Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today is a lifelong Northampton County public servant who has consistently answered the call to community service when help was needed. He's a parent, County commissioner and a Democrat running to flip a state house seat blue this year. Thank you so much for being here, Jeff Warren.

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.

It's great to be on the show here, Zeke. Looking forward to the conversation here.

I don't know, man. I just, I feel like this show is gonna be amazing. I don't know what it is. I have some amazing questions for you. And I think we're gonna vibe. We're gonna vibe really well today, okay?

You

So this is a little bizarre for me because believe it or not, I run the longest running Philly sports podcast show in the world, the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, Shameless Plug right there. And I'm usually the one interviewing folks on my show. So this is a little bit of a different vibe and a little bit

Mm-hmm. There you go.

of a different feel. So I'm ready for it though. I'm ready for it.

Ah,

We're gonna have a great time, learn all about you, play some games and have some fun. Are you ready? All right, well you kind of gave a little taste.

Sounds good, yeah?

That was gonna be my first question. You you in fact host the longest running Philly sports podcast show in the world. How did this come to pass?

Yes.

The Phillies won the World Series, my first World Series that I remembered them winning. And consequently, the Eagles winning two Super Bowls, you know, within the past 10 years. And it's something of an amazing community, the podcasting world. You probably know this Zeke from doing the Zekely podcast. Well, you can bring folks together from around the world, quite frankly. I have a good friend that's been listening to the...

⁓

Mm-hmm.

⁓ wow.

or climbing up telephone poles.

Exactly. Look, you can

grease them all you want. People are still going to get up those poles.

Yeah, well, mean,

when you become state rep, because it's gonna happen, what are you gonna do with the podcast? You keep doing it?

Yes, yes. I'm going to keep doing the podcast.

Absolutely. I think that when you are passionate about doing something in life, honestly, whether it's public service, I'm passionate about my family. Quite frankly, I'm passionate about Philly sports and this community that I am in. I'm going to continue to be involved in it. I'm going to continue to do the podcast. I might not be doing three podcasts per week when it's Eagle season. We always do an Eagles postgame podcast show. So it's four a week.

Mm-hmm.

may not be doing as many, the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show is going to continue to be around.

I'm glad. Look, you have to find ways to decompress and have fun. And if that's way that you do it, then that's how you do it.

Absolutely.

Well, we are going to play our first game. OK? And I'm going to pretend like you won because you're going to win this seat. OK? And you're going to have to have another podcast. OK? That's for your state representative position. And I kind of came up with a name for you. And I call it The Warren Room. OK?

Sounds good.

Okay.

Ooh, ooh,

the Warren Room. This is great. Yes. Okay.

The Warren Room, right? Okay, so this is gonna be your podcast, blending

PA politics in Philly sports. So I have a couple of questions for you. So which PA politician gives the strongest Eagles fan energy?

Ooh. Okay, here we go.

⁓ boy, this is, this is tough. I would have to say, and I, I'm going to be transparent because he is a friend of mine. He's been a long time friend of mine. I would say state, state representative, Schweier, who's the chair of the education committee because Pete tells it like it is. He is honest. He doesn't care who he's talking to. He doesn't care if you're a friend, a foe, who, who cares who is in front of you. You're going to get the truth every second of the day when it comes to representative Schweier. So I would say Pete Schweier.

Perfect, there's a guest right now for the Warren Room. Okay, how about this, which PA politician is the political equivalent of trust the process?

Yes.

on local communities, what local communities not only need within his district, but outside of his district as well. Trust the process with Bob Freeman and he's going to deliver for you.

I love it. Perfect. I have two more for you. Which PA politician is secretly having an MVP season nobody actually notices?

I think I'm going to go outside the box outside the Lehigh Valley box on this one. And I'm to go with state representative Emily Kincaid. I mean, she is somebody who is continually in my social feeds ⁓ because of her advocacy when it comes to hunger, when it comes to food insecurity, something I think is extremely important for the state legislature to gauge well into the future.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, yeah, she's a good one.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

and just her

advocacy for her community. I think she is incredible and doing great work in Western Pennsylvania.

Absolutely, absolutely. Here's the last one.

All

PA politician would absolutely fight a mascot?

fight a mascot? would,

It was fun.

