Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today lives in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and has a lifetime of public service under his belt. He has served in Desert Storm.

investigated corruption as an FBI agent, and now he is running for Congress in PA's 14th congressional district. Thank you so much for being here, Alan Bradstock.

I’m Zeke, a doctor, a Pennsylvanian and unapologetic supporter of Democratic values. You might have seen me on social media working my ass off for Democrats and meeting some pretty amazing people along the way - like President Barack Obama and Governor Josh Shapiro.

For years, I’ve knocked thousands of doors all over Pennsylvania and poured my heart and soul into supporting candidates and causes that make a difference—from local school board races to national elections. The personal is political, and I take every election in Pennsylvania personally.

Where the mainstream media has failed you, I will give you truth and independence. You’ll hear from Democratic leaders, candidates, and change-makers who are working to improve the health of the Commonwealth, and it won’t be boring as hell.

No matter where you are, I’ll meet you with hope and a plan to make your community better one day at a time. Welcome to the Zekely Podcast. Let’s talk Pennsylvania.

Thank you Zeke, it's my pleasure. Thank you

having

Absolutely. I've had a lot of guests on my show, but I've never had an FBI agent. So this is a first for me. It's kind of cool. This is great. We're going to learn all about you, play some games, and have some fun. Are ready? All right.

Alright, yeah, I'm glad to break trail.

I am.

Well, Alan, you were recently inducted to the Washington and Jefferson College Sports Hall of Fame for your basketball career. That's incredible.

Yeah, it was was an honor and I felt great about it. My family was able to be there and shared. got a lot of my college basketball plate. My teammates that were there as well and even the college football coach who I didn't play for that was at the ceremony. And it's the great thing about being at a small school like Washington and Jefferson College is that you know even decades later.

teachers and coaches you didn't play for and administrators remember you and so it's just a family. So it was a special day.

That's really cool. What did you get? What did they give you?

It was a plaque, so I got the same plaque that ended up in the Hall of Fame. So that was pretty cool.

Okay.

Well, that's really awesome. I am the least sporty person that you could probably ever meet. I wrestled when I was in high school and I was terrible at it and that was the end of my sporting career. So I'm always envious of people who are quite agile and basketball. That's an intense sport. So that's an amazing accomplishment. That's really cool.

Thank you.

Well, we're going to play in honor of Black History Month, ⁓ a game called White Men Can't Jump. Okay. Remember that movie with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrison? That was a great movie.

⁓

It was.

⁓

So I have some trivia for you on some famous black basketball players. Okay? So who became the NBA's first black head coach and later won the championship?

Okay.

Wow.

NBA's first

Black head coach. You got it.

Blackhead Coach

I can picture it, but I cannot remember the name. ⁓

Lenny Wilkins.

Lenny Wilkins. I just want you to know I would get none of these correct. Okay, so if you get one of them correct, you're still doing much better than me. All right. Who is the first player to record a triple double in both regular WNBA seasons and playoffs and the first with a Nike signature shoe?

And by the way, I had to look up what a triple double was. Okay, that's ⁓ how out of this I am. For those who don't know, it's a single game performance where a player records double digit numbers, 10 or more in three of five main statistical categories, points, rebounds, assists, steals or blocks.

Yeah, I'm gonna say, I forget her first name.

⁓ Cheryl Swoops. Cheryl Swoops. All right, here's another one. Who became the youngest MVP in NBA history?

I'd go back with my Michael Jordan. He was pretty young.

It

was actually Derek Rose. He was 22 years old, a lot younger than Michael Jordan. All I got two more for you. Who is the shortest MVP in NBA history?

wow.

give you a hint it is a Pennsylvania player or was a Pennsylvania player you got it Alan Iverson at a short six feet I can't I mean I'm not even six feet tall that's pretty amazing that that he was the shortest all right here's the last one who broke records as the fastest player in the women's NBA history to reach 500 points and 500 rebounds

Okay, Alan Iverson

you

I don't know.

