Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today lives in Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania and has been working as the executive director of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee for the last three years. But now he's running to be a state senator to help flip the state Senate blue this year.

Thank you so much for being here, Christopher Thomas.

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 for having me.

Oh man, 31 years. 31 years, Chris. That was the last time Democrats had control of the state Senate. How old were you 31 years ago? Oh my God.

I was not born yet.

⁓

That's crazy. You have never been alive for Democrats being in control of the state Senate in Pennsylvania. Well, I was 11 and I would love to live to see the day again where I could actually recognize that amazing feat and you were going to help. Thank you so much for being on here. We're going to learn all about you, play some games, have some fun. Are you ready?

I am.

All right. Well, first question, why, Chris, are you running for the state Senate in Pennsylvania?

Absolutely, so I'm running to bring a new generation of leadership to Harrisburg and then also I'm running to tackle the affordability crisis such as like utility bills, the housing crisis that we're witnessing and I'm also running to make sure that health care is affordable and accessible to everyone and then I was a public school teacher we need to make sure we're providing a quality education to our students. That's why I'm running.

Those are such important things for the Commonwealth and a lot of those things can't even get done because of the current makeup. And so your presence will do so much for pushing this legislation through and getting it right to Governor Josh Shapiro's desk. So let's get it done.

Absolutely.

Okay, we're gonna play a game called Scouting for Spines in Pennsylvania, okay? I'm gonna give ⁓ three people who are Democrats in Pennsylvania, who I think have stood up for democratic values, and you're gonna give me your three. We didn't discuss this ahead of time, okay? So I don't know who your three are, you don't know who my three are. So you want me to go first or you wanna go first? We'll do, actually, we'll go back and forth. We'll go back and forth, okay? So you're my guest.

Okay.

Who's your first Democrat with a spine and Pennyslvania

So

this is kind of maddening, but it's more of a group of people, school board directors as a whole. ⁓ They're unpaid, it's a thankless job. The public comes and yells at them a lot. And they just, I think that they have one of the biggest spines in Pennsylvania.

Okay, okay.

I agree with you. kind of cheating though. I did not pick a group of people in my cohort. Okay. Well.

I didn't want to offend anybody by just naming one ⁓

individual school board member. We got to do the whole conglomerate of them.

Okay,

well, I'm going to offend some people, I guess. I'm going to call some good Democrats out in Pennsylvania. So my first one is Danny Ceisler. All right, he's the newly elected sheriff in Bucks County,

Okay.

The previous Republican sheriff was all too happy and giddy to work with ICE and harass citizens and non-citizens in Bucks County, just trying to live their best lives.

So I just wanted to say Danny Ceisler you're a Democrat and you have a spine. So that's one of mine. Does it overlap with yours? Did you have Danny on your list? Okay, fine. So I did not have school board members. Yeah, I got it. All right. All right, so give me another one of yours.

I did not have Danny on my list. Danny's a nice guy, like Danny, but I did not have him on my list.

⁓ come on.

Okay.

Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

100%. Okay, I approve because one of my people was Joanna McClinton. Okay, so I didn't have the combo, but I did have Matt Bradford on my show, and I also had Joanna McClinton. She was a last guest. But yeah, mean, Joanna McClinton helped deliver tax breaks for families, and she invested in childcare, healthcare. Amazing. They're an amazing combo. I agree. The Commonwealth is a better place because of those two.

Absolutely.

So glad we overlapped on one. Okay, give me your last one.

I gotta say, Governor Shapiro. ⁓ But he's fighting back in the courts and personally, so gotta say, Governor Shapiro.

Yes!

100%.

Hmm?

All right, we overlapped on two. That's right, he helped to ensure that Pennsylvanians had access to vaccines, that they were safe and accessible. He's been protecting reproductive rights. He passed a budget funding public schools, he gets shit done, right? He gets shit done and I cannot wait. That's right.

Absolutely.

