District Leaders
What are District Leaders?
District Leaders are unpaid volunteer elected officials and each district has two District Leaders, one male and one female, with the same responsibilities. This guarantees gender parity in the Democratic Party, established by Eleanor Roosevelt as part of the reform movement. Each term of office is two years and there are no term limits. Elections are held in odd-numbered years.
District Leaders identify and champion the community’s needs before elected officials and government agencies. They work with community organizations and other neighborhood-based civic groups on local issues. Although District Leaders have no legislative authority or budget, they are often successful in advocating for both legislation and funding related to community needs by working closely with neighborhood elected officials.
District Leaders serve as conduits to the community they serve and they play a very important role in communicating the needs and concerns of the community to elected officials. District Leaders also have a role in electing judges for New York’s Civil, Supreme and Surrogate Courts. In addition, District Leaders sit on the Executive Committee of the NY County Democratic Committee and attend Democratic Committee meetings. District Leaders are an essential role in our electoral process by educating voters about various candidates and help mobilize voters to vote on Election Day.
Jenny Lam Low
A long-time resident and activist in Chinatown, Jenny is the first Chinese American to be elected as a Democratic District Leader in the Chinatown and Lower East Side area, a party position that she has held since 1995. Jenny was elected a Democratic State Committee Member in the 65th AD since 2014. She is a Vice Chair in the NYS Democratic Committee. In these roles, Jenny has established relationships with key community leaders and elected officials at local, state and federal levels to bridge the communication and understanding of the needs of the community where she lives, works and volunteers.
Justin C Yu
Justin Chin-Shan Yu was born in 1945 in Chunking, China. Yu’s family was originally from Manchuria, in the North East part of China. He lived in Beijing until the age of four when he and his family moved to Taiwan, the Republic of China, because of the Chinese Civil War. Yu is the son of the late Cecilia Hsiu-Ya Chang, a renowned Chinese author, and the nephew of the late Paul Cardinal Yu-Pin, Archbishop of Nanking.
Yu obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from National Taiwan University and immigrated to the United States of American in 1970 to pursue his studies, earning a Master of Science from Pratt Institute. He made his home in Chinatown, New York in 1977 after living in Jackson Heights, Flushing, Brooklyn and Fort Lee, NJ.
