Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has dedicated his life to civil service. He's written legislation to improve public school funding as a PA state representative, saved millions for Pennsylvanians as auditor general, and recently has been elected as the chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Thank you so much for being here, Eugene DePasquale.

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.

Zeke and honor, thank you so much.

I'm so excited to see you. You you check off so many boxes for me. You are a Democrat, you're a leader, you're a change maker. And in the words of Josh Shapiro, you get shit done. So I'm just so happy that you're here. We're gonna have some fun, learn all about you, play some games. Are you ready? All right.

Let's go!

Well, first of all, congratulations on your election as chair of the PA Dems. Well deserved.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. What made you want to step up and take on the role of leading our party in the commonwealth?

Other than I wasn't good enough to pitch for Phillies in the, for the Phillies in the playoffs. Cause I always make it very clear that if I was good enough to do that, I probably would have taken that gig before this one. Just, I just sometimes you got to throw, throw, throw the honesty out there there. Probably, but maybe not as important because we've got some important Supreme court justices to retain.

You

Uh-huh.

You

I you. It probably would have been more relaxing too. That's true.

Obviously getting our tremendous governor and lieutenant governor re-elected next year as well and hopefully doing our part to make sure that the Democrats win control of the House of Representatives next year as well.

That's right,

So look, when the governor and I talked about this and you know, say what a Democrat, first of all, we have to win.

And I know that this Supreme court retention race is critical in that. And certainly next year with the governor, the lieutenant governor, the legislature and Congress. So why did I do it is, you know, a, the governor and lieutenant governor asked.

But beyond that, the reason why I was still willing to do that, because this is not a paid gig, there comes some spoiler, some aggravation with it. But winning these elections matters for the future of our state. So I've got a son that's 26, a daughter that's 22. Their rights and their freedoms are contingent upon winning these three Supreme Court retention races.

100%. And as a father with children as well, not quite that old yet, I am eternally grateful for the sacrifices that you are making for Pennsylvania. I know it's a lot of work unpaid, but I you're to do an amazing job. Amazing.

Well, I've met you in person once, but I have spoken to some people about you, and the general consensus is you're a wonderfully intense person. And I think it's a great description of you, I really do, a wonderfully intense person. I'm an anesthesiologist, but I'm also an intensivist. So sometimes I joke I walk around intense all day long, it's a little doctor joke there for you.

Thank

Thank

Heh heh.

But we're going to see if we have similar personalities. And I think that we do. OK, ⁓ so here's the first question. Do you have any unread text messages on your

Okay, I can't wait for this.

I can say that because I was just driving and I wanted to come in here and do the search this right away. So there are three unread text messages because I was on the road for about an hour. ⁓ And so that may be a lame excuse, but it normally is zero.

Yeah.

Okay.

I knew you were gonna say that and the fact that you even knew how many unread were there is probably gonna be itching your brain the entire interview. But we're on the same page. I have no...

yeah, that's why I had put the phone there, because it's

a little bit, ahhh, they're still there, they're unread.

Yeah, I know, like you know

it's there, I get it. There's that intensity there. And also on my phone, no unread text messages. So we're on the same page there. All right, now here's another one. Do you have any un-listened to voicemails on your phone? There you go. On the same page, listen to all of them every time.

⁓ absolutely not. Absolutely. No. No, that is, it's more,

it's a, it's a moral issue for

I almost always call someone back, even if it's for them to yell and scream at me. But some of them are just spam and you just delete them. I'm not so bad that I returned the spam phone calls.

Yeah. Yeah.

Understood, understood, but you're at least have to get that little red check mark out of the way like it's got to be red You got to get rid of it. All right, we're on the same page

that you've got to get rid of that. You've got to get rid of that. absolutely. It no it. Yeah.

Sympotico there.

Okay, here we go. Here's another one. Do you have over one... I'm gonna give you some leeway here, okay, especially in emails these days. Do you have, you think, over 100 unread emails in your main email account? Yeah, okay, good. Yeah, I'm gonna give you some leeway. 12, good, because sometimes at end of the day I have to go through and there might be 50, but yeah, you gotta go through and check all those emails.

over 100 absolutely not no no no no it's it's about it's about 12

Sometimes I strategically

don't answer to read it because it's a bill I got to pay and I'm not going to do it now. So I want it to still have that darkened area. So I'll do it in the morning.