I would have to say it could be our very own majority leader, Matt Bradford. And I say, and I say that because having only met a majority leader Bradford one time, he is, he sticks up for everybody. He'll stick up for everybody in his caucus. He is the type of guy who is loyal.

okay, yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yes. Yes.

look with a one seat Democratic majority, which hopefully you're going to expand on that, you

know, you have to be in lockstep. You have to have your caucus in order. And Matt Bradford has absolutely done that since we took the majority. So I agree with you. Well, look, Jeff, this is not proprietary. The Warren Room is officially yours when you become state rep and get it off the ground. OK.

Yeah, absolutely. All right.

I

appreciate that. The intellectual property rights. We're going to have to talk about that, of course, at some point.

All right.

It is yours, my friend.

Jeff, why are you running?

for the State House.

Zeke, this really goes back to when I was about 10 years old.

I'll never forget, I wanted to make money. I wanted to, as a kid, I wanted to buy some little trinkets. I was really into the WWF back then, now WWE. And I wanted to like go to events with my dad, buy some merchandise. And the only way that you could make money back then was to have a paper route. So I delivered newspapers, got myself paper route.

70 newspapers within the neighborhood that I lived in. And after two weeks, I told my dad, I was on my 10 speed bike and I was like, I cannot do this, dad. I cannot do this. And he said, son, don't quit. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to make you a deal right now. I'm going to drive you around every morning and we're going to deliver these 70 newspapers. But the deal is you need to save half of your money and put that into a savings account. And we're going to let that grow and.

we're going to spend every morning together delivering these newspapers. It taught me such a valuable lesson Zeke and it taught me that it's so important to have others backs. My dad had my back back then and at the end of the day, I should say at the end of eight years when I was graduating high school, I still had my newspaper route with my dad all throughout high school. I graduated high school. I was able to purchase my first car, used car.

⁓ wow.

I was able

to pay for my first year at Penn State as well with the money that I had earned. But again, it's because my dad had my back and it taught me that valuable lesson that my dad, somebody who was a veteran of the air force taught me that service is important and taught me that having other people's backs is so important. And it was such a valuable lesson for me throughout my formidable years and into my twenties, thirties, now my forties.

It's so important to have other people's backs and we are not seeing that here specifically in this district. We need to have somebody fighting for our kids education, for housing attainability. We need to have folks who are fighting to help lower utility costs. We need folks who are fighting out in Harrisburg for our local communities. And at the end of the day, I'm going to have everybody's back here in the 137th district.

I appreciate that and it's not just your district. Your vote is going to affect all Pennsylvanians, even in my district. So I'm grateful that you're going to take your values to Harrisburg and look out for

Very true. Very true.

backs.

Yes. Yes.

Jeff, the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no to establish a constitutional right to an abortion in Pennsylvania. How do you feel about that?

Yes.

Not happy about it at all. Not happy about it at all. And I can go back to my junior year when I was at Penn State. It was the first time that I was ever exposed to what women's choice and having choice meant for women and young ladies. My friend was starting to date somebody and she was unfortunately raped.

And we were going through that together. She confided in me about it. And then several, several weeks later comes to me and says that she was pregnant. And it was from that tragic, horrendous, horrible incident. And again, that was the first time that I was ever exposed to something like that. And I said, my gosh, how could this happen? And she needed to do what she needed to do with her life at that moment.

There should be no man on this earth that tells a woman what they need to do with their body. End of story. The votes that my opponent has made on this issue are straight up wrong. I have two 15 year old daughters and I look at them every day wanting them to be safe and praying that they do not have to go through what my friend went through.

So in that regard, I am so very honored that I have been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and I'm going to be a voice for women's choice once I am elected. We need to make sure that women have the ability to have the choices that they need to make for their own health well into the future, Zeke.

I appreciate that. And as a doctor, I firmly believe that reproductive health care is health care, and health care is a human right. So I want to make sure that any state rep serving in Harrisburg will protect the right to choose in Pennsylvania. thank you very much.

Yes. Yes.

Absolutely.

Hey, thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Zekely Podcast. And if you're enjoying yourself, please take a moment to rate my Podcast. Five stars would be great and leave a comment as well. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit follow. OK, back to the show.

Jeff, you are very passionate about playing the guitar, which you started at the age of 10. I see some guitars behind you. Where does that passion come from?

Yes.

