NYC Dems put dead community leader on same ticket as Hakeem Jeffries to boost his re-election

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Brooklyn Democrats allegedly placed a deceased community leader on election petitions tied to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ re-election effort.

Records show that Robert Gevertzman, a longtime southern Brooklyn civic figure who died in March 2025 at age 76, somehow made it through the petition review process and landed on the Democratic ticket for next month’s primary.

Gevertzman is scheduled to appear beneath Jeffries’ name and run unopposed for a seat on the Kings County Democratic Committee.

The candidate who wasn’t around to campaign

The controversy centers on Gevertzman, a longtime member of Brooklyn Community Board 15, and a centrist Democrat whose name appeared on petitions circulated earlier this year across parts of the heavily pro-President Trump 45th Assembly District, which is one of Brooklyn’s few Republican strongholds that includes sections of Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, and Manhattan Beach.

Copies of the petitions reviewed by the New York Post showed Jeffries at the top alongside Gevertzman and two other Democratic candidates backed by the Kings County Democratic Committee for three of the body’s more than 4,400 committee seats.

Though the positions rarely attract attention, county committee members play a role in overseeing party bylaws. Historically, critics have argued that the seats often go to loyalists willing to support rule changes that strengthen party leadership and preserve internal power structures.

Gevertzman’s wife, June Gevertzman, said she had no idea her late husband had been listed as what appeared to be a guaranteed candidate and said she found the situation “silly,” adding that she would rather see him removed from the ballot.

Jeffries’ campaign was not involved in collecting signatures, but opponents argue he still gained an indirect advantage from Gevertzman appearing on the same petitions.

They argued that Gevertzman remained a familiar and better-liked figure in the conservative Sheepshead Bay–Manhattan Beach pocket, potentially making registered voters more willing to sign paperwork that also helped return Jeffries to the ballot.

Brooklyn Republican Party Chairman Liam McCabe seized on that point.

“It’s funny that Hakeem Jeffries accused the Republicans of needing to cheat to win, and we literally have found multiple examples of Democrats in his own Congressional district cheating and lying to win, including with petitions with his name at the top. Unfortunately, the joke is on us,” said McCabe.

Critics allege efforts to mislead voters

The dispute did not stop with Gevertzman.

Party leaders also allegedly relied on a one-armed petition circulator who reportedly appeared in a series of unusual videos this week, claiming longtime left-wing operative Joey Cohen-Saban was not a Democrat while gathering signatures intended to help qualify him for a third-party ballot line. 

That effort was aimed at strengthening Cohen-Saban’s campaign in a competitive race against state Assemblyman Michael Novakhov.

According to Novakhov and other Brooklyn Republican officials, Cohen-Saban and Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn were central figures in what they describe as attempts to confuse voters.

Novakhov blasted both episodes.

“Running dead people shocks the conscience, and so does lying to and misleading the voters about which party you represent. It is disgraceful, dishonest, and an insult to the voters of this district and to the Gevertzman family,” said Novakhov.

Cohen-Saban pushed back, insisting Gevertzman’s appearance on the petitions was “nothing more” than a “clerical error” that “we regret."

He also defended the signature operation, saying the canvassers were outside contractors who misunderstood the assignment.

“They didn’t know that someone could run on more than one line,” said Cohen-Saben. “It [has since been] made clear to these petition circulators that they are collecting third-party signatures for candidates that are already on the Democratic line.”