The Brooklyn Democratic Party, formally known as the Kings County Democratic Committee, withdrew its endorsement of Governor Kathy Hochul on the same day she announced former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as her running mate for lieutenant governor in the 2026 election. The party cited the governor’s failure to consult local leaders before making the selection as the reason for the withdrawal.
Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn convened an emergency meeting of roughly 25 executive committee members, stressing that Hochul’s selection of Adams lacked consultation with local leaders. In its statement, the committee said, “There is no longer a majority of votes from Brooklyn State Committee Members/District Leaders in the Executive Committee to support the Governor’s re-election. This is a response to the political miscalculation on the part of the Governor’s campaign and their failure to engage or consult Brooklyn Democratic leaders who represent New York’s largest Democratic delegation. Major statewide political decisions require meaningful collaboration with the party leaders and elected officials who organize, mobilize and deliver Democratic victories.”
Several committee members criticized both the timing and secrecy of the announcement. Assembly Member Kalman Yeger, a former City Council member who served alongside Adams for several years and later won election to the Assembly, expressed on social media and to City & State that he does not understand the choice, calling the announcement a “joke.” He added, “The most important job of the lieutenant governor is to be ready to be governor, if God forbid that happens. I wish the governor nothing but good health, but you have to be prepared for these things. There is no one who can say with a straight face that Adrienne Adams is ready to be governor on day one.”
Former City Councilman Bob Holden, who served alongside Adams for two terms and was term-limited out of the Council, also criticized her selection. On X, he wrote, “Hochul’s running mate has a history of being anti-veterans, anti-animal rights, anti-law enforcement, and fiscally irresponsible.”
Adams, 65, represented parts of Queens during her four-year tenure as City Council speaker and was the first Black woman to hold the position. During her 2021 City Council Democratic primary, she only received 7,490 votes out of 77,741 registered Democratic voters in her district, roughly 9.6% of eligible in-district voters. She also ran in the 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, where in the first round of ranked-choice voting she only received 44,192 votes or about 4.1%, before being eliminated from subsequent rounds. Her record and past election performance led some party leaders to question her suitability for statewide office.
The withdrawal underscores tension between Hochul and the state’s largest county party, which represents a significant bloc of Democratic voters. With the state Democratic convention approaching, how the governor’s campaign manages this loss of support could influence the party’s dynamics heading into the primary.