Yes.

think the passion comes from just music in general. I believe that music is so good for your soul, especially live music. I was in a band when I was in college. However, something I enjoy doing is creating. And I think that we need to continue to provide, especially our young individuals, avenues for creation, avenues for art, because it not only creates an enhancement within your soul,

but it enhances, I believe, parts of your brain where you're able to explore different parts of the world. I don't mean to sound hokey with this at all,

No, that's great.

I am so very grateful that I have this in my life. I wanna make sure other kids have this.

as well, whether it's music or whether it's visual art, any type of art, because it's going away in some schools around the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And we need to make sure that children have the ability to embrace art because it's going to embrace, it's going to enhance their mind

they will be able to travel down different avenues in the future.

Absolutely, I wish I would have stuck with the saxophone. I played the saxophone when I was younger, but when I hit high school they started grading you based on how you would play, where I went to high school I was like, don't want be graded to like play saxophone, so I just stopped. I mean, I did enjoy it. I should have stuck with it, you know, who knows? I could have been out there.

There you go.

yeah.

My wife is a saxophone

player, believe it or not.

She's pretty good. She's pretty good. Yes. There you go. Yes.

That's awesome. Well, you're gonna have to get a band together in Harrisburg, okay?

Well, Jeff, we're gonna play another game called Slappin' the Bass. Okay, did you ever watch the movie I Love You Man? You've never seen that movie? my God. Look, Paul Rudd, He's an American treasure, you know, Paul Rudd. And so in that movie, there's a scene where Paul Rudd plays the bass.

Honestly, I have not watched that movie. I have not seen it. I know.

Yes.

and he introduces Rush, the group Rush, to his fiance.

Okay, yep.

He's like playing the air bass guitar. He's like slapping the bass, man, and making his fiance extremely uncomfortable. And she's like, you sound Jamaican, or you sound Irish or Scottish. And he's like slapping the

Uh-huh.

You

and you obviously can't slap Republicans, okay? But you can't slap anybody. But if you don't like what you hear, you have to say, slap in the basement, okay? Just like Paul Rudd, okay? All right, so here's the first one. ⁓ Keeping the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour.

Yeah, you can't slap anybody. Yeah.

Okay, okay. Okay, we'll get it done.

Slap in the face, man. Slap in it.

terrible when Virginia.

and Ohio and New York and Delaware and all the surrounding states beat you when it comes to minimum wage, right?

It is absolutely preposterous that we still have a $7.25 minimum wage.

I mean, there is no reason why we should not have a $15 an hour minimum wage, gradually increase it as as Pennsylvania House Democrats want to do in a very responsible fashion, by the way, in a commonsensical fashion. Let's get this done already.

Yeah, Mm-hmm.

Let's get it done. That's right. Here's another one. Discriminate against the LGBTQ plus community.

Slap in the base, man. ⁓

I know it's terrible. I I love

that the Democratic majority in the state house has passed multiple times a non-discrimination act, but in order to keep that ball moving forward and eventually get it over to the state Senate, which we're gonna fucking flip this year. Okay. And this is an explicit show and we're gonna fucking flip it this year. Okay. We need a Democratic majority to keep that going. So I'm glad that you will vote to protect that community.

Yes, absolutely. Yes.

Zeke, I gotta tell you right now, one of my favorite votes, and there've been a few ⁓ as a member of Northampton County Council and a county commissioner, is this year we voted on a non-discrimination ordinance where we created our own human relations commission in Northampton County because the state allowed us to do it. We needed that. Again, we needed that because we've been dealing with old antiquated state law for so very long.

Yeah.

I'm gonna be a vote for that in the Pennsylvania State House. I'm glad we were able to get it done here in Northampton County as well this year.

Yeah.

I'm really glad. I'm glad you're going to bring that energy to Harrisburg. Here's the last one. Prevent women from getting paid maternity leave.

Yes.

slapping the bass, man. yes, slapping the bass. Dude, I got to tell you, State Representative Jen O'Mara has done an amazing job with paid family medical leave. Getting that legislation, she's been working on it for so long, getting that over the finish line was fantastic. I am going to be a vote for that if I am elected and when I'm elected, State Representative for sure,

fuck.

Yes.

I agree. Well, thanks for slapping the bass man. Jeff, I love you,

Oh, yeah. Slapping the bass, man. Oh,

thanks, buddy. I love you too.

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

This is a great question.

being a Democrat comes from a place of empathy and

we believe in community coming together for common good, a common cause.