Angel Reese? Angel Reese? I mean look, you got one of them right. I would have gotten none of them right. that's, thanks for playing. You know, I mean look, you're, you're...

Wow.

Those were hard questions, yeah. Thanks for humbling,

you know, this has been a humbling enough experience and I'm doing it every day so I'm getting used to it.

You're welcome. I had to bring the heat to the Hall of Famer. Okay, I figured I had to do something for you. Well, thanks for playing White Man Can't Jump on in honor of Black History

Exactly.

Yeah.

Alan, why have you decided to run for Congress?

Well, I feel compelled. I think it started last year with all the chaos from...

Doge and actually just talking to some of my old friends that are still with the FBI and talking to them and how they were made to feel like they were the enemy just for doing their jobs. And so I realized I needed to do something. And it took me a little while to figure out that Congress was the way to do it. And so I feel good about it now and especially after this month.

There's even just, ⁓ it almost seems quaint, of the reasons that were happening last year that made me want to run.

Yeah.

It's never ending. mean, there are a million reasons why anyone could run as a Democrat right now for what's happening in this country. And I'm just grateful that you're stepping up in Pennsylvania because we need more Democrats. We have to take back control of Congress and put the brakes on this terrible administration's just bulldozing of our constitution. So I'm very grateful that you're doing it.

It's my honor, yes. I feel like it's my ⁓ most important mission I've ever had.

Well, the current Republican congressman representing your district has been quite clear that he stands with ICE and its actions. If given the chance, would you vote to minimize funding of ICE to the barest of levels?

Well, I certainly would vote to reduce the funding. I think that, you know, we don't need this enhancement. We don't need to fund what's been going on. You know, we need to be able to deescalate, take a deep breath. And now the one thing I do want them to be funded for is to get training. I think they need a lot more training on tactics and maybe if they haven't...

been involved with crowd control or even it seems like law enforcement ethics and constitutional law, they may need some refresher on some of those items as well.

Mm-hmm.

it's clear that they just don't have any idea of what they are doing in the field. They're hurting people, they're killing people, they're covering it up. I mean, there's just need to be a purge of so many people and just start all over again, if at all.

And part of what I'm worried about, or the question that I want to know is what are they being told at like the frontline supervisor level? So we know what's coming out from the administration. We see what Gregory Bovino was saying, but I'm really wondering just

Mm-hmm.

what's really been told of those to those guys and has this been encouraged?

I don't know. I have to believe that so many people that have joined ICE have to be XJ6 participants, know, people who just have no morality and just want to go on and hurt people. And I think it's difficult to weed those people out. And even if you're not maybe on that level, you're still an accomplice to all of this stuff going on. You're not stopping people from hurting others. You're not pulling back and saying, let's reevaluate what's going on. mean,

It's not like they're going out and taking violent criminals off the streets. They're taking people who are repairing roofs, who are laying foundations, who are gardening, who are helping elders get out of bed to go to the bathroom. They're helping people, you know, people at car washes. These are not violent criminals that they're arresting. They're harassing people and, you know, immigrants and American citizens. So I would hope that once you're elected that you would certainly curtail spending.

⁓ for ICE until they can fully purge what's been going on and start over again. So thank you for that.

Right.

All right, we're going to play another game called Fuck Ice. It's a trivia game.

I'm just going to ask some questions. Let's even get it right. Which industry would collapse if all undocumented immigrants were removed from America?

would say roofing.

Yeah, construction. They make up 13 to 14 percent of the workers nationally. So you would see half of housing projects collapse, commercial buildings increase in costs of labor. It would be terrible. Absolutely. True or false? Undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit violent crime than native born citizens. That is true. That's right. Every serious study has shown this. They have lower incarceration rates.

That's true.

they make safe they make neighborhoods safer that is true. What major US system do undocumented immigrants subsidize but have no access to?