Yeah, of course.

Of course, or you have to unread something, mark it as unread. If you accidentally click on it, you have to do that. Exactly. You gotta have all the folders on the side. God. There you go. Okay, here's...

That's exactly right. Or you got to put it in the right file too. You just can't have things hanging in the wrong file. That's no, you've got to have all the folders. And sometimes you have

to create the appropriate subfolder.

Subfolders, it's all about the subfolders. God, look at this. We're just vibing right now. This is great.

Hahaha

All right, here's the last one. Are you competitive when it comes to board games with your kids?

⁓ yeah, I'm not proud of this, but yes.

yeah, I'm, I'm not always proud of my behavior and monopoly. Cause first I, there's a part of that game that drives me crazy, but I'm not proud of everything I've done in life. Yeah. That's right.

Yeah, me neither, but you know...

It's okay, you know, it's the little things. I totally

understand the intensity. So strong

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

Yeah, I, I'm a Democrat because I think we're all in this together. ⁓ that to me is the biggest

full stop. mean, yeah, there's side bar of like being socially progressive, pro-choice marriage equality, et cetera. But, ⁓ the core theme, which I think unites the broader range of our party

we're all in this together. I think that's the uniting theme.

Yeah.

Yeah, we, believe the Democratic Party, and I think you would agree that we have the largest tent and we have the moral fabric and the values that would take care of everyone. And yeah.

Yes.

And unlike the current president,

I can't say all Republicans, but unlike the current president, we don't believe in just fighting for the people that only vote for us.

Right, yeah, we fight for everyone.

That's right.

the

Okay.

Got it, got it, got it.

So they had a really nice season. My son and I, you know, we're coming out of COVID and, you know, and just like, hey, let's, I had never, I had only, I'd never been to a Pitt bowl game before. And I'm a Pitt guy.

And so the whole trip down there, we're joking about, got to get Georgia peanuts, got to get Georgia peanuts. And so go have dinner, go to the game, first half, et cetera.

At halftime I go, okay I'm gonna go get us some Georgia peanuts and I start walking to get us the Georgia peanuts and I see two dudes arguing and they start basically pushing and shoving and one of them goes to hit the other guy and hits the woman right next to her and she goes down

peanuts.

It was, it was more instinct than anything else. I tend to be someone that runs towards the fire. I don't mean that literally. but I tend to, you know, if I see someone in trouble, I tend to reach in that maybe it's cause I had a brother with muscular dystrophy and you know, there's a protective instinct that comes to that. But I saw the woman go down and.

didn't really think much about myself and went in and wanted to see if she had had a concussion or started asking questions. And then the pile eventually moves on top of us where they're throwing blows on top of us and I'm covering her up to make sure she doesn't get hit

Yeah.

That's what happened. so I come back to the seat and I didn't have the peanuts. And my son's like, my son's like, what the, you know,

Didn't even get your peanuts.

and I was like, Oh, you won't believe what happened. And he's like, Oh, you're you've, you've lost your mind. You're crazy. And so the next day it's now new year's Eve and we're in Atlanta and we're having lunch and my phone starts blowing up.

Yeah.

And my former chief of staff calls up and I said, Hey, happy new year. It's because it's New Year's Eve. We're in Atlanta. How you doing? She goes, did you save some woman last night? I said, well, yeah, but like, how did you know? And she goes, dude, it is literally lighting YouTube on fire. And my son watches the video, like it's basically going, ⁓ you weren't kidding. This really is why I didn't get peanuts.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so then actually when I got back home, the Pitt football, the story, a lot of stories came out, et cetera, et cetera. And the Pitt football team did send me a basket of Georgia peanuts. Yeah. The Pitt football team took care of that. That's right.

Yeah, yeah.

that's why my question was gonna be, are you ever gonna go back get your peanuts, but they did it for you. That's

amazing. Well, an amazing story, not surprising for your personality, and thank goodness, a happy ending, you got your peanuts.

