Joseph DeFelice is the former Regional Administrator of the

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Urb ...

, Mid-Atlantic region. He also served as Acting Assistant Deputy Secretary. He was previously the head of the Philadelphia Republican Party, playing a role in Trump's popularity in the Northeast region of Philadelphia. As of 2022, he works Of Counsel for Goldstein Law Partners.

Early life

DeFelice earned his Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science from La Salle University, later earning his law degree from

Widener University Delaware Law School Widener University Delaware Law School (Delaware Law School and formerly Widener University School of Law) is a private law school in Wilmington, Delaware. It is one of two separate ABA-accredited law schools of Widener University. Widener Univ ...

. While practicing law, DeFelice served as chairman of the Mayfair Community Development Corporation and president of the Mayfair Civic Association before becoming Chairman of the Philadelphia Republican Party, an embattled political party that as seen tremendous decline in

Philadelphia County Philadelphia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the most populous county in Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Philadelphia County had a population of 1,603,797. The county is the second smallest county in Pennsyl ...

. He was also as an adjunct professor at La Salle University and

Widener University Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. The university has three other campuses: two in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and Exton) and one in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded as The Bullock School for Boys in 1821, the school ...

Chair of Philadelphia GOP

DeFelice became chair of the Philadelphia Republican City Committee in February 2016. Prior to his chairmanship, he was the executive director of the local party since 2013.

Role in 2016 elections

He was chair of the Philadelphia GOP, when the party won successes in the

2016 United States elections The 2016 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, while Republicans retained control of Congre ...

in the area. Trump outperformed in the city the previous Republican candidate, Mitt Romney by 2 percentage points. “Among the city’s wards that are more than 75 percent African American,” the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' reported, “Trump got about 1,300 — or 31 percent — more votes than Romney.” In the 2016 elections, Republican state representative Martina White fended off a

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

-endorsed opponent in her Northeast Philadelphia district, where Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one, was able to defeat John Taylor, continuing her tenure in the state house for additional years.

Housing and Urban Development

DeFelice stepped down from his Philadelphia GOP chairman position in April 2017 to fill the post of regional administrator of the Mid-Atlantic region in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under head administrator

Ben Carson Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he ...

. The region covers Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeFelice, Joseph Living people La Salle University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Widener University alumni Pennsylvania Republicans