The bird's eye view of this position would probably be described as this, it's lengthy, so bare with me:

The position is very similar to a committee person that is seated in a precinct, but the difference is that I represent an entire senate district worth of Democratic party members. The position itself isn't compensated, but typically involves voting to endorse candidates and resolutions for the state party to adopt or oppose.

​

During my time I have voted to affirm a resolution that would encourage the Biden administration to use the Department of Education to cancel a 'substantial portion' of student loan debt. I voted for this motion because I ultimately believe there are too many people who are drowning in their debts.

I voted to affirm a resolution for the state party to adopt the position of same day voter registration and to make election day a national holiday.

Additionally, I was able to vote for a chair and vice chair for the state party, and a candidate for the senate.

​

Finally, the executive member's role is unique in that if a nominee withdraws or becomes incapacitated the executive committee's role is to confirm the replacement that is named by local committee members. To my knowledge there has never been a time when the executive state committee has rejected a nominee.

​

I can answer any other questions about process or how I make a decision on how I plan to vote as well.

Yes, my district is the entirety as the 45th Senatorial District - If you live in any of the following areas and are a registered Democrat, then I am your elected state committee member:

Baldwin

Baldwin Township

Braddock

Brentwood

Castle Shannon

Clairton

Dravosburg

Duquesne

East McKeesport

East Pittsburgh

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Township

Forward Township

Glassport

Homestead

Liberty

Lincoln

McKeesport

Monroeville

Munhall

North Braddock

North Versailles Township

Pitcairn

Plum

Port Vue

South Versailles Township

Trafford (Allegheny County portion)

Turtle Creek

Versailles

Wall

West Elizabeth

West Homestead

West Mifflin

Whitaker

White Oak

Whitehall

Wilmerding

​

Edit: if you do not live in any of these towns listed, you would still have committee members representing you. Also, feel free to still ask a question even if you don't live in any of these towns.

1. Here is a link to the national party's platform on Environmental Justice for the specific national party's position. However, in Pennsylvania, under Tom Wolf there was clearly an interest to greenlight more grants under the DEP for fracking pads and wells. While many Air and Water quality standards are set under the EPA through the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, the county health department could likely impose larger fines for violations of the CAA or the CWA. I suspect that this is going to be a major issue during the next county executive election due to our home rule charter and the amount of deference that the County Executive has to fine and regulate polluters. Backing up a bit, on a state level Pennsylvania is slated to enter into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative which would act as a cap and trade to reduce pollution. Unfortunately, Governor Elect - Shapiro has stated that he will review RGGI and its appropriateness. If his administration does consider withdrawing from RGGI, or greatly reduces its impact then I can support a motion at state committee to support remaining in RGGI. As for water quality issues, there is a certain level of preemption from the state government that prevents counties from banning or reducing fracking. One work around to this that I have been supportive of is local municipal ordinances to create zoning setbacks. This was achieved successfully, in part, in East Pittsburgh to prevent the Merrion Oil and Gas well from being developed. When I lived in North Versailles, I ran on banning implementing this model ordinance language, but came up short by 2 votes in 2019. The model ordinance language more or less creates a setback that reduces the ability to frack near residences. For example, this language was adopted by Plum into their SALDO after their original injection well was permitted. Finally on this issue, the Robinson case which was decided by the PA Supreme Court is still being molded, and thus there are still legal questions regarding the extent to which local townships and municipalities are able to 'zone away' fracking. My hope is that with democrats taking back the house that there will be no more corporate welfare to oil and gas companies, but you are right even recently democrats including progressive democrats such as Emily Kinkead and Jessica Benham voted to give $2Billion in subsidies to frack for hydrogen. Green Hydrogen
2. As for the Biden Administration's next step, I should note that while my position only effects state party policy, I suspect that the administration is likely to rely on administrative orders because the control of the house is controlled by the republicans. It is conceivable that a second bipartisan bill could be voted on, but I am doubtful that McCarthy would support this.

Also note, because I just graduated from law school - I am not an attorney and I am not providing legal opinions or advice*

Edit: Grammar

At least for the primary:

County executive for sure, for that race I am supporting Erin McClelland.

Judicial races for court of common pleas, I'm TBD on that, because not everyone has announced yet.

And the DA race is probably going to see several folks in it.

That's a good question, within my role I what I can do is suggest a resolution for the party to adopt that would be baked into the State Party platform. Ideally, this would compel (D) candidates to consider newer solutions to correct educational deficiencies.

While I just got elected earlier this year, I was able to meet with the newly formed teacher's caucus, and I suspect that they're going to broaden the conversation and soon lead to a vote on a resolution.

I can also ask candidates what their platform is to get our things back on track.

So, for example, during the senate primary I received a call from Malcolm Kenyatta, Conor Lamb, and John Fetterman's team as they wanted my vote for the endorsement. Most of my questions were about blight, jobs, infrastructure, and the environment given being in the Mon Valley. To be honest, most of what I heard was nonspecific aside from Kenyatta who talked to me about redlining.

Thank you for the comment, it's been a long a winding journey.

To be honest, growing up in North Versailles, I used to work at the Sheetz gas station on Mosside Blvd. in Monroeville (everyone would call it the Pitcairn Sheetz), overnights and went to college during the day at Pitt. I always assumed that I wasn't qualified to get into politics aside from voting and occasionally volunteering with some campaigns. I ended up graduating from Pitt in 2017 and finally got my dream job of working at Carnegie Mellon as a Research Associate in a cognitive psychology lab. 60 Mins

But after doing this for about a year I realized that I needed to get more engaged with local politics and do my part, so I started studying for the LSATs. Once I got into Pitt Law, I started attending political events. To be honest, it was difficult, for example I met Rich Fitzgerald about four times, and he would give me maybe 1-2 words and not make eye contact. After a while I started to figure out who was willing to bring me under their wing and who was reluctant. I found that the Vice President of the local IBEW 29, Jim DePoe was very welcoming and introduced me to state reps. From there I attempted to work on legislation while in law school with my state senator Jim Brewster about public safety, and during my second year of law school I became the president of Pitt Law Dems where I was able to meet more folks and hold panels with public figures such as Gisele Fetterman and Lindsey Williams. We even ended up holding a congressional debate this year. And then last year, when George A Matta passed away (RIP) senator Jim Brewster made a recommendation that I be appointed to fill the position for the remaining few months.

Finally, earlier this year I ran for the full term and ended up winning.

I went from fighting bar rush at Sheetz with two other teammates at 2:30 on a Saturday morning to being the youngest elected state committee member, and my advice would be to just keep making connections, show up, and keep going as best as you can.

Unfortunately, the county parties do not list the committees despite the information being public, but this is a link to the county election results page.

​

Regardless of party you should have at a few state committee members who will vote to endorse on your behalf, so I think it's fair game to respectfully contact a member by email detailing your preference.

https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/PA/Allegheny/112982/web.285569/#/summary?category=C_3

​

I can tell you that the state committee almost voting to endorse Conor Lamb was incongruent with the desire of the voters.