Yeah,

yeah, no, that's right. Yeah, we, I mean, and the woman was fine, so she was fine.

That's good. That's good to know.

It's hard to ask for money in politics, especially when many people want that money to be invested and have good returns. How do you approach asking people for money to help fund democratic campaigns in Pennsylvania?

So right now it's a little bit easier for me because I'm not asking for myself. So the money I raise goes to the party and to our justices and the other candidates and go to the infrastructure. So that is just, to be blunt, I have no problem asking

Mm-hmm.

And if you, if you don't.

when you can't govern. So to me, it's part of the part of how you get there.

Yeah, I think it is a necessary thing that we have to do right now, especially when you have billionaires literally funding misinformation campaigns in Pennsylvania. You brought up the Supreme Court race happening in Pennsylvania. In our very own backyard, we have a billionaire, Jeffrey Yass He's worth $70 billion.

That's right.

and spent 15 million against me in my attorney general race. I know he has spent millions in the state legislature level. And I think he gave the person that will make us want to vomit Vivek Ramaswamy, I think he gave him 10 million for his Ohio governor's race. mean, so, and here's another thing like, look, I'd like to think that we're all trying to do this the right way, but.

Yeah, I know.

I mean, Trump is so transparently transactional. He was for banning TikTok. Jeffrey Yass owns TikTok. They met, they came out of the meeting. He wasn't for banning TikTok. You and I weren't in that meeting, but you can just imagine.

Right, right.

Yeah, I know. He owns the majority share of TikTok in America. And for those who don't know, it's crazy. So it is necessary. It's not always fun asking for money, but we have to be able to promote and elect good candidates. And I'm really happy that you're going to put in the work to help out Democrats in Pennsylvania up and down the ballot.

That's

That's 100 % and it's what you have to do.

Well, we're gonna play another game called Politics is Blind. Okay? Because, you know, I think people have a misconception that politics isn't entertaining. And I understand, and I actually agree, good politics should be boring most of the time. But every once in a while, really amazing things happen. So I think, Eugene, we're gonna give the masses what they want. Okay? Let's make politics entertaining. ⁓

Okay, yeah.

By the way, Ronald Reagan

and Donald Trump both won the presidency twice. So there's, there's something to it.

Yeah, God.

I know. I'm ready for boring politics again, trust me. But have you heard or seen the show Love is Blind? Okay, so it's the show, I have to say, I don't watch it religiously, but my wife just watches it. I could see that. It's basically where you have two, you have a group of men, a group of women who don't see each other for a number of episodes, and they interview each other in rooms separated by a wall, but they can hear each other.

I don't trust

I have not.

I watch too many sports highlights.

interesting,

okay.

And the theory is that like you fall in love with someone based on their personality and talking to them and then they get the reveal, okay? But we're gonna do our own politics is blind edition. And I'm actually gonna have you close your eyes. And I'm gonna make some statements. And you're just gonna tell me if these are some red flags for you, okay? Okay, so close your eyes,

Good. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay, alright guys, close my eyes.

Our economy would be better.

if abortion wasn't legal because you would have more able-bodied people in the workforce.

That is literally insane.

Okay, is that a red flag for you? Are we not compatible, Eugene? Is that what you're trying to say?

That would be a red flag,

Okay.

If

somebody held that view,

would not be hanging out with them for a cup of coffee.

Okay,

interestingly enough, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said that. Doesn't surprise you at all, but yeah, the leader of the Republican Party in DC said that. Okay, well, I'm fine. I'm glad that we don't vibe on that anyway, because I didn't say it. All right, have a couple more for you. Public school curriculums that include lessons about LGBTQ plus people will groom children.

Yeah, that does not shock me.

Heh.

That would make me, ⁓ the idea of that actually makes me want to vomit. It's insane. And by the way, the idea that any child should be anything other than loved and encouraged is not something I want to be a part of.

I 100 % agree with you and actually our very own Doug Mastriano said that, which I'm sure doesn't surprise you at all for those who don't know he is a state senator still serving in Pennsylvania. All right, I have two more for you. Making people wear masks during COVID was a form of discrimination.