Probably Social Security.

That is correct. Social Security and Medicare, they pay tens of billions of dollars every year through their individual tax identification numbers that are required to work in America. They pay property taxes to rent, gas taxes, et cetera. Undocumented immigrants contribute a lot of money to the American system and take nothing out of it because it's not legal to do so. All here's the last one. True or false? Undocumented immigrants strengthen public health.

that would say yes.

That is true. They vaccinate at higher rates when given access to the vaccine. They use emergency rooms less than native born citizens per capita. And the public health improves when they are protected. So that is true. You did a great job. So again, everything that ICE is doing to just literally try and get rid of all the undocumented immigrants, not violent criminals, it is a net negative to America as a whole. Undocumented immigrants,

belong here, that we should give them a path to citizenship. And I'm sure that you would vote somehow to allow undocumented immigrants to get citizenship in a legal fashion much faster than Trump and Republicans have ever allowed.

Shortly there was a bipartisan plan a decade or so ago that seemed to hit the right balance in my opinion.

Right.

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Alan, why are you a Democrat and why do you choose to represent the Democratic Party?

Well, I've been actually a lifelong independent

Not that we couldn't in the Army as an Army officer or FBI, but they both preach how important it was to be apolitical in the roles that we had. So I took that very seriously and I never was affiliated with either party. And so I joined

Democratic Party in order to run for Congress. I did that because mostly the Democratic Party is closer to my values that I have realized

over the last 40 years and I've voted, you know, I've voted for both Republicans and Democrats over the years, but more likely as the Republicans have gone off the rails in my opinion for a little while that it's been harder to vote for a Republican. so, you know, I'm basically a Democrat and I want to make sure that we have a strong Democratic party. I actually believe we need to have both the strong Democrat and Republican party to actually talk to each other and work. And so the Republican

Republican Party is, I think, weak and I'm hoping to be part of making the Democratic Party even stronger, especially in dealing with rural voters like my district.

Mm-hmm. I love it. Yeah, it's the values the ideologies that's in the Democratic platform we both share those together and You know, I've I've always said sometimes Democrats disappoint me But I've never been disgusted by Democrats and the Republican Party is just off the rails You can't meet in the middle when you're in an abusive relationship and that's exactly what the Republican Party is right now sometimes just have to

take control of the situation and move on and the Democrats need to do that. And I'm glad that we share those values together.

Yeah,

I'm glad as well.

Alan,

you were serving as a US Army aviation officer during the fall of the Berlin Wall. What was it like being at the center of such a pivotal moment in world history?

Yes.

Yeah,

it was a phenomenal time to be over there.

it just blew me away in so many different ways, because at least when I grew up, I just kind of felt like America, that we were the best at everything, you know, not just something. It was like we were the best at everything. And I get over there and I remember thinking, where are the potholes? Because in Pittsburgh, there's just potholes everywhere, right?

Yeah.

Where are the potholes? Why

have I not had a bad meal yet? Why is there all these awesome breweries on every little town? And why does the beer taste good? Why is there so many different types of beer? And so all these types of things that just made me amazed. then it just made me curious. I started taking international relations courses. And so it was fascinating to be there at that time.

taking international relations courses while the wall was up. So I was part of the Cold War and having all the battle plans to try to plug the fold of gap and then to have a chance to go to, you know.

East Berlin and having to drive through Checkpoint Alpha and Bravo that nobody really heard of, right? And then to walk through Checkpoint Charlie in my uniform and walk around on the streets of East Berlin and get stared at like I was representing the capitalist pigs that we all are, and you get that sense. And so it was a fascinating time, and to be there when it came down was ⁓ really amazing.

That's crazy. mean, you make me feel like I need to get out more. You know, I've never been to Germany. I haven't done a lot of traveling, to be honest. I would like to someday, but you definitely sold it for me. You sold it for me.

Ha ha ha.

