For the last eight years, from a corner of the Canarsie neighborhood, Frank Seddio has led the powerful Brooklyn Democratic machine.

"Quite often I've gone to events where they go, ‘Oh! The king of Kings County!,’” Seddio said with a laugh.

He became Democratic Party Chair for Kings County after a long career as a judge, assembly member and city commissioner. He took over after scandal-ridden Vito Lopez left the position.

Now, Seddio says, it's time to step down.

"This was my favorite job,” he said. “I was really born to do this and I'm also recognizing when the right time is to leave and that for me was now."

As his replacement, Seddio is endorsing Brooklyn Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte, who would become the first woman to lead the Brooklyn county organization.

She seems to be the only person running for the position at the moment.

"It sends a signal that people are ready for change and Frank himself felt that it's time for change,” Bichotte said. “And I'm happy that he is promoting and elevating a woman."

Bichotte also has a supporter in the mayor.

"I think she has the right kind of vision to build the future of the Democratic Party of Brooklyn, and I believe it's fair to say she would be the first African American woman chair of a county organization," de Blasio said.

Seddio has faced criticism for the way he is handled the party's finances, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in public relations and paying a $100,000 to his law partner's wife.

"I think everything was exaggerated and when you look to the overall value of the money we spent,” Seddio said, “you'll see it was legitimately spent for expenses that we legitimately had to legitimately raise money for the county."

Some elected officials highlight his role in giving a platform to many different voices.

"He has done, I would say, a very fair and good job at trying to be more unifying leader within the borough,” Brooklyn Councilman Rafael Espinal said.

Mariana Alexander, president of the organization New Kings Democrats, agreed, but added, "I think we have real differences on how we think the party should be run, how transparently decisions are being made, examining the party's role in who gets elected to be judge, etc."

Kings is the largest Democratic county in the country, with more than a million registered Democrats.

 
The County Chair has tremendous power on picking judges, endorsing candidates and directing funds to specific campaigns.