Yep, yeah, he gets shit done. Yeah. Not snap benefits pushed through. ⁓

they wanted to hold those up, know, yeah, absolutely, he gets shit done.

Hmm. Yeah.

Well, I can't wait for you to help him in Harrisburg. So great. This is a fun game. like

Chris, you come from a family of veterans, coal miners, corrections officers, people who served America's best interests, you know, in other

countries and right here at home. So how did seeing those people growing up shape who you are today?

Absolutely. my gosh. So my Pappy was in the United States Air Force and my father was in the Pennsylvania National

My Pappy was actually subject to Agent Orange. He had skin cancer from Agent Orange. He passed away last February of a massive heart attack, actually. But he had to fight the government tooth and nail to get his compensation. He just got that a few years ago. And that lawsuit has been ongoing. He was part of a class action lawsuit, I believe. But he just got his compensation for being a subject

Sorry.

subject to the Agent Orange on the base that he was staying at. But their service to country and community shaped my own viewpoints. Part of why I joined up to be a volunteer firefighter and to also get a sense of community in my local community as well. So profound impact on me.

And that extends to...

the educators of my family as well. That's a big service to our children, our schools, and our society.

Yeah, nobody should have to fight for health care, know, especially if you served our country. I mean, that should just be, you you walk right up to the front of the counter and you get health care. You know, think Buddha Judge said it best, you write a blank check when you join the armed forces and say, you know, this check could be cashed at any time. You don't know when you're going to check out and you should not have to fight for health care.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ once you serve and protect this country. So I'm glad he finally got access to those funds, but he should not have had to fight for them. So I'm sorry that you had to see that, but I know that you will probably fight for healthcare for Pennsylvanians and make sure that people don't have medical debt and that they will live better, stronger lives. So that makes a lot of sense that you were exposed to that.

Yeah.

absolutely. Yeah.

Absolutely.

Chris, if elected, as you said before, you will be the youngest state senator serving in Pennsylvania.

How old are you now again exactly? 29, man. So I interviewed Gibson O'Mealy, who is the chair of the PA high school Dems. And I can tell you that, you if you embody the values of the Democratic party, I don't care how old you are, then you're old enough to run for office. So what is that going to be like for you walking on as the youngest guy in the crowd?

29.

definitely probably have something to prove. mean everybody thinks young people really shouldn't be in politics but I really disagree. You I think that we're up, it's our time and we're going to need the young voters of this district as well to go out and show that it's our time.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

The current state senator serving in your district.

voted to require cremation of abortion remains at a funeral home, and voted to advance a bill that establishes a constitutional amendment in Pennsylvania to ban abortions for poor people.

that's so nice of her. I'm glad that she did that.

Yeah, it's certainly I don't think that's in line with what the district would want.

Yeah, I'm assuming that once you are elected as state senator, you are not going to try and push those types of nonsensical bills and respect bodily autonomy and, yeah.

That is crazy.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

because as a physician, it's very personal to me. I believe that the relationship I develop with patients, I don't need a politician stepping in and telling me how to do my job. know, the autonomy is priceless. So I'm glad that you wouldn't do anything that the current state senator has done when it comes to reproductive health.

Yeah, I would absolutely not vote for a constitutional ban on abortion. That is very extreme.

Yeah.

Yeah. And the only thing that's protecting Pennsylvania is the one seat majority of the state house. They were one election cycle away from putting that out as a ballot measure. So we need you to take this, the majority and make sure this never happens in Pennsylvania.

Absolutely.

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Chris, tell me about your near death experience while you were in Wyoming.

So my undergraduate degree was in geology and part of that was you had to do a geology field camp. It was a six week camp out west ⁓ and we were out in the middle of a

a benedict clay mine is what was we were told we had to stomp our feet to make sure that the rattlesnakes knew to kind of go away from us and I thought my partner and I thought we were doing that and we go to sit down to get some

Mm-hmm.

and I put my backpack down and just to my right about three feet away is a rattlesnake coiled up and its rattler was going and I don't think I've ever run that fast in my life before. My partner and I just booked it down the hill or down the mountain rather and we were scared out of our minds so that was definitely definitely an experience.