It's a beautiful place

and a beautiful place to fly around as well because you're just flying around beautiful countryside and all these castles and history and it really is like you're in a fairy tale in many places in Germany. I'm sure it's still the same way.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

right, let's play another game called What Would You Say? Okay. What would you say to someone who says fallen soldiers are suckers and losers?

that they're wrong.

Yeah. I mean, I ask you that question. It's kind of like ridiculous. You have to ask it. But the fact that the president of our country actually said that once, it's more it's more like jarring, right? Like you would never expect a respectable person to ever utter those words out of their mouth.

Yeah,

and it just almost when you even though I've heard that so many times, it still has a visual reaction to even think about it. So it's sad.

Right. Yeah.

It is very sad. What would you say to someone who wants to get rid of mail-in ballots?

wrong. That's gonna be my theme, I think, here, no, but I think

Yes.

they're secure and they're safe and so many actually states just use it as their primary means and so there's not really any enhanced fraud associated with mail-in balance.

Yeah.

right.

No, there's not.

There's never been any fraud shown with mail-in ballots and also would obviously disenfranchise veterans. mean, veterans from all over the world use mail-in ballots to vote when they're deployed someplace. So yeah, again, the president of the United States does not respect veterans yet again by trying to get rid of their ability to vote.

Here's another one. What would you say to someone who criticizes a prisoner of war

being captured?

again, it's just so gut wrenching to remember that that happened. It's just, it's sad to even think about it. So it takes a little while to recover from even the question. But what I would say is that, you know, that certainly that person has never served.

No, obviously he's a draft dodger

a good thing he didn't serve in the military. I don't think it would have brought much benefit to that service, but yeah, it's just ridiculous that he would ever disparage POWs like that. It's just terrible. All here's the last one. What would you say to someone who changed the Department of Defense to the Department of War?

down.

again, it's sad that ⁓ somebody would do that. What I would say is that please send it back. It's the wrong message. We really need to focus on, yes, we need the military for our defense. We should not be aggressive. Aggression only just leads to more aggression. And it just is a cycle of violence that never works. It never has. It never will.

Yeah.

Yeah,

it's just ugly posturing. It's ugly posturing. It's not going to help put more food on the table of Americans who are suffering. It's not going to help pay the bills. It's not going to give them health care that they need. None of that is going to help the American people by changing the Department of Defense's name and being more aggressive on the world stage. It's just going to make people more unstable. So I agree with you. Well, thanks for playing What Would You Say?

Thank you.

Alan, the current Republican congressman representing your district voted no

remove armed forces from Venezuela not authorized by Congress. So how would you use your vote to keep the executive branch in check?

Well, I think not only just the vote, but just that oversight. think in the near term, it's going to be.

that that's going to be so important that I want to preserve as much of the records about what's been going on so that when this administration is done that we're able to really understand what happened so that we can make sure it doesn't happen again. I can envision having commissions not unlike what was happening

to make sure that we learn what happened so that we can be better at preventing things from happening again.

So yeah, anything I can vote on. But I think that oversight part is gonna be as important, if not more than

on

try to be a realistic person, a reasonable person in general. I think it's difficult to say that someone is 100 % bad or 100 % good. I obviously think that Donald Trump is mostly bad. And I'm not trying to say that America intervening or trying to help another country out that's struggling would ever be wrong, even if it required military involvement. Like I think what...

is happening in Ukraine is terrible. And I would support any type of engagement to help push back Russia from Ukraine, a fledgling, struggling, but trying to be a democracy in that region of the world. we all know that what Trump did in Venezuela was nothing for the Venezuelan people. He's not going to do anything for them. It's all self-serving for him and the oligarchs. And so we need people like you there to have that oversight, to make sure that Venezuela isn't just the beginning.

Right.

of invading other countries and putting in shadow bureaucracies just to get more money for themselves.

