Queens Democratic leaders reelected as party rallies ahead of midterms

The county committee for the Queens County Democratic Party re-elected party leadership, including Rep. Gregory Meeks and new County Committee Chair Alicia Hyndman, for the next two years. Eagle photo by Noah Powelson

By Noah Powelson

While the fight for leadership of the Brooklyn Democratic Party has spiraled into chaos over the past several weeks, the story couldn’t be more different in Queens, where hundreds rallied around incumbent leadership on Monday night ahead of the midterm elections.

The Queens County Democratic Party held their county committee meeting Monday, electing party leadership for the next two years. It was a packed house with hundreds of delegates and attendees crammed into the auditorium of the party’s headquarters in Forest Hills.

Despite the challenges to party leadership in Brooklyn, the leaders of Queens’ Democratic Party were reelected without any dissent.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the party’s chair, maintained his leadership position, as did his slate of nominees for various other positions in the party.

The only change came when Queens Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman was elected to serve as county committee chair, taking over the position from Vivian Cook, who plans to retire at the end of the year.

Hyndman, who represents parts of South Queens, highlighted her immigrant working-class background as she accepted the role as chairperson.

“This was never a plan that I planned for myself,” Hyndman said. “But one thing I know is that when I became a citizen and was able to register to vote, it was one of the greatest days in my life. And now I stand before you as the chair of the Queens County Committee.”

County committees hold meetings once every two years, in which district leaders nominate and elect committee officers and leaders. They are largely ceremonious affairs with few surprises, where delegates are pre-selected to read aloud scripts nominating committee officers for election.

While influential in determining party leadership, county committees are heavily controlled by a small group known as the executive committee, which runs the meetings and ultimately decides which candidates to endorse in the general election.

Progressives have accused county committees throughout the city of being opaque and undemocratic institutions whose real purpose is to keep party leadership in power.

Those accusations fueled a reform movement this past year to flip control of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. During the June primary, the reform group New King Democrats successfully managed to convince enough district leaders to elect their own nominee for chair. The move spurred a bitter legal fight between Brooklyn Democratic leaders and reformers, who are currently battling for control of the party in the courts.

The county committee for Queens Democrats has had its own group of reform-minded delegates that has publicly pushed back on party leadership in the past, but they were not present on Monday.

Meeks received a standing ovation by the end of the night as the committee meeting turned into a rally.

The congressman stressed the importance of taking back the House of Representatives in November. Current polling shows Democrats are likely to make at least some gains in both the House and Senate, but a few hotly contested races will determine whether those chambers will flip.

Meeks accused President Donald Trump of undermining the election process, and speculated the president may send federal immigration agents to monitor polling sites. Meeks claimed that if Republicans continued to hold control of Congress, voting rights would be further restricted for women and immigrants.

“Fact of the matter is, the camera of history is now rolling and is watching to see what we do in this critical time of our 250th anniversary of this great country,” Meeks said.

Meeks said local organizing and campaigning was needed now more than ever as Democrats struggled to bring out voters in the World’s Borough in recent years. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won Queens by over 50 points during her presidential run. Kamala Harris also won Queens in 2024, but only by 30 points as Trump made significant gains in his home borough.

In particular, Meeks highlighted the race in the 3rd Congressional District, between Democrat incumbent Rep. Tom Suozzi and Republican challenger Mike LiPetri, which contains parts of Eastern Queens. Though current polling shows Suozzi ahead, he only won by three points in the last election and Meeks said Republicans have invested over $11 million in LiPetri’s campaign.

“We have about 30 days to go,” Meeks said. “It's the most consequential election of our lifetime. Because if we don't win these races, the consequences will be substantial. So we need folks out there, especially if you live in Whitestone or Bayside or Bay Terrace or Douglaston or Glen Oaks.”