Whether it's because of our kids' education, the nondiscrimination laws that we want in place, whether it's understanding what working folks are going through to bring prices down, whether we want to combat large corporations here in Pennsylvania when 70 % of them are not paying corporate taxes to the Commonwealth because of the Delaware loophole. It's crazy to me. I'm a Democrat because I care about my fellow man. I care about my neighbors.

And I really want to make sure that we can all in some way, or form come together on various issues instead of simply being a divided people, which we have become, which is incredibly sad. But to end on an optimistic note, Democrats like governor Shapiro said, get shit done. And we got to keep getting shit done. That's why I'm a Democrat. I want to get shit done. I want to make sure that folks have advocates who are fighting for them in Harrisburg.

That's right, that's right.

I appreciate that. Like you said, we are the biggest tent party, and we believe that when done correctly, government

the most amount of people.

Jeff, the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no to legalize recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania. How do you feel about that?

I don't understand when state legislators say that, you know, we got to, we got to cut costs. We've got to reduce the size of government when there are so many demands within our communities. I just don't understand this vote. I think we're at a point in time where when the great majority of Americans, the great majority of Pennsylvanians, they approve of legalizing recreational marijuana and quite frankly,

the revenue that we would be able to bring into the Commonwealth when when yes, absolutely. When fiscally speaking, there are question marks and challenges down the road we know that are going to be coming. When we have other states like New Jersey, right across from where I live, who are able who are getting a ton of money and revenue. I think it's important we have that revenue here in Pennsylvania. So I would be a vote for legalizing recreational

So much. So much, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I know. Yeah.

Jeff, you were inspired by a ninth grade history class and a book about President John F. Kennedy to go into a career in public service. I mean, that must have been quite a teacher you had because I don't remember ninth grade at all.

Yes. ⁓

Yes.

I'll be honest. don't I don't know how much it was the teacher but it was the actual book itself and the story behind that is Look, I had challenges academically growing up. I did and quite frankly I probably would have had a 504 plan if they were involved if they were available back when I was in school at that time Yeah, we had to we had to go to the library and we had to do a book report on something historical and I picked up this book

Hahaha

huh. No shame in that, no shame in that.

and it had a casket on it with a flag over it. And I'd never seen anything like that before. And it was a on President John F. Kennedy. I wish I knew who the author was so that I could credit that individual, but I was so inspired by what I read.

And I think during a time in my life where I needed some sort of inspiration and that's really what propelled me into saying, you know what? think maybe I could do something like this someday. Maybe I could serve.

I mean, I'm always inspired by people who know at a very young age that they want to go into public service because I mean, my frontal cortex just wasn't there yet at that age. mean, I'm just saying, I wasn't until I was much older that I realized the consequences of living in a democracy and not paying attention. It really was not until I was much, much older. So the fact that you got that in ninth grade, mean, kudos to you, man. And clearly it's been serving you well.

Yeah, I don't know if mine was either Zeke. I'll tell you that.

Yes.

Yeah. Well, thank you, my friend.

All right, Jeff, we're gonna play another game called Class is in Session.

Okay, so I'd like you to teach some people about the following topics and it should be a chip shot for you. ⁓ Why is it important to support unions?

Okay. Okay.

Oh, collective bargaining agreements are absolutely necessary.

He taught me that

we would not have a middle class in this country if it were not for unions. And it made me reflect on my own family and a number of family members that I had at the time that were part of unions. And I was able to step back and say,

If it wasn't for unions, my uncle and my aunt would not be in the middle class like they are

And even today with my wife being a union member, she's a public educator and has been for 25 years.

but unions are part of the fabric of America and part of the fabric of our communities. wouldn't have a middle class without unions and I think we need to fight for them.

Absolutely, I appreciate that. Here's another one. Why is it important to reign in warehouse development?

Well, right here in the 137th district, we have what I call our cement cities, warehouses that have just gone way over the line in terms of the amount of them. And quite frankly,

under the current state representative who has done absolutely nothing to mitigate this. Look, I do not believe that all warehouses are horrific and bad because some have manufacturing in them.

But certainly here in the 137th district, we have gone way over the line. When it comes to warehouses, it takes away farmland. Warehouses take away our open spaces. I'm so very grateful that I was able to make a vote on Northampton County Council during this term where we were able to preserve the 20,000th acre of farmland here in Northampton County. It's something I want to continue to do as state rep. I want to make sure that we're bringing back more funds

for farmland preservation and for open space initiatives. It's something we've lost a lot here in Northampton County. I wanna make sure that we're bringing back those funds from Harrisburg.