Yeah, I.

No, I mean, obviously it wasn't. mean, and we do need to be honest that the federal government, the CDC sort of made some conflicting statements on that. But I believe whatever you feel about the mask, I believe it was done with the best of intentions.

It was, and as a physician I will concur with you. However, our very own state rep Russ Diamond made that comment. Yeah, yeah, Republican Russ Diamond. Okay, here's the last one. Passing a budget to help people in Pennsylvania is just not a priority for me.

I'm the giants.

somebody say that that's in the legislature?

I mean, they didn't exactly say it, but I mean, state Senate Republicans are not doing that right now, so.

No, they're there. Look, the

governor introduced the budget that was balanced and the House has passed a budget and the Senate literally cannot. And it's because, by the way, this is all open my eyes because I this this is actually a real problem.

Yeah.

You have enough Republicans who would with, cause I think all 23 Democrats had said they would support it. And there's at least five to six Senate Republicans that have, so that gets you to 29 in a body of, you know, 50. So that's more than enough, but the Senate Republican leadership will not even allow it to come up for a vote.

They would, they would, yes.

and they

will come up for vote. It's crazy. And it's been over a hundred days. A hundred days.

And I believe this is

all just trying to stick it to the governor for politics.

Yeah, it's crazy. Well, I think we've proven, and I believe this in the actual show, love is not blind and neither is politics. So there you go. Well, thanks for playing with me.

That is right, that is right.

Yeah, the number one group of growth in party registration is not affiliated or independent.

We're probably doing slightly better than us, but that's the biggest one. And I think to be blunt with younger people, we've got a brand problem because they don't think we're fighting for anything fair or not. Um, and I know you and I could maybe quibble with that argument, but they don't believe we're out there fighting enough. So, so a lot of them are just saying screw both parties, register unaffiliated. Now you and I know why that's a problem in Pennsylvania. We have closed primaries. That's, uh, so that is a structure.

structural reason why they shouldn't do that. But the reality is they are doing

And a lot of people who probably identify as more left than right on a lot of issues are feeling Democrats are not there fighting. So I think the number way to way to change this beyond just registering more voters like duh, is we've actually got to improve the image of our party. I think the other stuff will follow if we're doing that.

I agree. I think and I know that Democrats are fighting for Pennsylvanians. I really know that. I see it every day. Unfortunately, I just feel like we don't have the media presence that so that we don't we don't the Democrats do not have a CNN. They don't have a Fox News equivalent. You know, a lot of Democrats who are prevalent on social media try to get the messaging out there. But that's a large reason why I started this podcast, because I did not realize how many young people

That's right.

tuned into Joe Rogan and believed everything he was saying. And it really did a disservice to the party.

Yeah, I

because of my fitness side of my.

You know, life, ⁓ I knew that stuff existed. didn't know quite to the extent, but I knew it existed.

And to me, even just, and I, you know, I know there's conflicting stories on it, but when one side is doing the talking and the other side isn't, and for the podcast world, for that sort of libertarian leaning younger dude type of guy, we didn't talk to them at all.

Yeah.

Now the public is expecting authenticity. They want to see you on these shows. They want to see you mix it up. Even if that means you say something stupid once or twice. you could just like anything else, you can go overboard with that. because I know people give you props just for having the guts to go on.

Yeah, yeah.

100%. Yeah, I look forward to helping Pennsylvania. That's what I'm focusing on, getting out positive democratic messaging, because I see it. I know where to look. I see Democrats fighting for the people in the Commonwealth, and I want to project the truth. And I don't want to lie about it. I want to project the truth.

That's right. And by the way, you

see, you're good. Look, if you saw me on the evening news, again, I do that stuff, you know, it's important, but you see me for seven seconds and I'm not knocking them. have, they, for what they do. I think you get to know someone much better in this type of a format because you can't hide.

Yeah,

right, exactly. just, the consistency is what I'm looking for, positive democratic messaging, and it's not difficult because Democrats are positive.

That's right.

