John McCarthy. Twitter

John McCarthy, a leading figure in the Irish American community in Washington, has landed the key position of Deputy Political Director for the Joe Biden 2020 team.

McCarthy is known for his insight into Irish American issues and will be a valuable ally within the Biden campaign for Irish and Irish Americans.

He previously was Chief Of Staff for Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) the most active young congressman on Irish issues, who also has a hugely promising career ahead of him.

Boyle tweeted: “Congrats to my Chief of Staff @JohnWMcCarthy on becoming Deputy National Political Director for Biden for President @JoeBiden. One of the best people in politics working for one of the best people in politics.”

Read more: Legislation to double US funding to Ireland passes the House

Biden has yet to speak out on Brexit but is very likely to follow the Nancy Pelosi line of supporting the Irish government stance.

McCarthy also worked for the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016 serving as Chair of the Faith Council responsible for outreach to faith groups.

McCarthy organized several successful “Irish Americans for Hillary” events throughout the primary campaign, including a huge day of lobbying before the New Hampshire vote.

McCarthy graduated with honors from the Catholic University of America where he studied politics and theology, before becoming an advocate for civic engagement and for youth involvement in the political process.

He was one of the founding members of the ACE Applied Research Network for the ACT Foundation, which aims to address the difficulties in accessing learning opportunities faced by young, low-income working learners and he served as the first Director of Social Innovation Programming at Impact Hub D.C where his work focused on social entrepreneurship and encouraging civic entrepreneurs to expand.

In addition to working on youth involvement and civic engagement, McCarthy is an active member of the Irish community in D.C. and served on a number of non-profit boards and advisory committees including the Irish Network of Washington, The Council for American Ireland Relations, and the American Ireland Fund’s DC Young Leaders.

Named among the Irish Echo’s “40 under 40” in 2014, McCarthy was also listed as one of the Most Influential Leaders Under 40 in Washington Life magazine.

His new role will please activist Irish Americans at a critical time when the Good Friday  Agreement is under stress.

You can read a piece McCarthy previously wrote for IrishCentral on the Syrian refugee crisis here: Irish Americans must remember their own past in the Syrian refugee crisis

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