Yeah, you need, and again, you will directly influence that in your district. So when you're looking around and you're saying, where the hell is all my green space? Where are all these warehouses? Why are there so many trucks clogging up my street? It's because what's happening in Harrisburg. And that's why we need you to represent your district and keep that as low as possible. All here's the last one. Why is it important to fully fund public schools?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Absolutely.

I mentioned before that my wife is a 25 year public school educator, seven years as a special ed teacher. And for the past 18 years has been an elementary school counselor.

Yes.

I am, I have been on the front lines with my wife, seeing what she deals with.

on a year to year basis, sometimes a week by week basis as an elementary school counselor, our kids need the best tools possible. The best tools possible. Look, Governor Shapiro, House Democrats have done an incredible job with progressing our funding here in Pennsylvania, but we have to keep moving that train forward. We absolutely have to.

we've got millions of dollars that are not going to public schools that are going to these cyber charter schools. They need more accountability as well. But at the end of the day,

We need to look out for our young students, what their future is going to be. We really need to make sure that public education is the top priority as we're moving forward here.

Absolutely, and I always like to bring up, if your property taxes are going up where you live, you better ask, where are they putting the money in Harrisburg? Because the less that you fund public schools, the higher your property taxes are going to be. Well, thanks for playing classes in session.

Yes.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

grade teacher will be very proud. You're welcome.

Thank you.

Jeff, I've donated blood many times, but I can't say I've ever donated blood to save my own kid's life.

That is absolutely correct. My daughter, Abigail, I have identical twin daughters and Abigail, after a few months, her stomach was distended. We took her to the doctor and inevitably she had something called Hirschsprung's disease. Yeah. So with Hirschsprung's disease, she needed a number of different surgeries. And during those surgeries, I ended up donating my own blood in order to save her life with her blood transfusions. And it was

Yeah, yeah.

an incredible, not only feeling, but knowing that we had the technology to do something like that was absolutely one of the greatest things that I've ever done in my life. I'd been working in volunteering with our local blood center, Miller Keystone Blood Center. I still do to this day. And when I'm elected, I'm still going to continue to volunteer with them as well because they do incredible work because at the end of the day, they're saving lives. One pint of blood.

saves on average three lives. If there's anything anybody can do to help make a change in this world, donating blood can be that thing to actually save a life. It's an incredible feeling every time I go.

Jeff, you and your wife enjoy watching the

true crime docuseries, correct? Okay, so what are you binging right now?

Yes, yes.

Right now we are actually binging worst exes ever on Netflix, like worst ex boyfriends, worst ex girlfriends ever on Netflix.

Okay.

I'll say this, it's scary stuff. It is scary

Okay.

we just love the true crime stuff. We really do. But worst ex ever. Yeah, there's two seasons.

Yeah, worst X ever.

So far, four episodes per season. They're about 55 minutes each episode.

my wife and I, we are so very much into mental health. And I think it's one of the reasons why. In fact, we were watching one of the episodes last night and I turned to her and I said, they need to actually make an episode or they need to make a docu-series that talks specifically about the mental health of these individuals. Make it compelling.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

we do need more mental health funding in all of our communities. Absolutely.

We do we do

I recently watched and I recommend this should I marry a murderer? ⁓ Crazy right and it's crazy because I'm a doctor and she's a pathologist I was like, I mean, I mean clearly, you know across you know depression anxiety and what and just not wanting to be

we watched that one last week. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

hits everyone. Doesn't matter how much education you get.

Well, I

absolutely Zeke, I think what you're also talking about is the human connection and how important the human connection is to people, how we want to be cared for, how we want a certain community, how we want to be inevitably loved. And the boy that docu-series was absolutely fascinating and it entailed all of that together.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And from a mental health standpoint, you look at it and you reflect on it and say, you know, at the end of the day, people just want to be loved. People want to have others that are important to them in their lives.

and most importantly, you must love yourself.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Jeff, we're gonna play another game called Netflix and Vote, okay? All right, so I'm gonna just tell you a show that I've seen, okay? Maybe you've seen it, maybe you haven't, and I'm gonna explain why it makes me wanna vote, okay? So there are some spoiler alerts in here, okay? So, because obviously I have to tell a little about it. All right, so how about Alien Earth? Have you seen that show at all?

