Danie Moss-Velasco
Danie Moss-Velasco (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 6. Moss-Velasco lost in the Democratic primary on June 4, 2019.
Moss-Velasco completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Moss-Velasco earned a B.S in child and family studies as well as an M.S. in intercultural translation and interpretation from Syracuse University. She also earned a certificate in higher education teaching from Temple University, an interpreter certification from the National Institute for Coordinated Healthcare, and a California multi-subject teaching credential from California State University Dominguez Hills. Moss-Velasco also became a certified online instructor with the Delaware County Community College. Her professional experience includes working as a teacher. She has served on the Open Source Grant Committee for the DCCC, as a consultant and instructor for the National Institute for Coordinated Healthcare, as a translator and consultant with the Paragon Academy Charter School, as an executive board member with the YMCA, and on the Drexel Latinx faculty focus group with Bienvenidos. She is also affiliated with Teach For America Alumni and the Drexel Women Faculty Association.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2019
General election
General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 6 (2 seats)
Incumbent Louis D. Greenwald and incumbent Pamela R. Lampitt defeated Cynthia Plucinski and John Papeika in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 6 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Louis D. Greenwald (D) | 34.8 | 31,550 |
| ✔ |  | Pamela R. Lampitt (D) | 33.9 | 30,708 |
| Cynthia Plucinski (R) | 15.8 | 14,284 | ||
| John Papeika (R) | 15.5 | 14,082 | ||
| Total votes: 90,624 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 6 (2 seats)
Incumbent Louis D. Greenwald and incumbent Pamela R. Lampitt defeated Danie Moss-Velasco and E. Julian Jordan III in the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 6 on June 4, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Louis D. Greenwald | 38.4 | 12,644 |
| ✔ | | Pamela R. Lampitt | 38.0 | 12,537 |
 | Danie Moss-Velasco | 12.4 | 4,099 | |
 | E. Julian Jordan III | 11.2 | 3,685 | |
| Total votes: 32,965 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 6 (2 seats)
John Papeika and Cynthia Plucinski advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 6 on June 4, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | John Papeika | 50.4 | 3,929 | |
| ✔ | Cynthia Plucinski | 49.6 | 3,866 | |
| Total votes: 7,795 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Danie Moss-Velasco completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Moss-Velasco's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
1.Making the legislative process and elections more transparent and accessible to those unable to raise, or donate, millions of dollars to run for office or influence politicians. 2. Cleaning up our State budget, making it reflect our priorities as a community. There are tax payer dollars slipping through the cracks and being spent on incentives that would not be upheld in a public vote. 3. Making our public schools both financially efficient and academically competitive by implementing project-based assessment instead of constant, private interest-driven and expensive state testing. This would include creative solutions to schedule and curriculum planning so that all students are both supported and challenged appropriately in each individual area, not categorized with one label or another across the board for the duration of their academic career. Language instruction and proficiency, technology training, the integration of theatre and fine arts in the core curriculum and real-world application of learning could give our children a better future, our schools better ratings and our properties a higher value!
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
Education, mental health and gun control.
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?
My teacher and mentor, Barbara Yanuck is the first person that comes to mind. She was my Student Government advisor in High School, but became a surrogate mother, a friend, a spiritual guide and an example I could aspire to. She is a tough and honest critic, but I always sense love behind every ounce of feedback. She has very high expectations of those she sees with potential, and I learned to have higher expectations of myself than of anyone else around me, and in turn, not to expect anything of anyone else that I was not willing to do myself. She is a fierce and eloquent defender of human equality at all levels. She has a way of asking questions that forces one to ponder her point of view, even if not immediately in agreement with it, and in turn ask questions themselves. She is strength personified. She not only thinks out of the box, but refuses to believe that the box is even exists!
Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?
Horace's School, by Theodore Sizer; Plato's Republic; It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, by Robert Fulghum; Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid..I could go on!
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
Being a good listener and observer, thinking outside the box and being committed to independent thinking and creative solutions.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
Having shared and lived through the circumstances and situations of concern to my neighbors, and being able to identify with them as neighbors, not just voters or donors.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
Making sure that our State budget and legislation reflects the values of the majority of the community and advancing that community on an academic, professional, social and financial level.
