The County Committee System
The information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.
This content of this page is provided by New Kings Democrats edited for context.
The two major parties in New York State are governed by committees of citizens who are registered members of their respective parties, from the national level down to state and community-level.
County is the most local level of party governance in New York.
Every two years, citizens who are registered members of their party, in each assembly district elect two district leaders: one male, one female:
DISTRICT LEADERS
These district leaders choose the party chair:
PARTY CHAIR
The district leaders and chair make up the executive committee of the county committee.
There are 21 assembly districts in Brooklyn, so when all seats are filled, the executive committee has 42 members.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
But there's more!
Each election district (or ED) is made up of a small number of city blocks.
Each ED has 2 to 4 seats in the general membership of the county committee; so when all the seats are filled, there are approximately 5000 members.
Unfortunately, a vast number of these are left unfilled, undermining our goal of broad participation in county decision-making.
FULL COUNTY COMMITTEE
What is the County Committee supposed to do?
- Choose local judicial candidates for the general election.
- Choose the party's nominee in special elections. This one is particularly important, since 1 in 3 current New York state legislators was chosen in a special election!
- Help create the party platform
- Organize local neighborhoods
- And more!