Ooh, all right. All right.

Okay.

Okay?

have not seen alien earth.

Okay, so it's basically if aliens from the classic movie aliens somehow wound up on earth, okay? And the basic big picture synopsis is that a couple big corporations in the future have all the power in the world. And that is why aliens end up coming back and getting to earth and wreaking havoc, okay? If that doesn't wanna make you get out and vote to prevent big corporations from taking over the world and releasing aliens, I don't know what.

Okay.

Okay.

Yes,

absolutely. Man, we gotta hold corporations accountable. We do here in Pennsylvania. 70 % of them do not pay corporate taxes to the Commonwealth. We need to close these corporate tax loopholes. House Democrats are trying. The Senate just refuses to bring it up. We gotta do it. I know Governor Shapiro would be in favor of that as well. Let's bring some revenue in that we're losing.

Okay?

Bring some revenue, keep out the aliens. All right, here's the next one. Have you ever seen the show Love is Blind? Okay, it is a guilty pleasure of mine right now. I watched Love is Blind America, but I have to say, the other countries are way better, way better. mean, Love is Blind Sweden, next level. I'm watching Love is Blind France right now. But I have to say, it just shows, again, we're doing a lot of mental health in this episode, I love it. It shows how lonely people are in the

Yes, keep out the aliens.

No, I have not.

Yes.

and that people need more mental health services to feel less alone and love themselves. I truly believe that if these shows really wanted to do some justice, they would allow them to have access to a therapist while they were on the show.

Absolutely.

combine the two. Love is blind, get some therapy, it'll be great.

Alright, here's the last one. Andor. Have you ever watched the show Andor?

I'll say this right now, are, my wife and I are in the middle of season two right now.

Is that not the best? I'm not a Star Wars fanatic. Okay. That show had me in a choke hold, man. That show so good, right? mean...

Yes. Yes.

I love it.

so emblematic of where we are in America today in so many ways.

Yes. Yes.

has been one of the most compelling shows.

Yeah.

that

I have seen in quite some time. Talked about, I love the true crime docu-series and documentaries, but man, Andor is so incredibly emblematic of where we are today as a society here in the United States.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

I know,

I know, aside from fighting fascism, finding joy in the resistance and just staying hopeful. I mean, that's what it's

Yes. Yes.

all about.

Man,

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Jeff, you currently serve as Northampton County Commissioner. So what have been some of

Yes.

proudest accomplishments?

As Northampton County commissioner, one of my proudest accomplishments was voting for the 20,000th acre of farmland that was preserved in our county. We have a lot of warehouses in Northampton County. We have a lot of cement cities that I call, that that's what I call them. And to be able to continue to invest in farmland preservation is so incredibly important in our region and our open spaces

That is

That has probably been one of my favorite votes so far.

I mean, I think that Pennsylvania has the most preserved farmland in the nation as a state, right? And that's largely because of Governor Josh Shapiro. He's made it a point to do that. And certainly Democrats in Harrisburg are working alongside him. You know, they do not want to get rid of any more farmland preserve as much as they can. So you'll bring that to Harrisburg when you get elected.

We do. Yes.

Absolutely.

Yes.

I will. And quite frankly, Zeke, my opponent in this race has not done that to the extent that we need. You know, look, my opponent in this race is a nice guy. I've known Joe for years, but nice guys don't always get things done. You need a fighter. You need people who are really going to fight for that funding for our open spaces and for farm land. We have to do that more so here in Northampton County.

Absolutely, and across the state.

Absolutely.

Jeff, you have a home recording studio where you write and record your own music. So when is the album gonna drop,

Yes.

Look, I do this stuff here. You see these guitars. I really do this for myself. I'm in the middle of possibly putting an EP together. I don't know if and when that will drop at all. Seriously, it might be next year. It might be 10 years from now. I do this for my own enjoyment. It's a great way for me to decompress. It's good for my mental health. Again, we're talking a lot about mental health on this podcast episode,

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I'll let you know Zeke. I'll let you know if I'm going to be dropping that EP at all anytime soon.

Okay.

I mean, look, you've got the medium for it. You can promote it on all of your podcasts and get discovered on TikTok and be touring with Benson Boone. You never know. You never know. You never know.

Yep.

there you go. There you go. There you go.