I tried looking this up, but do the chairs of the Democratic Party in other states ever get together for conventions or have like quarterly meetings?

We do have quarterly meetings. I have not been to one yet, but we do have one. There's going to be, there was one in Minnesota right before I was elected. ⁓ I think it was in Minneapolis or St. Paul. ⁓ and then we're going to be in LA in December.

Okay.

Okay.

That's great. I'm just really happy that you all, you know, collaborate and stick together because I'm sure you can bounce ideas off of each other.

absolutely. look

forward, particularly, I mean, I'm sure I'll be happy to meet them all, but I particularly want to meet the chairs of Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, although I've met the chair from North Carolina and some of the other swing states just to get some ideas from them.

That's great. Well, maybe you can play this game with them because we're going to play musical chairs. Okay. So I'm going to tell you the name of a chair and you're going to guess the state that they are in. I only have three and there's a reason for that because if you don't guess the state that they're in, I'm going to sing you a short piece of that state's anthem. Okay. So you're actually going to be saving yourself from hearing me sing and the viewers and listeners. Okay.

Okay, let's do it.

Okay, alright.

So

this is a public service issue.

Yes, yes,

yeah, absolutely. Okay, here's the first one. Betsy Marin.

I think that's Wisconsin.

It is not. Okay, here. So there's kind of like a southern twangy ⁓ rhythm to this, okay? Where the cattle crop the clover and its breath is in the air while the sun is shining over our beloved Delaware.

⁓

okay. Now, I will tell you, I almost confused you

I mean...

Taylor Swift right there. was that good. It was that good. It was that good. On that one, yes.

really? That was a Taylor Swift? I'm flattered and you're lying your ass off, but thank you very much. Okay.

All right, here's the second one. Kathleen Clyde.

Is that Ohio?

Thank God. Yes, it's Ohio. Yeah, it is Ohio. Okay. Could you save me? I'm not gonna sing it cuz that was a hard one

Yeah, that's it.

I did go to

college in Ohio, but I can only imagine what the song is.

It's not a great one. You can look it up later. All here's the last one. Mike Pushkin.

It's not Nebraska. It is not California.

not Nebraska.

I'm gonna say Illinois.

All right, this I don't mind singing this one, okay? Country roads take me home to the place I belong. West Virginia mountain mama take me home. There you go, West Virginia. I think that when you meet up, you should play musical chairs together.

⁓ really?

Hello, this is Virginia. Mama, country road.

Yeah, that's, I will let them know and I will never forget Pushkin is from West Virginia.

Okay,

there you go. And honestly, when I was looking up this game, not every state has a state anthem, actually, which I was surprised about. Yeah, so I think Maryland was one of them. I was trying to do states that have abut Pennsylvania, but Maryland didn't have one, so I had to cut it down, thankfully for you and me.

wow.

Eugene, if you don't want to discuss this particular topic, I totally understand and we'll move on, but.

You know, for me as a physician, and just doing my research about you, and you spoke about this earlier, one of your brothers passed away from muscular dystrophy while you were in law school. First of all, may his memory be a blessing. And my question to you is, how did his presence in your life influence your ideals and passion help others?

Yeah.

so Anthony was seven years younger than me. So it was myself and Vincent and Anthony. so Vincent was a year younger than me, 13 months. and so we were both pretty athletic, able to do a lot of stuff. And, ⁓ when we started to find out that, you know, he had something wrong and then found out it was muscular dystrophy my first sort of like.

wake up call that, you know, it's not about working harder, you know, like, ⁓ just, you know, pick yourself up by the bootstraps, that type of thing. And, you know, it's a dreaded disease. It gets worse over time to eventually where, you know, you, you die usually of some type of lung or heart issue because, you know, you can't breathe anymore. Your ⁓ heart just stops. So he lived a, you know, a really good life for having

See ya.

We never had health insurance because of that, because at that time insurance companies could deny you for preexisting conditions. But I also said when I would tell someone my brother in muscular dystrophy then they would meet him. They would say, if he wasn't in the wheelchair, you wouldn't know because he just had that type of personality. But it does teach you the lesson and it gets pounded in you every day. There are some people that just cannot do things for themselves and someone has to help.