Are you a snake or a spider guy? Like if you had to choose what to avoid?

avoid snakes. ⁓ I'm fine with spiders, that's fine.

Snakes. Yeah, see, I'm an anti-spider guy. Too

many legs. I don't enjoy them. And I actually grew up with a python. We had a 12-foot-long Burmese python, and his name was Monte. Yeah, Monte the Python. How crazy is that? So yeah, I don't mind snakes, but that's, mean, I don't think I like being around a rattlesnake. I'm not going to lie. Well, I'm glad you lived to see the day to not get bitten by a snake. I would not probably go to that part of

America. So I don't think I have to worry about that right now. You like that? All right. Just not the rattlesnakes. We have rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania? Not going there either.

it's great. I love that part of the country. Fantastic. yeah. Yeah, just not the rattlesnakes, but we have those in Pennsylvania as well. Just something that you have to live with. So. And the mountains of Pennsylvania, I believe we have rattlesnakes, yep.

Chris, you earned a bachelor in geology at the University of Akron and a master's in environmental policy at Drexel. So I can only assume protecting Pennsylvania's environment would be something you'd be fighting for in Harrisburg

I'm very passionate about the conservation of natural resources, absolutely.

The big hot topic right now is energy, energy generation. I mean, we need to have an all out approach on energy generation and that includes solar, absolutely. I just got my PECO electric bill and I'm not too happy.

I know, I know.

From last November to this November, it increased 20-25 % and we actually used more electricity last November, if I'm not mistaken. And the PECO increases are here. So we really need to work on energy generation and the...

Mm-hmm.

That's crazy.

the increased capacity should be primarily clean. So 100%, you know, and on top of that, I'd love to see more ⁓ park resources, investment in local community parks. It's good for the local communities. Yeah. And I just saw a report that Pennsylvania loggers are actually facing a potential bailout.

Yeah.

for the industry because of the Trump tariffs. We have an industry in need and they lead a large part of sustainability and conservation efforts in Pennsylvania. So, and they create thousands of jobs.

Yeah,

well, need to get to Harrisburg to move forward on these initiatives because people are hurting. People can't afford their bills, their electric bills or gas bills. People are losing their jobs, are going to shutter things because of the tariffs. So you're going to bring a lot of that to Harrisburg.

Absolutely.

Chris, you are a volunteer firefighter. ⁓ What made you want to run into burning buildings? Just curious.

I am.

So I started out, the reason why I joined, sense of community, sense of service, I really want more of a sense of community outside of politics. Like I have a really good community within the Democratic party here.

a lot of friends, but I really wanted a sense of community outside of that. So I joined up with my local volunteer fire company in Perkeom in Township, was where I originally resided. And from there, I just started taking classes and found a really big passion for it. And I really enjoy volunteer

just great people, all have a sense of duty to the community. It's really nice to be with like-minded folks.

Any any close calls or you've been been pretty lucky when it comes to your your volunteer pretty lucky Yeah, well, I hope that continues. I I don't think I could do it You know, I hate being hot like I really hate being hot if I had to choose I will be cold all day long, you know I only like to sweat when I want to like working out or something But if I I sweat standing still I get pretty cranky. So I don't think I would enjoy

I've been pretty lucky.

Yeah.

I don't think I would enjoy putting on fireproof material and walking towards a burning building. just don't think I would.

Honestly, ⁓ it's kind of shocking how you don't feel the intensity of the heat at first because your equipment's absorbing the heat. ⁓ mean, after a while, obviously you start to feel it a little. ⁓ But yeah, that's what the equipment, that's what it's designed to do.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

I think I'd make a better lifeguard than a fireman, know, right near the water. I'll do that. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

We need you in the hospital still.

right, we're going to play a Feel the Burn. Okay, you're going to be walking through some verbal fire sometimes, I'm sure, you know, sparring with Republican politicians who want to take Pennsylvania backwards. So let's play a Feel the Burn so you can practice putting out the fires of regression all right? You've been appointed to the Rules Committee.

gosh.

and someone floats the idea of labeling swastikas and nooses as potentially divisive instead of identifying them as hate symbols.