All right, we're gonna play another game called Mixtape. So I have come up with an album and it's called Trifecta. And for those who don't know, which I hope by now you do, Pennsylvania needs a trifecta this year, Democratic majority in the state house.

Yes, I love the name.

Democratic State Senate and Governor Josh Shapiro. So I'm gonna say a couple lines of a song, okay? And I want you to just come up with a title to the song, okay? All right.

Okay.

Okay, okay.

No switches in the street turning pistols into war. No ghost guns built in basements slipping through the law.

control.

There you go. Again, this is a nod to gun reform that we need in Pennsylvania. I know you'd pick up on it. You'd be good. All right, here's another lyric. Count every mailed in ballot before election day arrives so that people get the truth the very same election night.

Yes. Yes. Yes. There you go.

Freedom. Yes.

freedom, right? And

again, you will have control in Harrisburg because as it currently stands, Republicans will not allow county officials to count mail-in ballots seven days before an election so that on election day, they can just dump the ballots and everyone knows who won faster. Other states do it, but Republicans don't want that because they want that facade that somehow Democrats are pulling something.

Yes.

Right. Yep.

Yes.

Other states do it successfully and they do it responsibly. It is a common sense measure that needs to be enacted.

Right, 100%. I have two more. Put the finance reports online where everybody sees no backroom money hiding in the shadows secretly.

Transparency for all. Yes. Right? Yes. Yep.

transparency for all. And again, Republican politicians don't want transparency when it comes to campaign finance. It's like literally they want to hide all their corporate

PAC money. And I will say most of the Democrats running in Pennsylvania are grassroots campaigns. I know obviously they take money from unions because Democrats support unions, but these billionaires like Jeffrey Yass, he donates all his money to Republican politicians.

Yes.

My Republican opponent in this race, the majority of the funds that he has gotten over these years comes from Jeff

Jeffrey Yaz lives right down the street from me, know, the Elon Musk of Pennsylvania. I think he's to the tune of $75 to $80 billion. It's just absurd. All right, here's the last one. Let the local pharmacies give vaccines when needed most, keeping neighborhoods protected coast to coast.

Yep.

Yes.

It is.

Keep us alive. Yeah.

keep us alive. Yeah. And again,

the Democratic party is not the anti-vax party. Okay. We have anti-vax Republican politicians serving in Harrisburg who do not want to allow safe access to vaccines, which save lives every day.

I'm pretty sure that their current Republican state rep would not enjoy any of those songs that I just made up there for him.

I don't think he would. He's not listening.

What inspired you to get involved in this organization?

I wanted to get back into grassroots advocacy. It's where I truly enjoy being

What we do is we train community volunteers to be an advocate for these children as they are going through the foster care system. They are another eyes and ears for the judge. And what is fantastic about CASA is that they have the legal wherewithal to talk to guidance counselors at schools, doctors. They can talk to mental health professionals that the child is seeing, as well as the biological parents as well, if they're available to speak with.

Mm-hmm.

And at the end of the day, the goal is reunification because children really do better when they are with their biological family members, if that is possible. It is incredibly rewarding

Not all cases are pretty, but the staff and our CASA volunteers, they are amazing human beings that do such great work.

It's not just within the program I work for, it's throughout the United States. I should say 49 states have CASA programs. it ends up saving taxpayer money, quite frankly, in the counties that have CASA programs as well, from a human services standpoint. And it's the most rewarding work I've ever done outside of the work working for Senator Boscola.

I mean, it's such a righteous thing that you do.

It provides a much needed service for children who are struggling just to exist in a world. And you know, life's pretty damn hard. It's pretty damn hard, as it already is.

It is.

It is. And I just, I'm going to, I'm going to put a plug for my CASA program that I work for because as a staff, it is a team effort at the end of the day. It's not just myself. It's not just our executive director or our case supervisors. It's everybody coming together. We're at a point where we are serving 100 % of the kids in foster care within our service region. So the idea now is, okay, let's educate folks about trauma, about what it means to go through the foster care system.

So we're at that point within our CASA program and it's still incredibly rewardable.

I hope you can still do that when you're a state representative, and promote it more in Harrisburg.

Yeah. Yes. Yes, absolutely.

Jeff, the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no to require institutions to use safe and humane restraints on children. Why would he vote no on that?

