The Erie County Democratic Party has selected a new chairman.

This comes after former chairman, Jim Wertz, stepped down on Friday. The Democratic Party gathered this weekend to elect their new leader, Sam Talerico.

Talerico is a retired educator who has been a supporter of the Erie County Democratic Party for more than 20 years.

He says he’s encouraged by the outcome of the 2023 general election.

“We’ve had good campaigns and really good candidates, and as I alluded to, the infrastructure is so important. Voter contacts and voter registration, that’s what we as a party can really do to help our candidates, and we are going to work like crazy to continue that,” said Sam Talarico.

Talerico said he’s hitting the ground running starting to prepare for the 2024 elections.