Wow, that's, I would not be in favor of that at all.

Yeah.

You wouldn't

be in favor, you'd probably speak up and say something. Yeah, well, if for, yeah, I figured you would. Well, this actually happened. I don't know if you know, the US Coast Guard under the Trump administration did just that. They changed their, yeah, yeah, they changed the policy. Yes, but I mean, look, these are rules that organizations make and they change depending on who's in power. And so theoretically in Harrisburg, they could make a rule.

Yeah, I might speak up and say something. Absolutely. I absolutely would.

my gosh, that's right. I remember reading about that.

that says, you know what, you want to walk around with the swastika in Harrisburg in the Capitol? It's no longer a hate symbol. It could be divisive. Someone might not like it, but they can do it. That is within your realm of power. So yeah, that's pretty crazy. I'm glad you would not just walk away from that issue. Here's another one. You walk past the Health and Human Services Committee and you hear someone talking about banning health care for trans children in Pennsylvania.

I would not be for that, absolutely not.

wouldn't be for

them. this entire crusade on attacking the trans community, which Stacey Garrity now, who is running for the governorship, that's basically all she's doing right now is talking about attacking the trans community as a wedge issue to go against

Shapiro.

and we need to stop using children's political punching bags.

Yeah

100%. I'm glad that you'll stick up for that community,

Here's another one. You find yourself in the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee and someone brings forward a bill to allow PA farmers to sell unpasteurized milk. What do you think? Is that a great idea? Should I start doing that? No?

No, it's not.

Yeah, so you're not in favor of bringing back salmonella, E. coli, and listeria, I'm assuming. Yeah, because RFK Jr. believes the FDA is too strict trying to protect people from those diseases. So it's crazy. It's just crazy. I agree. I agree. But I'm glad that you would not be on board with that. OK, here's the last one. You hear a rumor that the Education Committee is drafting a bill to mandate all public school classrooms in Pennsylvania to display a poster of the Ten Commandments.

No, no, not at

He's a nut. He's a nut.

not for it.

not for it. mean, Texas is doing it. I hear I agree with you, but you know, Texas, the Texas State Senate had a bill last year that they passed to mandate that the 10 commandments be hung in every public school in Texas.

separation of church and state.

So I'm glad that you would not vote to do that.

Well, thanks for playing Feel the Bird.

Fantastic. Happy to play.

Chris, you were the executive director of MCDC, the Montgomery County Democratic Committee for the last three years, and you recently stepped down to run for state Senate. So what made you want to help the Democratic Party at the county level?

Yeah, so it goes back to when I was in the classroom teaching. I saw the disparities in education. I taught in a middle school in Philadelphia and I just realized I needed to. I can only do so much within the four walls of a classroom.

But then I was offered this position here and I realized that it was a good segue into continuing that work and fighting for the policies and beliefs that I

Mm-hmm.

Well, I mean, you've done a great job. I am, look, obviously I live in Montgomery County. I'm a little biased, but you have done an amazing job as the executive director and it is only fitting that you move on and try and tackle what Harrisburg needs to be addressed. So thank you very much for your service and you're gonna do a great job in Harrisburg.

Absolutely.

Well, I just want to thank the Democratic community because you all, everybody's been great to work

had a real passion for it. ⁓ But I just think that ⁓ I'm called to service in this capacity.

Mm-hmm.

100%. And I just, want to highlight the fact that you did something. You know, there are a lot of people who stand around and say, I don't like what's going on in my community or my state, but they don't do anything. They don't run for office. You know, the executive directorship is it's a paid position. And you decided to work, but there are a lot of volunteer opportunities, but, the purpose is, the point is you decided to get involved. You decided to try and make some change in Montgomery County and you've done a great job. So if you're frustrated,

Hmm.