I have no idea. It is preposterous Zeke. You know, my wife is an elementary school counselor and she has to at times during the course of her work day, restrain children. And she goes through an incredible amount of training for this to do it safely because sometimes it is needed. But for somebody to vote against doing it in a safe and humane fashion,

These are our children. They're our most precious and valuable resources

I don't care who you are, where you're from, what zip code you're in. Children should all be treated with a level of respect, no matter what they are going through. It's absolutely preposterous that he voted that way.

Yeah, look, I know you said that he's a nice guy and everything, but some of his votes are questionably nice. They're not nice at all, actually. So I want someone in Harrisburg who is empathetic, who understands that people struggle, and even when they're struggling and potentially a harm to others, that you do it in a way that is not going to make the situation worse and scar them later on in life. They're children. They're still developing. Their brains are not adult brains yet. We shouldn't be treating them like criminals as children.

Exactly.

Absolutely.

Yes.

Zeke, nice doesn't always get the job done. Nice does not get the job done. Fighting for what's right, then

There you go.

able to get the job done.

Jeff, what gives you hope?

My children give me hope. My wife gives me hope.

My children are some of the most sympathetic and empathetic kids that I've ever

My one daughter is insistent on us keeping what are called what we call homeless bags in our car when we're down in Philadelphia. Even here in Lehigh Valley, we see somebody who's homeless on the streets. Dad, can we please get a homeless bag out and give them some of the food that's in there?

These kids give me hope that we're not going to let cynicism dominate the day. Hope needs to be at the forefront of everybody in our communities and in my kids and there's a lot of other kids in our in our area here that give me a lot of hope for the future. I know a lot of folks say, Jen, Jen Z, you know,

Do we have hope with Gen Z? There are a lot of Gen Z that I actually do have hope in terms of them being able to forge a better future for us.

Well, Jeff, you give me hope. And look, I don't care if people are sick of this line I keep giving on this show, but if Republican politicians and the mainstream media can say dumb shit all the time, I'm gonna say the good thing over and over again. Jeff, Jeff, you give me hope, okay? Because I really hate when people say, where are the leaders in the Democratic party? Okay? I'm looking at a leader right now, I'm talking to one, you are a Democrat, you are in the party, and you are a leader, and you are running for office, but it is our job, our job.

thanks.

I think it's great. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

as Pennsylvanians to elect them and put them in a place to get things done. So you give me hope, Jeff. Thank you very much.

Well, thank you. Thank you.

My last question for you, Jeff, is what are your plans to get you through these next few years? Because it's been a bruiser, man. You know, yeah. What are you doing to cope?

It has.

think finding balance in life is very important. I am somebody who is very driven by wanting to serve my community and driven to the point where sometimes I do overextend myself.

only do I have my full-time job being a county commissioner, running the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, three podcasts per week. Oh yes, and also being a husband and a dad, running my kids around to their activities.

You know, finding the balance is really important. Being here in my little home recording studio, being able to play these guitars, being able to just get out, walk and breathe the air, which we need to make sure it's clean air we're breathing in the future. That's an important part of what I need to do for myself if I'm going to be the best state legislator that I can be for the people of the 137th district. So finding that balance for me, that's what I'm going to be doing, Zeke.

I love it. I need to find more time to go out and touch grass for sure. I do not do enough of it, but I am working on it.

Yeah.

Well, Jeff Warren, Democrat running for state house and expand our majority. Okay, this is where you come in close and listen, okay? Josh Shapiro won this district by about six points. And two years ago, the Democratic candidate lost by only 703 votes, okay?

Yes.

We can do this, Pennsylvania. can flip this seat blue, expand our state house majority, get more shit done. Now, Jeff, what is your website?

We can. Yep.

My website is JeffWarrenForPA.com and that's F-O-R JeffWarrenForPA.com.

If you live in Bethlehem Township, Hanover Township, Lower Nazareth Township, Nazareth Borough, Palmer Township, Tattamy Borough, or Upper Nazareth Township, get off your ass. Go to his website, sign up, door knock, phone bank, make a donation. Get out the vote because your vote could be the vote that sends Jeff Warren to Harrisburg next year. Jeff, I can't vote for you, man. I wish I could. I wish I could, but I can't wait to call you.

I know you can't

on November 3rd with tears of joy that you will expand our majority in the state house and get more done for Pennsylvania. So thank you so much for running.

I appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me on The Zekely Podcast. It was a pleasure, my friend.

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.