And that's

classic international relations 101 is when you're having problems at home, you find some foreign diversion. And of course, he, with everything that happened the rest of the month with Greenland and then ICE, it didn't even, wasn't very effective at that forum.

Right.

No, invading Venezuela is not going to change that Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. It's not going

right

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Alan, as you know, transphobia is a major pillar of the Republican platform. And I can only imagine the strain this administration has put on your family while trying to raise your trans son. And I can tell you as a doctor, you are unequivocally doing the right thing by affirming your son's gender. And he's lucky to have you as a father.

Well, thank you. And it's part of the reason that...

you I decided to run as well. It's an underlying reason. It was probably the most political. I don't do a lot of Facebook posts, but last year when it was ramping up, it was one of the things that I did ⁓ too little too late. And so I think it's part of the reason why I was struggling to look in the mirror that I do enough to prevent it. And so it's also one of the reasons why I'm running now is that I want to be able to just tell our story.

Grayson is just trying to be who he is and how he was depressed and

it's not some quick and easy, you know, one and done and you things are happening. You just do it right under the right protocols. It's arduous. It's it's a challenge for the whole family.

And once we finally found the right person that made us feel comfortable that this was really Grayson and what he needed to do. And he described that once we gave the go ahead, he would probably start to feel better immediately. And that's exactly what happened is as soon as we told Grayson that we would do it, even before he had his first shot and had any outward appearance change, know, he had to just it was like a light switch went off and then then it was on a dimmer. So it went from

black to just a little bit of light and then every little step it just got brighter and brighter and after the top surgery, know, he's great. And so now we don't really worry about him and he's just being him and he's got friends of all, know, trans, actually he have that many trans, but he's got friends of all walks of life just because he's a good kid and he's a happy-go-lucky guy and ⁓ just making his way. So I'm proud of him. In fact, he's more authentic than I am and that's a part of the reason that, you

Mm-hmm.

I kind of look up to him. I can't imagine at my age, you all the little stupid insecurities I had, how overwhelming it would be for anybody back then. so I'm proud of him.

And my heart breaks for the kids and the families that are unable to do what we were able to do because of where they live in the states and actually even in places like Pennsylvania because some of the hospitals have been subpoenaed by DOJ and the executive orders and everything else. It's not the same situation and it was hard enough then and so it's just tragic in my opinion what's going on now.

Yeah, it is. And I'm really hoping that we get the trifecta in Pennsylvania and that we can finally pass an Equality Act in the Commonwealth and make sure that all genders and sexualities be protected under the Pennsylvania Constitution. So I'm looking forward to that.

That'd be great.

Alan, after your military career, you served as a special agent in the FBI. You did a ton for your agency. And I understand one thing you did was you investigated a serial killer in the Southwest. Is that true?

Yes, ⁓

David Parker Ray, that was the case. It was an interesting case. was one of my first big cases that I was part of. I wasn't the lead investigator, but I was one that was one of the first to arrive. So I was probably one that did a lot of work in support of it. And I was probably the first one to listen to some of the tapes that this

a sick individual had made in advance and would play for his victims in what he called the toy box of the things that he was going to do. And it was just disgusting.

Ugh.

was actually one of his victims ended up running out of the trailer that he had that he called the toy box. And he she had an iron ring around her neck and she was naked running down the street. And so she was able to escape. And then the locals called the state police. The state police called the FBI. And so I just happened to be one.

my God.

the first ones to respond and start to begin that investigation.

Well, thank you for your service in the FBI. Did you ever watch the show Mindhunter?

I have it now.

I'd be curious to know what your thoughts are, because that's supposed to be, I mean, it's not, I'm sure, completely historically accurate, but it's about how the FBI starts, you know, a serial profiling unit, essentially, like going to various penitentiaries and interviewing serial killers to try and help them track down other serial killers in real time. It was, it was dark. It was a dark show and pretty intense. But I would just be curious if you found that relatable.

Right.

