Juneteenth marks historic firsts for Mount Holly Democratic Committee as liberal majority ousted from county committee seats.

Casey Carty and Stephan Stafford are the new Municipal Chairwoman and Vice Chairman of Mount Holly Democratic Committee. 
After fielding a primary slate of challengers against establishment county committee members, the “Mount Holly Democrats” will now lead the municipal Democratic Party. The slate won 9 of the 13 committee seats they fielded a candidate for. They did not field a candidate for the seat held by former municipal chairman Jules Thiessen who joined the new majority giving the group 10 out of 14 total seats. The slate ousted a liberal faction of the party that took control of the local committee four years ago during the last county committee election.

The new Democratic Committee will be tasked with selecting candidates for the 2024 and 2026 Township Council races. Carty’s team ran on a platform of inclusion and increasing diversity in the local party. Before this year’s primary the local democratic committee consisted of mostly long-term incumbents and lacked diversity. The new majority boasts a record number of people of color ever to serve in the history of the committee. This also marks the first time a person of color has served as Municipal Chair as well as the first time a black woman held the position.

“Changing the face of the local party and being more inclusive was our number one priority and people responded to our message” stated Carty. “I couldn’t think of a better day than Juneteenth to announce this historic milestone” added Carty. “We now have a Democratic Committee that is a better reflection of Mount Holly residents”.

Vice Chairman Stephan Stafford is looking forward to rebuilding the local party and energizing democrats. “We have a tough election cycle ahead of us this year and we will be ready” stated Stafford. “We are ready to roll up our sleeves and work hard to re-elect Andy Kim to congress this fall” added Stafford.

Also elected to leadership roles for the Mount Holly Democratic Committee were Jules Thiessen as Treasurer, Steven Carty as Secretary and Lew Brown as Executive Committee.