diff --git a/weed/mq/pub_balancer/balancer.go b/weed/mq/pub_balancer/balancer.go
index cd9583016..0007e7364 100644
--- a/weed/mq/pub_balancer/balancer.go
+++ b/weed/mq/pub_balancer/balancer.go
@@ -67,7 +67,12 @@ func (balancer *Balancer) RemoveBroker(broker string, stats *BrokerStats) {
 		if !found {
 			continue
 		}
-		partitionSlotToBrokerList.RemoveBroker(broker)
+		pickedBroker := pickBrokers(balancer.Brokers, 1)
+		if len(pickedBroker) == 0 {
+			partitionSlotToBrokerList.RemoveBroker(broker)
+		} else {
+			partitionSlotToBrokerList.ReplaceBroker(broker, pickedBroker[0])
+		}
 	}
 	balancer.onPubRemoveBroker(broker, stats)
 	balancer.OnRemoveBroker(broker, stats)
diff --git a/weed/mq/pub_balancer/partition_list_broker.go b/weed/mq/pub_balancer/partition_list_broker.go
index f4180cf81..441b61898 100644
--- a/weed/mq/pub_balancer/partition_list_broker.go
+++ b/weed/mq/pub_balancer/partition_list_broker.go
@@ -44,9 +44,13 @@ func (ps *PartitionSlotToBrokerList) AddBroker(partition *mq_pb.Partition, broke
 	})
 }
 func (ps *PartitionSlotToBrokerList) RemoveBroker(broker string) {
+	ps.ReplaceBroker(broker, "")
+}
+
+func (ps *PartitionSlotToBrokerList) ReplaceBroker(oldBroker string, newBroker string) {
 	for _, partitionSlot := range ps.PartitionSlots {
-		if partitionSlot.AssignedBroker == broker {
-			partitionSlot.AssignedBroker = ""
+		if partitionSlot.AssignedBroker == oldBroker {
+			partitionSlot.AssignedBroker = newBroker
 		}
 	}
 }