Yeah, I'll have to check

that one out because so many times I see things about the FBI and it's so made into Hollywood and I used to joke back when the show 24 was going on that yeah, I've done most of those things except the explosions and all the gunfights, but I did almost everything else, but it took 24 months, not 24 hours.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Right, yeah. I mean, for me, when I watch doctor shows or medical shows, I usually get turned off, like, this is totally inaccurate. But, you know, every once in a while,

Right.

a good one.

If

there's

Alan, your district is home to about 325,000 households

40 % of the population earns less than $50,000 a year. So you are running on economic security. So how will you deliver that to your constituents and the rest of the country?

Well, I think it's going

to be obviously so many people talking about affordability. And I think that when I think of my hometown of Denora and how devastated it's been after the steel mills

how we need to have policies to help encourage small businesses in those type of communities. And so we need to be able to have that. We need to be able to have universal health care and just improved access to health care. just when I just look at the top line numbers, just that accountant in me, the financial planner in me, looking at how much more we pay per capita than any other country in the world.

We don't insure everybody and we have the lowest life expectancy of any industrialized country. It just screams out that we have this really ineffective and inefficient system that we need to improve upon. you know, probably focus on, all right, what can we practically do while making the case that we really need to change it significantly to be more in line with most effectiveness.

Yeah, I mean we just need to bring reality to the table and everything that Trump has done and the Republican politicians in Congress to give tax cuts to the billionaires has not helped your constituents at all

Right.

district. know, that's not doing anything for them.

And really focusing on the workers

and I think the unions and just workers need, we need to have better jobs here so that folks don't flee like I felt like I had to flee 40 years ago

well, you're not going to get union support from Republican politicians. I'll tell you that much. Donald Trump is not a friend of unions. Neither are the majority of Republicans serving in office. So yeah, we need more Democrats. Democrats are for the working class. They're for unions and they will bring back businesses to your district for sure.

That's the

plan.

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Alan, the current Republican congressman representing your district voted yes for the big bullshit bill and voted no to extend the ACA subsidies. So I'm assuming that when you're elected to Congress, you are not going to try and make Medicare, Medicaid funding cuts. You're not going to try and get rid of ACA subsidies and try and make sure that the more Americans that have access to healthcare, better.

Definitely not.

mean, that's going to be because I know that big, beautiful bill and the Medicaid cuts that aren't going to take effect until after the midterms are going to disproportionately impact my district. It's one of the poorer districts and a high proportion and just rural health care is a challenge, even though they try to throw some money at the hospitals. It's just kind of s backwards in a way of dealing with the issue.

agree. I mean, as a physician, it disgusts me that they would gut these types of programs. And, you know, again, in Pennsylvania, just to bring it back home, Democrats in Harrisburg have tried to pass laws to beef up portions of the Affordable Care Act, like making sure that children don't get kicked off of their parents' health insurance, you know, before they're 26 years old. But Republicans who control the state Senate won't pass it. know, Governor Josh Shapiro would sign that legislation.

But even at the state level, Republican politicians mirror what's happening in DC. So we need you there to protect healthcare for all Americans. So I'm glad that you would not vote with Republican politicians on those issues.

Nope,

not for those for sure.

Alan, let's play another game called Super Bowl Predictions. because the Super Bowl is coming. And I'm going to tell you some of my predictions and I want to see if you can jive with them. Okay. So one of my predictions is that an anti-ice sign is going to make an appearance. They might not publicize it during the game, but I bet like on social media, on TikTok or Instagram. What do you think? Is that a high probability they're to be an anti-ice sign? Yeah. Okay. I'm putting my money on that one.

Okay.

So absolutely, 100%.

Alright, here's my other prediction. Bad Bunny, who's going to be the halftime performer, I predict he's going to ride out to the stage on a horse. What do think?