Yeah, and I can't believe, I mean, it's crazy. I think it's just crazy that there was a time not too long ago that insurance companies could just deny you care. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah.

Well, it's insane, but the

other, so I want to say, so that's sort of like, and where we're trying to go, not to say you and me, but where the Trump administration wants to take us on, because Obamacare fixed that.

people say what they want. It fixed that. And that was President Obama and the Democrats in the United States Congress doing something that everyone said they agreed with, but they were the ones that got it done.

It did.

So that really mattered

you're right, people take that stuff for granted. you're also correct, the Trump administration and Republican politicians wanna take that away. They basically wanna go back to our insurance companies, can just throw people off.

their insurance if they want to and we can't allow that to happen.

One thing I want to say is that if you have not done it, and I'm not saying that people should be relegated to this, but if you want to know the challenges, sometimes people with physical disabilities have, sit your fan in a wheelchair and try to roll around on a city sidewalk. It is, then you come to grips with the challenges that are out there every single day.

Yeah,

yeah, every able-bodied person is just one accident away from becoming disabled, minus genetics. And the types of safety nets that we have for the disabled community is there for everyone, no matter what happens. And so we can't ever take that for granted.

That's right. That's right.

That's right. That's right. That's exactly right.

right, we're going to lighten it up a little bit. And thank you again very much for that story. I understand that you are a big Star Wars fan, correct?

That

is accurate. Yes.

And

are you a classic Star Wars enthusiast or do you like all the modern day spin-offs as well?

So

Andor, full stop, one of the best shows of all time. Andor, now I'm a fan of Battlestar Galactica, fan of Game of Thrones. Breaking Bad was ridiculously good, but Andor was the best of the of the post-hero. But I don't get into all of them because there's too much out there and sometimes you just gotta go to bed and you

Yes.

Okay.

yeah. yeah.

Yeah.

But I was six years old.

when the first one came out and literally lost my mind in that day. And it has been a passion ever since.

I would agree, I loved Andor. That show had me in a chokehold. I mean, there were so many parallels between what we're fighting today, fighting the empire and the rebels and how long it takes to make change and the people you lose along the way. It was so good.

See, that's

what, what Andor does is like sort of it. So we were kids when Star Wars comes out. don't know how old you are, but for me, I was literally, you know, five going on six when the first one comes out. But the thing that like, and again, it was awesome. It was great. It, you know, was, it, we're still talking about it to this day, but the original Star Wars, like there's no real suffering, right? You don't really know what started the war. You know, there's Leia, there's Chewie, Han, Luke. I was a Luke guy.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Right. Right.

One thing Andor does is he really says, ⁓ this war didn't come from nowhere. The Empire did all these horrible things and enough people in the galaxy had just had enough. When I tell people is Andor is tangentially a Star Wars story. Every now and then you see a TIE fighter. Every now and then you see a stormtrooper, but like Luke and Palpatine aren't really part of the story. I don't even think there's a single scene with a Jedi and all thing.

But it is a show about when do people have had enough.

Right,

how long it takes for good people to not give up. It takes good people everywhere to keep moving forward, even if you might not live to see the day where people have a better

That's right. That's right. That's right.

That's right.

So good. I don't want to have too many spoilers. Yeah, his case.

No, yeah, that's right. In case, just in case. But you should watch

people out there. Even if don't agree with our politics, watch Andor.

We're gonna play a game called The Force. So we're gonna pretend like you have the force, you have the power of the force, and would you use it in these scenarios, okay?

⁓ there's a lot.

So we're gonna go backwards a little bit, okay? Putting your kids back in their rooms when they refuse to go to sleep, would you use The Force?

But to use the force, no, I think you gotta have enough parenting skills to allow that one to happen without necessarily using the force.

my gosh, I have three kids. I would totally have used the force to, I mean, not to hurt them. I've just been like, you know, levitating them up back into their room, closing the door. I totally would have done it. How about, okay. Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah. You would use the force. Understood. All right, what about shifting cars on the street to help make room for you to park? Like,

Just like, just to levitate them up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, what I would do is if they tried to leave after they were put in bed, then I would be like, I just do this to the drum. You're just forced to close the door.

