brooklyn. 

“Our priority really should be getting people out to vote. If you don’t like someone, you don’t have to talk to them and you don’t have to throw them under the bus,” Peña said. “At a certain point, we have to be the bigger person.”

Peña said he’s reached out to He, Xie and Cohen-Saban to see how the coalition can support them, but only received a response from Xie. Xie and He did not respond to requests for comment. 

Cohen-Saban said that while he can’t speak for the other candidates, Lucas and Bichotte Hermelyn have provided him with ample support. “There is this infighting and it’s taking resources … but for me there’s not been one day where the office hasn’t been filled with volunteers coming from everywhere,” he said. “Across the board, I feel like the support hasn’t wavered. If anything it feels like it's just gotten bigger and stronger.” 

“I can't point to one scenario where I personally needed something or asked for help or whatever it is that I didn’t get it,” he added.

McCreight was more apprehensive. “I’m going to say it like this: (we’ve got) the same support that we usually get in southern Brooklyn,” he said. “The people who are helping are the same people who’ve helped in the past and the majority of those folks are part of the Brooklyn Can’t Wait coalition, but not limited.”  

No one is coming?

Some southern Brooklyn Democrats say there was never anything to gain from the county party. The silver lining of this civil war, they argue, is there's nothing to lose. 

“We’ve never relied on county for anything because the cavalry never came,” said Brannan, a Bichotte Hermelyn critic who represented Bay Ridge in the City Council for eight years and chaired the powerful finance committee. “We all had to take care of each other because county never has.

One avid southern Brooklyn political player who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it’s unfair to solely blame the Brooklyn Democratic Party for prior losses in southern Brooklyn. While the person acknowledged that the county machine could have done a better job supporting them, they argued that many of the longtime Democrats who lost their seats in the last few years got lazy. Still, there are ways the party can still be helpful to current and future candidates.

“Where the county organization can be most helpful to people always, but particularly during this time of year, is having volunteers to cover poll sites, having volunteers to phone bank to remind people that early voting starts in a few days,” the person said. “That’s where the biggest areas of need have always been and continues into this cycle.” 

One Democratic district leader granted anonymity to speak frankly about the evolving situation said they doubted the party’s infighting would have much impact on the Novakhov versus Cohen-Saban race “beyond where being a Democrat would be a problem anyway.” But the district leader noted it does give Republicans like Novakhov an easy opening to cast themselves as the adult in the room. “If I’m writing literature for Novakhov, I’m putting a picture of Rodneyse, putting ‘Kings County corruption,’ making sure everybody knows that Joey is an official of the Democratic Party,” they said.

Democratic City Council Member Susan Zhuang, whose district encompasses a swath of southern Brooklyn, said most voters are unaware of what’s playing out within the county party. 

“The people that live in southern Brooklyn care about how much they pay for their gas, how much they pay for their utilities, how much they pay for their food and the rent,” she said. “They don’t care who is in the county, they don’t know and they don’t care. Only people in politics care.” 

Like Brannan, she can’t recall the party ever doing much for southern Brooklyn. (Though unlike Brannan, she has allied with Bichotte Hermelyn at times.) “For our area, usually we do what we need to do,” Zhuang continued. “We don’t get resources.” 

That’s why she feels good about the Democratic candidates’ chances. All are well known in their communities and have been spending their time speaking with voters, knocking on doors and visiting subway stations, she argued. 

“I believe this is the reason they’re going to get elected,” Zhuang said. “Not because of the party politics.”