I'm gonna say no, I'm gonna go with the other.

right. My money's on a horse. How about whatever the conservative halftime show alternative is, is going to suck. That's my prediction. Yeah. Yeah. I think Kid Rock is headlining it. mean, it's just that. And the crazy thing about Kid Rock is that he is not actually a man of the working class. He was trying to make that his persona, but he came from like a suburban

That's for sure.

community.

you know, from a wealthy background trying to cater to people who couldn't even afford to sup with him. So, you he's a fraud just like Trump is and it makes sense that they would choose him, but I'm sure there's going to be nothing compared to what Bad Bunny is going to bring to the Halftime Show. All right. Here's my last prediction.

Let's hope so.

Patriots are going to win.

No, no way

You don't think so? Okay. I just feel like they...

No, I'm a stealer fan. So they both they both have six

Super Bowls So, you know, I've always been either stealer fan and the next person a team I root for is whoever's playing the Patriots. So

Okay, fine. And again, as I've already described, I am not a sports person. So I mean, I'm probably just going to watch the commercials and eat some wings, but I have to make I have to put the money on the line. So I'm going to say patriots and we'll see how this plays out. Okay.

Sounds good.

Alan, what does your family think of your run for Congress?

They're

supportive. Certainly my kids have been very supportive. My wife has taken a little while to take to it, but she's getting more more supportive. think it's just the need is.

you know, so dire with what's been going on. And I think as people are responding positively to me and my campaign, and she's, she doesn't go to all of my events, but when she's there, I think she's just getting a sense that this is important. So the more that I get into it and the better candidate that I become, you she's becoming more supportive, which is essential. And I'm very thankful for.

yeah. Yeah, you can't run for office if you don't have buy-in from your family. And I also want to say I think it's brave that you're

just because of today's political climate, because of how it is with the trans community. And having a child who is trans, I have no doubt that should you win the primary and you run against your opponent, that he is going to lean into that. And he is going to attack you for being a good father to your child.

And I hope that your child knows how awesome you are for sticking up for him. And just please ignore whatever vitriol comes out of his mouth and whoever focuses on your race because of that, because it doesn't matter. And I know that you're running for all the right reasons. So thank you for being brave and for running.

Yeah.

Well, thank you for that.

before I even decided to run, and we've had this conversation a couple of times with Grayson, that was a big deciding factor because I knew that if I was going to run, I needed to speak out on that issue. And would he be willing to accept some of the possible negative ramifications that may come from that? So I think he's actually braver than I for letting me do that.

Hmm.

Yeah.

It's just unfortunate you have to have those conversations with your child. know, say, I want to run for office and this may hurt you emotionally. It's not fair. And I'm glad that he's he's on board with you with this process.

Yeah, so yeah, it's been great.

Alan, AI and alternative facts make getting the truth out often seem like an impossible task. What will you do in Washington to combat misinformation and disinformation?

Well,

you know, I think first I have to have hearings and really understand it

there is a lot of good that can come from AI? I think of medical, I'm sure in your field, to just taking all the symptoms and outcomes and maybe being better predictive in the use in medicine. So there's a lot of potential benefits, but I also see that there's some really existential threats if it goes wrong, and there's definitely gonna be threats to jobs. I'm skeptical that the ⁓

Mm-hmm.

A lot of people say that every technological advance leads to more jobs. This one feels like it probably not, that cycle may end.

Hmm.

Yeah, I think you're right on a lot of fronts. think these days it seems like everybody has an opinion about everything and you can find supporting evidence on the internet for that opinion and nobody can ever agree upon whose source is correct. You know, and that's like a huge problem. It's a huge problem, especially as a physician where you deal with misinformation in the medical field about what should you take for this disease process or that disease process. You've got RFK Jr. promoting ivermectin again.

drinking raw milk, changing vaccine schedules. I mean, it is a slap in the face of the medical community where, you know, science is not a convenient thing and that the evidence changes. And when people want something concrete, we can't always give it to you, but we have hundreds of years of research that supports what we do every day in the hospital system. And I really look forward to you trying to combat this misinformation siege that we're going through.

