We need a Brooklyn Democratic Party that respects, empowers, and fights for all Brooklynites.
We can do that in 2026 by electing district leaders (also known as State Committee members) who will engage with communities and transform existing power structures.
What are district leaders?
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42 district leaders — two in each Assembly District — make up the Executive Committee, the top leadership body of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
District leaders are called State Committee members on the June primary ballot because they also serve on the NY Democratic Committee.
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All 42 district leaders in Brooklyn are up for election every even-numbered year in the June Democratic Primary. But many voters have never heard of their district leaders because they don’t appear on the ballot if there is no competitive election.
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District leaders play a major role in choosing judges, staffing the NYC Board of Elections, and writing the rules governing our local party. They also elect the Party Chair (aka Party Boss), who determines party priorities and spending.
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First, find out your assembly district — make sure you’re registered Democrat so you are eligible to vote in the Democratic Primary! Then, you can find your district leader.
What’s wrong with the current party leadership?
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In 2021, Brooklyn lost a City Council seat to Republicans, and Republicans successfully campaigned against NY ballot proposals that would have made voting easier.
In 2022, Republicans won three seats in the state legislature after the Brooklyn Dems “did essentially nothing” to defend them.
In 2024, the Democratic presidential candidate received 150,000 fewer votes in Brooklyn than in 2020.
Our local party spends more time and money protecting incumbents from primary challengers than it does fighting Republican candidates and issues. When they raise money, it has mostly gone to the party’s “housekeeping fund” rather than contributing to campaigns. With more than a million registered Democrats in Brooklyn, we can do much more!
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District leaders often get to pick judges, but the current pay-to-play system puts fundraising over fairness and equity in our judicial system.
If you care about mass incarceration, you should care who’s running our courtrooms and who put them there. When we don’t have a fair system to choose judges, we perpetuate systems of inequity.
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Our local party should set the standard for Democrats nationwide, but instead it’s mostly known for corruption and backroom deals.
Volunteers who want to be involved in the Brooklyn party are disrespected and excluded by party leaders, who use lawsuits and parliamentary maneuvers to consolidate power. More than 2000 people ran for Brooklyn County Committee seats in 2020, and the 42 district leaders responded by changing the party rules to limit their participation. Subsequent County Committee meetings have been mismanaged, inaccessible, and dominated by an opaque proxy vote system that allows party leadership to overrule members.
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NYC voter turnout remains low, especially in primaries and off-year elections, in part because New York has some of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation. Our state and local party did not take any actions to support vital voting reforms that failed to pass in 2021.
We need effective district leaders who will organize to make voting easier. If you care about voter suppression in Georgia, you should care about voter participation in Brooklyn.
The Party is a powerful force in election processes and has close connections to agencies carrying out election law, handing out patronage jobs, instead of protecting our democracy. As a result, our party-controlled Board of Elections makes mistakes every year that disenfranchise and discourage voters.
Can we change this?
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Many incumbent district leaders have never faced a serious challenger — a candidate with a clear vision and strong roots in their district has a good chance of winning.
In 2020, all five new district leader candidates endorsed by New Kings Democrats won. In 2022, Brooklyn Can’t Wait-endorsed 19 candidates and 13 of them won, dramatically growing the reform-oriented caucus on the executive committee. In 2024, we won five competitive races to increase that total to 14.
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A district leader campaign can be won with only $10,000, compared with millions needed to run a campaign for Congress. Every donation can have a huge impact. You can donate to Brooklyn Can’t Wait here, or donate to an individual candidate you want to support.
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You may have heard of Rep Your Block, another project that focuses on recruiting Brooklynites to run for one of thousands of seats on County Committee, the grassroots level of the party. Sign up to Rep Your Block and you can take a more active role in building a better local party. County Committee members can support like-minded district leader candidates before and after the election.
What happens after we win?
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Republicans have made inroads in districts in Brooklyn and in nearby. With more ambitious and engaged leadership that cares about more than protecting their own power, our local party can tap into the incredible grassroots energy of Brooklynites and make our borough a Democratic powerhouse (small-d democratic, too!)
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New district leaders can bring better staffing and oversight to the NYC Board of Elections. When our elections run smoothly and voters know their options, turnout and engagement will increase.
New leaders can stop our party from acting as an incumbent-protection machine, opening doors for elected officials who don’t take Democratic voters for granted.
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In recent years, Brooklyn Can’t Wait-endorsed district leaders have pushed the party to open up the judicial selection process, organizing public forums so judicial candidates engage with voters.
A new majority of district leaders can end the pay-to-play system and transparently confront the inequities in our court system.
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Thousands of Brooklynites run for volunteer positions on the County Committee — new district leaders can empower these members to take an active role in shaping the future of our party. Increased participation makes our party stronger, more resilient, and more representative of Brooklyn.