Absolutely.

If you're frustrated about what's going on in your community, you have to do something, if possible. I know we're all busy. We have kids, we have illnesses, we have jobs, but everyone can do something to contribute to democracy. And so if you can, you really should.

Absolutely. And a good place to do that is to join your local Democratic committee.

100

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Chris, the current state senator serving in your district voted to expand concealed carry laws in Pennsylvania and get rid of the requirement for people to have a license to conceal or openly carry. And as you know, the most common cause of death, unfortunately, in this country for children is gun violence and Pennsylvania is not spared from that. So I have to ask probably a simple question.

Will you vote for common sense gun reform in Harrisburg?

Yeah.

We need it. We

just need common sense with our elected officials.

There's the, there's, need common sense back in, right?

Yeah,

it's ridiculous. I mean, the Republicans in Harrisburg didn't even want to agree that ghost guns were a problem. Ghost guns, know, guns that you can't even track. It's just, it's off the rails. It's just terrible. And I'm really glad that you're going to vote for common sense government reform and you're going to save lives. This is not like ⁓ a little thing. Your vote will save lives if you can protect children in Pennsylvania. So I really appreciate that, Chris.

Chris, before becoming a math teacher in middle school, you used to work in construction, correct? So what types of jobs did you work on?

Mm-hmm, correct.

Yeah, absolutely. So I was a middle school math and science teacher. But I worked on a lot of different jobs. So from exterior work to interior work, we did a lot of renovations on specifically 18th century houses and like the old stone houses I used to work on installed solar panels, actually. So we did a lot of solar installation work.

Okay.

Sure.

A little bit of everything.

Well, that's great. I mean, I am not a handyman. I'm really not. Every time I try to do something handy, I regret it afterwards. I mean, I just wanted to hang a coat rack. And I was so proud of myself. I put the, ⁓ what are they called? The things you put in there, the...

This is how bad I am. The anchors, I put the anchors in the wall, okay? I drilled the hole at the exact size, put the anchor in the wall, and the first screw went in okay, and the second one, like, it just somehow wasn't working, and I had to call in my friend to fix the whole thing. I mean, it's it's embarrassing. I will. I mean, it's embarrassing. Like, I can unclog a toilet, and I can, you know, hang a picture, but I cannot do anything with drywall. It's

⁓ okay.

Feel free to call me next time. I can help.

Yeah.

Well, next time I have a little project, I'll give you a call. Or a big project. Yeah, I just shouldn't be left alone with Power Tools.

or big project.

Chris, we're gonna play the estimation game, okay? Because I'm sure as a handyman, you had to give people estimates on how much a job would cost. So I'm gonna give you some scenarios and you let me know how expensive it might be for Pennsylvanians, okay? Legalizing marijuana usage. How expensive is that gonna be?

If anything, it's a surplus for us. Yeah.

Right? Right. Yeah.

I mean, New Jersey is making a ton of money off of the sale of marijuana in New York and Colorado, a lot of states, California. It would be a net benefit. know, there are a lot of medical uses for marijuana. mean, as a doctor, I've seen the effects helping people with pain and mental health issues, but even just for recreational use.

Yeah.

and it would make a ton of money for Pennsylvania. I agree.

Yeah, we need

to legalize adult use cannabis,

100%.

How about this, raising the minimum wage? How much is that going to cost Pennsylvania, Chris?

gosh, I think it's costing us more now, right? I mean, in the damage that our low wage has. So it's absolute cry and shame that we're letting Ohio and West Virginia beat us. I mean, come on. And New York and New Jersey and Delaware and Maryland. Come on. Why are we not leading the region on this?

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

It's cool.

It's...