100%.

Right? Like there's like this little spot like if it was just two feet over a little bit. Right. Exactly. Okay, we're on the same page

just two feet and you're not harming the car, you're just levitating it up another two feet.

How about influencing a sports game a little bit, like making the ball move ever so slightly, you know, fair, foul, or, you know, get into that.

No, you know what?

wouldn't know. I would want to, I want them to play it straight as someone that was out there. think you've got to let your work ethic talent, you know, whatever luck of the sport. that's the fun part of sports is that, you know, that we don't use the force to alter the outcomes. may switch where I'm sitting to alter the outcome because that that's, you're allowed to do that, but I wouldn't use the force.

That's right.

That's right. It's the uncertainty of the... Okay. Okay. Understood. Yes.

Okay. Understood. Here's the last one. This may be the most important one. Changing a duvet cover.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no. I think you almost have to.

Yeah, that's like one of the worst torturing experiences I think I've ever had in my life.

Yeah, you gotta use the force for duvet covers. Okay, good. Glad we're on the same page on that one.

Eugene, what would you say to someone, and I imagine you have to do this a lot now, who isn't as engaged politically as we are, to get out and vote this November 4th?

I tell people your freedoms as you know them are actually on the line. This Supreme Court has held up reproductive freedom. They've held up fair education funding. They've held up environmental protections and voting rights. If you think those matter, you got to get out and you got to vote yes.

Yeah, and for those who do who may not realize we have three state Supreme Court justices that we have to vote yes to retain.

Justices Donohue Dougherty and Wecht. And we have to make sure we turn our ballots over if you have a mail-in ballot, because we must retain them. As you said, we have rights that we cannot afford to lose.

That's exactly right. And this is not, this is not a drill. This is for real. And I'll let people know sort of a little process, because we do have the time with this and that is, if they all are rejected, meaning vote no, the court is then tied to two. And they say the governor could nominate replacements, but the Senate's control of the to be Republicans So the court would then be at a standstill for two years.

No, yeah, this is a large.

Sure.

Yeah.

Right, two years,

That's right.

That's right.

That's right. That's right.

That's exactly right.

That's exactly right.

So

as you said, everything's on the line this November

That's exactly right.

Yes.

Yes.

⁓

You actually purchased your office furniture at a yard sale.

Yes, that's right. I actually had a table in my office that you had to put the napkins under to stop it from wobbling.

my gosh. Well, I look, already know that Democrats are the fiscally conservative party, but it's nice to see we're walking the walk as a public servant.

Yeah, yeah, there was

a couple other reps that we would battle to see who were the lowest spenders but I was always in the mix. I won that title a couple of times.

That's amazing. Well, you did great things for Pennsylvania. Do you remember those times fondly?

Yes, I do. You sometimes when we went over the deadline on the budget by a day or two, that was frustrating. Never what we're dealing with now. yeah, no, the camaraderie. I loved every second of being Auditor General, but the one thing I missed was the camaraderie in house, which I think they don't have anymore, which is kind of sad.

Yeah, well, I think it's great that we have someone like you who's leading the party now in Pennsylvania that has that that connection, that draw. You understand the inner workings of the Pennsylvania legislature. And so I think that's going to bring a lot to the table in explaining things to people and how things work, because voters need to be educated these days. know, basic, basic civics. How do laws get made? How do we vote on things? How do they get to the governor's office? And if there's a stalemate.

they're not getting things passed, you can explain why that happens. Yeah.

That's right. Yeah,

it's a part of what I bring to the table.

Yeah, you're the full package, Eugene.

So you are big into triathlons, which I find admirable because I don't think I'd be able to do any of them. But I also heard you recently broke your clavicle. Is that true?

Yeah. So I'll show you here. ⁓ don't worry. I'm not going to take it all off, but I have a bone stimulator, ⁓ right there, ⁓ that is still working to heal

my gosh.

so, but I am back in the gym. I'm going full go.

four miles today in about 30

and so I'm back biking, haven't been in the pool yet. ⁓

Okay.

