New Jersey Young Democrats Make Waves At Biennial Convention

Indianapolis, IL — Young Democrats from across the Nation converged on Indianapolis for their Biennial Convention. New Jersey was there in full force with a delegation covering 11 counties in the state. A majority of which came from Hudson county, with Delegation Chair Aimee Focaraccio who is also currently the National Committeewoman for the Young Democrats of New Jersey and the President of the Hudson County Chapter.

“This was an amazing convention, we doubled the amount of delegates from two years ago in Dallas, we helped to elect the First African American President in the History of the Organization, Joshua Harris-Till of Oklahoma as well as a phenomenal slate of leaders from across the country” Said Focaraccio

New Jersey played a pivotal role in the election of the new executive board which consisted of members from the YDA Rise slate, which was fully endorsed by the New Jersey Young Democrats Executive Board. Many members of the New Jersey Delegation assisted with their campaign from on the ground canvassing, staffing and support for the slate.

Newly Elected Executive Vice-President Carrie McFadden of California said “I’m so honored to have been elected to serve Young Democrats on the national level and cannot wait to get started. We look forward to working with NJYD and all other state, commonwealth, and territory chapters to take back the White House in 2020 and continue advocating for values important to young people!”

New Jersey is even prouder to boast about all the members of our delegation that were elected to serve as members of caucuses, along with a few Presidential appoints to come in the future.

“We are excited to take home a wealth of knowledge to our local Young Democrats Chapters and even our everyday lives. Not only did we win a bunch of important caucus seats but we had a member of our delegation in every single training, caucus, internal organization meeting.” Exclaimed Jason Bergman, who attended his second national conference and currently serves as the National Committeeman for the Young Democrats of New Jersey

Some of the notable speakers and trainings that took place consist of Presidential Candidates like Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Mayor Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton and Marianne Williamson. Dante DeBlasio spoke on behalf of his father Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Cayanna Kiki spoke for Senator Cory Booker. Nancy Pelosi, Indiana Congressman Andre Carson, and Indiana’s own Dana Black where also among the great speakers. Delegates also took part in Crisis Management and Fundraising training to name a few.

Our newly appointed caucus leaders include:

Aimee Focaraccio: Treasurer – Women’s Caucus

Antonia Spano: Mid Atlantic Regional Director- Environmental Caucus

Dana Jordan: Policy Director – Environmental Caucus

Jacob Bernard: Regional Director- Veterans Caucus

Josie Martinez: Secretary – Hispanic Caucus

Adrian Ballesteros: Treasurer – Hispanic Caucus

Mathew Steinbaum: Chief of Staff- High School Caucus

The New Jersey Young Democrats would also like to personal thank Aimee Focaraccio for all the hard work she did to raise money for the Hotels and registration of the delegation. Her efforts where assisted by Jason Bergman, and Raine Cusegulio and Julietta Vogt of the HCDO. Unlike many other delegations, New Jersey takes pride in being able to assist with covering all the fees for our delegates.

“We would like to thank all of the donors for not just their monetary donations, but also their continued support of our local Young Democrat organizations. What makes us unique is the respect and empowerment we receive from our local elected officials and acceptance that our generation is the future. Uplifting our organizations creates a mutually beneficial working relationship that will continue the hard work and values that are the core of our Democratic Party,” expressed Fatima Heyward, President of the New Jersey Young Democrats.

“I am so proud of the NJYD! They came to the convention and represented NJ with pride and dignity, and came home with major WINS for our state. Everyone networked and made connections with delegates from all over the country, but most importantly amongst ourselves. We went into this convention as virtual strangers and left as a family. The support and training received are invaluable and we look forward to sharing them with the rest of the state and our local chapters.” Aimee Focaraccio 

Donors Include:

Mayor/ Senator Nicholas J Sacco

HCDO Chairwoman Amy DeGise

Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise

Freeholder Anthony Vainieri

Assemblywoman Angelica Jiminez

Mayor Richard Turner

Mayor Wayne Zitt

Hudson County Sheriff Frank Schilarri

Mayor Jimmy Davis

Assemblyman Nicholas Chiavolloti

Mayor Steve Fulop

North Bergen PBA association and supervisor’s union

New Jersey Democratic State Committee

NJ LGBTQ Caucus and Lauren Albrithc

Monmouth County Democrats

Frank Bello

Anthony Ferraro

Joe Branco

Rose Tubito

Vision Media

And many local business owners and professionals in Hudson County

YDA Mission statement

https://www.yda.org/about

YDA Platform

https://www.yda.org/sites/default/files/yda_platform_2017_2019.pdf