It's

just, it's just insane. The propaganda put out by Republican politicians that it'll somehow like make all the businesses run away and leave the state and everything. It's just garbage, you know, and someone explained it to me recently. You know, why does it, nobody gets paid minimum wage anymore? It's like nobody actually gets paid. Well, that's not true. First of all, think I read somewhere it's like 40,000 Pennsylvanians actually still get paid minimum wage. But it's, but, that's the floor, right? Like when you're floor,

Wow.

is $7.25 an hour. Anything above that is supposed to look good, but we don't live in an economy where even $10, $12, $15 an hour is enough to survive. ⁓ So if you increase that floor, it evens things out for everyone to rise up and succeed and have a thriving wage. So it's not inconsequential to just say that, nobody gets paid that anymore. First of that's not true. And it also just sets the bar so incredibly low, it makes it seem like they're throwing you a bone.

Absolutely. Yeah.

if you're getting paid $12 an hour. That's not good enough today. So yeah, I'm glad that when you're in Harrisburg, will vote to raise the minimum wage, I mean, Democrats in the state house have already done it multiple times, but it gets hung up where you're going. you could be breaking the logjam with your vote. Inject it straight into my veins, Chris, please.

It's past time to raise the wage. Yep.

Yes it does. Yes it does.

We gotta flip two seats to break that long jam. So I think we're gonna do it this year.

All right, here's the last one. Three months paid maternity leave. How expensive would that be for Pennsylvania if we give women who just had children three months off to be with their children fully paid?

I mean, honestly, I don't know what the expense is, but they deserve that off. They deserve the maternity leave and the paid time. Absolutely.

100%. Yes,

100%. I mean, other countries have done it no problem. They do like a year. In some countries around the world, they do a year, nine months for women recovering from having a child. The more we learn about the postpartum period, the depression that a lot of people battle, it's not inconsequential. And people deserve to recover and not have to figure out, use all their vacation time leading up to being pregnant and then having to.

burn through that and then have to go right back to work. It's just not fair. It's not right. It's not good for the children of Pennsylvania. So I'm glad that you, yeah.

goes

right into the message of expanding access to healthcare for everyone.

100%. We need to take care of people. And that starts with the people who are literally delivering the future members of the Commonwealth.

Yeah, yeah.

Chris, you want to fully fund public schools and lower costs for Pennsylvanians. And I really like to drive this point home as much as I can. Connect the dots. So how can fully funding public schools save people on their taxes?

whenever you run more money through the fair funding formula, more money goes to schools that need it like Pottstown. That will then help alleviate the tax burden because property taxes are way too high across the district.

So by putting more money through the fair funding formula you're going to be able to provide that relief.

Right. So it's like a seesaw, right? If you fully fund public schools in Harrisburg, then when you get back to where you're going in your county, in your municipality, your property taxes will either stay stagnant or maybe even go down. If there's a surplus of money from Harrisburg one year, you know, the superintendent might not need as much money. Your school board might not have to vote to raise your taxes three, four, five percent. ⁓ And so you directly affect that. So if you're sitting around wondering why the hell

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

are my property taxes going up 5 % this year? What you should do is say, what was the budget in Harrisburg that they just passed? How much money did they allot towards public school funding? And that's the answer because, know, up to 30, in Monco, 35 % of the public school funding comes from Harrisburg. So if that's cut by just three or 4%, that's millions and millions of dollars. So I think it's important to realize that

Hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

know, fully funding public schools is a net benefit for your pocket. One. And two, it's just good to make sure that the children of the Commonwealth have good access to education, right? So it's a no-brainer.

Strong schools

lead to a strong community. That's the bottom line.

Yeah,

strong community, strong economies, good for the

Chris, as someone who worked to renovate houses in the past, I'm sure you have an understanding of how expensive homeownership can be. So what would you do in Harrisburg to help more

get and keep a

absolutely. you we need to work on it's a supply and demand issue, right? We need we need more supply to meet the demand. We also need to crack down on corporations for buying properties and then ⁓ either withholding them from the market or renting them out at very obnoxiously high prices. So just two things we need to address the supply issue. We also need to address the corporate greed.