But that's coming, the doctor wanted me to wait a little longer, so I'm waiting a little longer. And because I could not do a lot of shoulder presses and pull-ups, my legs are getting really, really strong now because every workout's about my legs right now.

Bye.

You're something else. You're wonderfully intense, Eugene, as always. I mean, you shouldn't feel too badly because the clavicle is actually the most commonly broken bone in the body. I didn't know if you knew that. Yes, I'm sure your physician was like, you know, because that's like, Yes, yeah, every medical student learns that fact. You never forget it.

Yeah.

Yeah, I did not know that until after it happened.

That's right. And then particularly for bike actions too.

Right. But it started a trend though. It started a trend though.

Governor Wolf came after me and then Senator Fetterman came after him.

⁓ yeah, well there you go. You're a trailblazer. And not just because you do triathlons. That's amazing. I did not know that. Well, what was your proudest accomplishment while auditor general?

That's right.

Yeah, that's.

I mean, such amazing initiatives that you did. You helped people in the commonwealth from abuse and you saved over a billion dollars in recoverable state money. It just goes to show how important this office is and that when we vote for people, you're gonna have auditors who actually try and go out and help people and others who take a more sitting back position and let illegal things happen unchecked.

I viewed that job, which again, I loved every second of it was, look, I may vote for you and I may really like you, but nine to five, I'm not your buddy.

Right, yeah, I mean you held polluters accountable, you investigated improper gifts given to county officials for voting machine vendors. I you did a lot of amazing things as Auditor General, and correct me if I'm wrong, you can only serve so many terms as Auditor General. It's two term maximum.

That's right.

That's right.

Yeah, your two term maximum, which, you know,

if I would have been allowed to run for a third term, I might've, but at some point, executive offices in particular, I'm not convinced all the time on the legislature because I don't want lobbyists and staff to run the place. But I do think in the executive, do think some, I think Virginia is ridiculous with only one term. But I do think some type of term limit on executives because you can accumulate too much power over the long

sense. Now, I mean, you did an amazing job and I just wanted to highlight those achievements and accomplishments.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Eugene, what gives you hope?

I think the energy, like I was in Bedford County tonight. It was 250 people at the Bedford County dinner night. That gives me hope.

I, I joking said, I thought almost all the voters in the county were there. I always Democrats wise, but that gives me hope. They're out there. They're fighting. That gives me hope.

You

You give me hope Eugene, you really do. You really do.

Thank you.

My last question for you is, what plans do you have to get yourself through these next few years?

⁓ good sleep, good hydration, keep my fitness going. And when I start going a little stir crazy, find a way to just get out on the walk and ignore the world for a while.

I feel like you have a lot of very healthy outlets Eugene, but please no more broken clavicles, okay?

I

⁓ will do my best on that one again.

All right, well, Eugene DePasquale the chair of the PA Democratic Party, civic engagement is something that he just does all the time. And you're so good at it. And I really can't wait to see what you're going to do in Pennsylvania. We need strong leaders. And I know you're a leader. And I know you're going to do a lot of great things for us. So what can we do now as talking to the viewers and listeners? What can we do to help you?

Go to padems.org, get involved in one of these judicial campaigns, perhaps contribute. And for some of you out there, maybe you should run for the legislature.

Maybe you're some of the voters out there in some of these red districts that we need that are going to shake it up. If you are upset about what's happened in Washington, or maybe running for president is beyond anyone's wildest imagination, but it starts with getting people elected to Congress, State House, State Senate. And even if that's not your style in two years, run for school board, run for local township.

bring good policies in a local race, you could be the one to make sure that the local community has a better parks and rec program for young kids. That really matters. There's so many different things out there that people can do to make their communities better. But go to padems.org and find some of those ways.

100%. I'll definitely promote that. And democracy is not a spectator sport. We all have to do our part and get involved in our local politics to make Pennsylvania a better state to live in. Thank you so much for your time, Eugene. And I know we're going to be working together a lot.

100%.

Thank you so much. really appreciate the time. Thank you.

Thank you.

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.