The mainstream media obviously is failing us every day, but we need to have competent, reasonable people at the helm who are willing to say, don't know, let me ask an expert and not make experts up. And RFK Jr. is not an expert on anything. Yeah, except misinformation. So thank you for bringing that.

Right.

need that in DC.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, I didn't

Alan, on average, it costs over $2.1

dollars to run a successful campaign for Congress and you are running on trying to remove money from politics. Would you vote for legislation to reign in campaign finance in DC?

Absolutely. Yeah, I think that's one of the fundamental root

problems of our

Yeah, it's terrible. It's out of control. mean, obviously, the Supreme Court of the United States did not do America any favors by ruling on Citizens United and giving super PACs the green light to spend as much money as they wanted and funnel dark money into campaigns. But, you know, it is incredible that you have to raise that much money to just run for office and serve your constituents in this country. And Republican politicians have no desire to shut that faucet down. They don't.

And people are, I hear people say, ⁓ both sides want that. That's not true. There are, there's plenty of legislation that Democrats have brought in DC to curtail this kind of rampant spending, but it's not going to pass with Republicans in control. It's not going to. So I'm glad that you would vote for campaign finance reform and hopefully one day, I hope, to pass a bill or even amend the constitution to make sure that we can get, you know, good people into office who cannot raise that kind of money.

Right.

who just don't have the ability to even get across the threshold to serve the people of this country. Thank you for that.

for sure. Thank you.

Alan, what gives you hope?

I truly believe that all of us, even all of my Republican friends that I have so many have common values. And I believe that deep down people are tired of the partisan divide. And so that's going to be a central part of my campaign is finding that. And I find when I'm talking about common values and working together that I probably get some of the most violent head nods.

And it's not something gets talked about a lot, but I think it's critical and especially for me in this district and it's just who I am.

Eternal optimist. Good. You have to have hope. know, I definitely was not very optimistic after Trump was elected for the second time. I had a very hard time with it, but I never lost hope because hope really is a verb. It's something you do every day to try and make things better, look for the helper. So I'm glad that you are still.

Exactly.

Right, and also it's been motivating a lot of people who are joining the campaign because of that. And so I think when you have that, people are searching for that. And so I think it's part of trying to be a leader right now is provide that hope. And if you truly believe it, it's easier to sell.

My last question for you is what plans do you have to get yourself through these next few years? Because it was a tough year for me the last year.

Yeah, you know, it's I'm doing it. You know, that was really a big part of why I decided I was going to get involved last March. And I feel so much better. still doom scroll in the morning every day because I have to keep a little bit informed, but I don't dwell on it. I spend the rest of the day figuring out how I'm going to have an impact. And I realize even before the chaos of this administration is that I really get probably my greatest sense of happiness and satisfaction.

when I'm working on greater good things. And there's no greater good thing possible right now. And I think my background fits the moment. So it just feels like it's the right thing to do. So I'm going to do this until for the next three years.

Good. I love it.

Well, Alan Bradstock running for Congress

14th congressional district. I can't vote for you, unfortunately. I wish I could. But what's your website?

It's Bradstock for Congress, that's for.com. ⁓

Excellent. Well, if you live in Alan's district, please go to his website, make a small contribution or a big one. As we talked before, it is expensive to run for Congress right now in this country and every dollar counts. Knock some doors in this frigid weather, get out there, write some postcards and just have a conversation because we need more Democrats to get elected during the midterms. We have to take back control of Congress and Alan believe.

you were on the pathway to hopefully do that for us in Pennsylvania. So thank you so much for your time and for running.

Well, and thank you for having me on the podcast. I really enjoyed it.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for joining me here on The Zekely Podcast. Stay hopeful and get involved. And until next time, let's keep building a stronger Pennsylvania together.