Yeah.

that when you go to Harrisburg that you fight to make sure that every person, no matter where they live in the Commonwealth, has access to a bed, heat in the wintertime, air conditioning in the summertime, and just protection from the elements.

Chris, as I said before, you used to be a middle school math teacher. So I have two kids in middle school right now, and I have to say that job sounds exhausting. Absolutely exhausting to be a teacher around middle schoolers all day long. Did you enjoy teaching math to middle schoolers?

God bless you.

I did.

But it's definitely funny because I thought getting into politics, I'd be getting out of a middle school, but I just moved from one middle school to a much larger middle school. ⁓

Mm.

my gosh, yeah,

You're going to be the new guy in town.

Well, hopefully they'll give you a warm welcome. I really hope that for you.

I imagine at least one side of the aisle will.

Yeah, I

can imagine so.

Well, we're going to play Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? All right, so let's see if we can get these basic fifth grade questions. I never watch the show, okay, but these are direct, these are questions from the show, all right? So who created the polio vaccine?

gosh.

This is fifth grade question. Jonas Salk created the polio vaccine. you go.

I can see the picture. I don't know. Okay.

If a recipe calls for a three quarter cup of flour and you want to double the recipe, how much flour do you need? There you go. Very good. What is the largest bone in the human body?

Cup and a half.

Is it the femur? There we go.

It is the femur. Very good.

From a physician to a non-physician. is very good. Last one. What do we call a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and spelling?

grammar's not my strong suit here.

It's okay. Homophone. Homophone. Well, you got two out of the four, so that's pretty good. Taking you back, am I taking you back in time? We're having PTSD right now. I'm sorry, we'll move

Okay?

There we go.

A little bit, it's okay.

Wow, you're still listening. Thank you so much. I want to make sure as many people in Pennsylvania as possible get to experience The Zekely Podcast. So to help spread the word, please take a moment to rate my podcast. Five stars would be great. Leave a comment as well. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit follow. Enjoy the rest of the show.

Chris, hospitals have closed in Pennsylvania and people are suffering from medical debt. What will you do in Harrisburg as a state senator to make sure that everyone has safe, affordable healthcare in the

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. So there's actually a hospital facing a lot of closures right now within the hospital itself in Pottstown.

Pottstown Tower Health and they're closing the ICU They're closing the cancer treatment and that I believe is set to go out Friday, this Friday, if I'm not mistaken. And we just have to make sure that we keep the doors open at a bare minimum, temporary funding to help make sure that they're staying open and serving the broader

it's a high population.

They

have a lot of people on Medicaid, Medicare that need the services there. And rural hospitals are going to get hammered.

of heart attack and it took 45 to 50 minutes for a mutual aid ambulance from another county to get to him. And so, I mean, there's just nothing you could do, right? And so we need to rethink how ambulance services work because they're far too expensive and God bless EMS services.

Terrible.

Yeah.

for the services that they provide. They are not failing us. is the government is failing us on this end. So we need to rethink how we can create that more efficient system.

I feel so bad for your papi. Am saying right, your papi? I mean, it's just, I just know how important it is to get to the hospital quickly when you're having a heart attack. And the fact that it took so long to get them there, know, time is, as we say, myocardium, you know, the longer it takes you to get there, the less they can save. And it just shouldn't happen. Nobody in the Commonwealth should be worried about whether or not they're going to get to the hospital in time. If they have a heart attack, if they're having a stroke, if they're having any type of trauma issues, you know, we, people deserve better.

than that, you know, and.

People deserve

a better quality of life. People deserve better access to health care and affordable health care.

Yeah, yeah, and healthcare is a human right. I firmly believe

that as a physician. So thank you. I know you'll do what you can in Harrisburg.

Absolutely.

Chris, why are you a Democrat? And why do you choose to represent the Democratic Party?

