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Political operatives closely tied to Mayor Eric Adams are trying to topple a Brooklyn Democratic district leader who backed rival Andrew Yang in last year’s mayor’s race, sources told The Post.
Brooklyn Democratic Party chairwoman Rodneyse Bichotte — a close Adams ally — is looking to defeat David Schwartz, the male Democratic Party district leader for the 48th Assembly District that covers the heavily orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Borough Park and Midwood.
Word of the move has spread like wildfire through the closely knit Borough Park community, with insiders seeing it as retribution against Schwartz for backing Yang.
Sources in Borough Park and the borough’s party also said Menashe Shapiro, Adams’ deputy chief of staff at City Hall who was a top campaign aide, is heavily involved in the plot to try to defeat Schwartz.
Bichotte and team Adams are backing Penny Ringel, who worked for former Mayor Bill de Blasio and has been kept on by Adams, to run against Schwartz. The Jewish publication Hamodia first published Ringel’s entry into the race.
Sources in the orthodox Jewish Community are perplexed about the bid to defeat Schwartz since nearly all of the Yang voters selected Adams as their second pick in the ranked-choice voting in the Democratic primary.
“After Yang was eliminated, those votes flowed to Eric and actually helped elect him. Those election districts in Borough Park and Midwood helped him defeat Kathryn Garcia in the final round of vote counts,” said a Brooklyn Democratic insider.
Dov Hikind, a former Brooklyn state assemblyman who represented Borough Park, said the Adams camp should focus on running the city and not engage in a petty spat in a down ballot race.
“David Schwartz is an amazing guy. He gets along with everyone,” Hikind said.
“Rodneyse is using everything in her arsenal to destroy David. It’s very bad.”
Adams’ City Hall aide Shapiro, said, “I’m not involved. I live in Manhattan.”
Bichotte said, “I will support the candidate the people believe will best represent their interests as district leader. Choice is critical for democracy to work, and this is a community that has long been underrepresented at the grassroots level.”
Sources close to Bichotte confirmed she supports Ringel.
Both Schwartz and Ringel declined comment.
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