What legacy would you like to leave?
We might not be able to change the world in one lifetime. But we can spend everyday trying.
What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?
It was January 1986. I was 7 years old and I watched the Challenger explosion on TV. Teachers were on a pretty high pedestal in our house! What I had been explained by my father, an educator himself, made me relish the idea of the "everyman", especially since she was a woman, being on that flight. The build up to that flight made me feel as if anything was possible. Christa McAuliffe could have been my father, she could have been Mrs. Freeman, my amazing 3rd grade teacher at the time, and I was convinced that meant that it could be me too one day. As we watched the explosion, stunned, I turned to my father searching for an explanation. I waited for him to say anything that would bring that hope back, that for the most fleeting of moments, had exploded along with the Challenger. He was just as stunned as the rest of the world. He didn´t have time to rehearse a speech to let me down easy. Close to tears, he shook his head and said "Almost." Not to much later, I must have been about 10, I was awarded a scholarship to go to NASA Space Camp in Alabama. When we said good-bye at the airport, he reminded me of that day and said, "Things like that shock us and make us sad, but you can't let them scare you so much that you stop trying. Go get 'em Red".
What was your very first job? How long did you have it?
My parents were both entrepreneurs. My afterschool care in elementary and middle school was making copies, answering phones and filing papers at my dad's mortgage business or mapping out the For Sale by Owners on my mother's fat Thomas Guide. That probably lasted until high school. I started bussing tables at a small family owned restaurant after circulating my "resume" on foot up the main boulevard. That lasted about a year. I went on to cashier and wait tables throughout high school. Most of my savings financed my pizza nights during my freshman year of college!
What happened on your most awkward date?
My dad sat in the back row of the theatre while I watched Silence of the Lambs with a guy a barely knew! Not a great date movie, and worse when your dad is in the back row! There was no second date. Both of those things were definitely factors!
What is your favorite holiday? Why?
El Día de Los Muertos. It connects me to my heritage and reminds me that life is cyclical, that our ancestors are with us in spirit and can still inspire us, that we need to remember and respect the past and use that perspective in our everyday lives.
What is your favorite book? Why?
House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. It speaks to tragedy, why people do and don't keep silent in the face of political tyranny and the power of forgiveness and renewal.
If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?
Wonder Woman.
What is your favorite thing in your home or apartment? Why?
My books, my cactus and the paintings by Dr. Seuss in my hand-painted frames.
What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
What is something that has been a struggle in your life?
Dealing with the colateral damage of speaking up for what I believe in.
Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?
To the point that they use it to serve their constituents more effectively, not to find loopholes that allow them to serve themselves first and voters second.
What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?
The public school system; fully funding it, reinventing it to fit future needs and protecting the students within it from senseless and preventable violence.
What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature?
A collaborative one in which ideas are exchanged, molded and executed.
Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.
Absolutely. The more ideas generated, the better.
If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?
Bipartisan leadership and Education
Is there a particular legislator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?
I think Bernie Sanders has started very important conversations that others have not been able to ignite before him. I hope to be able to do the same. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes has given representation to a younger, more ethnically diverse, tech-based and idealistic group. I hope to add to that effort and increase participation in the legislative process by members of the working and middle class.
Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?
No.
Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?
A 22 year veteran teacher in Haddon Township asked about the Path to Progress proposed by Mr. Sweeney. She expressed concern about the pension and health care proposals that will directly and negatively hit teachers in NJ very hard. She stated that NJ teachers had been recently impacted with Chapter 78, resulting in less take-home pay than nearly ten years ago and was worried about what the future would hold. She was concerned that the bills target a predominately female occupation that is already struggling to make ends meet and was curious as to why it targets educators and excludes firefighters and police officers, predominantly male.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
We used to draft people into the military with the justification that they were able-bodied and needed by their country. I have the skills and background to be an effective legislator and my district is in need of change. So I am drafting myself! Is there anything you would like to add? I see it as everyone's responsibility to participate in the legislative process to fullest extent of their capability. We, the voters, are the 4th branch of government.[2] |
” |
| —Danie Moss-Velasco[1] | ||
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