I think the Democratic Party, I believe that it will be the party of the working people. I mean, it's just plain and simple. We're the people that are gonna fight for better healthcare. We're gonna be the people that fight for affordable cost of living. We're gonna be the people that fight for your basic rights and freedoms. That's what it boils down to.

our party is not perfect. That's why I joined it. I wanted to make a difference in at least that even

at the local level, it is the party that I believe will be the one that we will make fight for the working

I always tell people, you sometimes I'm disappointed by Democrats, but I'm never disgusted by them. There is a difference between being disappointed and disgusted. you know, you hold the same values, the same morals and ideologies that I do. And I'm very grateful you'll take those to Harrisburg and only do good things for the Commonwealth. So I appreciate

Mm-hmm.

Chris, how would you motivate someone to make a plan to vote in May and November of this year in Pennsylvania?

So just this past Saturday, I was out in the cold and rain door knocking, ⁓ soaked and knocked on the door of...

we ended up having a good conversation. He's very concerned about the

utility costs. He got his PECO bill recently and was kind of shocked at the increase

And he said, you know what, just because you came and knocked on my door in January in the freezing rain, I'm going to get out and vote for you. my plan is to again, go meet the people where they are. that's how I plan on motivating people to get out.

That's great. That's great.

Yeah, you can't make change in a democracy on the sidelines. The minimum that you can do, the minimum that you should do is vote. People have fought, they've bled, they've died to get access to the ballot box. And in a democracy, and I hope that this democracy lasts for as long as I'm alive and far beyond that, the buck has and will always stop at the voter.

That's it.

It will.

So please, if you're listening to this, if you're watching this, do not get disaffected. Do not fall into apathy. We can vote for good people like you, Chris, to get into office and move the needle forward. So thank you for motivating people and getting them out to vote.

Absolutely.

Chris,

what gives you hope?

What gives me hope? Honestly, the fact, there's a quote, this could be cheesy. Have you ever watched Lord of the Rings? Samwise Ganji quote. There's some good in this world worth fighting for. That's what gives me hope is that there are a lot of people out there fighting for that little bit of good in the world. And I'm right there with them. I'm gonna help lead them. And that's how we're gonna flip the state Senate seat.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, you give me hope, Chris. Anybody who embodies democratic values and ideals and wants to run for office and take those ideals to Harrisburg and write bills to make everyone's lives better, not regress but progress, that gives me hope. So thank you for doing that. It means a lot to me.

It's my pleasure.

My last question for you is, what are your plans to get you through these next few years? The next few years? Yes.

the next few years.

Listen, going back to my hobbies list, I love going to walk in our local parks from Green Lane to the Township Parks to I love to go to Valley Forge. It's actually where my wife and I got married last

Mm.

Hmm.

Nice.

read, listen to podcasts like your own. I garden, so, you know, there's a lot of different things. It's the small things in life that will help.

Yeah, yeah, I need to do more of that. I really do. I I promised myself this year that I would find more joy because if joy goes away, then everything kind of becomes doom and gloom. So I am working on that. So I think I need to start doing more hobbies as well.

yeah, it's important to unplug sometimes. I'm glad you're going to do that.

Mm-hmm.

And then also

Well, Chris Thomas, running for state senate in the combination of Montgomery County and Berks County, he is going to be potentially the deciding vote to break a 31-year curse in Pennsylvania to flip the state senate blue. And I just want everyone to listen, listen to this, watch this. Shapiro

Go to christhomas.vote to sign up and volunteer, make a monthly recurring contribution. I'm running a grassroots campaign. We're gonna need all the help that we can

Thomas Dubu.

you so much, Chris, for coming on the show. I can't vote for you, unfortunately. You're not in my district. But I'm going to be there with you in spirit on election day in May and November. And I can't wait to call you and congratulate you. I'm just going to be crying. A lot of tears, tears of joy. Let's get this done.

Let's get it done.

Well, 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.