Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to the Zekely podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today lives in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. She has worked as a private investigator in correctional law enforcement, higher education and banking. And now she's decided to run as a Democrat for Congress in Pennsylvania's ninth district. Thank you so much for being here, Jenn brothers.

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, I'm super excited.

I'm so happy that you're here, Jenn You know, before you came on here, I emailed the Susquehanna County Democratic Committee just to make sure you were bona fide. And they said, you know, we cannot go into the primaries, but she is a legitimate candidate. And you know, I support Democrats who are running everywhere in Pennsylvania.

So I'm very

happy to support you and your campaign. We're going to learn all about you, play some games. Let's get into it. Okay. You're welcome.

Awesome, thank you.

So what made you want to run for Congress? That is a huge deal.

and our well went out. So the precipice of me announcing candidacy, my well went out and it took about six months for us to repair the well. The first company that we called, they went out of business. The second company we called, they said they wanted $4,000 just to show up to my house to look at the well. So we were driving back and forth with buckets to the free well. There's free well about 30 minutes from our house. And as I was doing so,

for six months while I was learning the well system and rebuilding this myself with my hands, I was talking to others that were showing it to the free well. And there are hundreds of Pennsylvania families just in Susquehanna County alone that don't have access to running water in their homes or their water isn't clean. And I spoke personally with several of them, maybe not all of them, but several of them. And I was asking why.

Either there aren't the rural development grants that there once were, or they didn't qualify for those grants to begin with because they were too young, or maybe they worked but they made just enough. It's kind of like that idea with food stamps. If you make $5 too much in food stamps, you don't get food stamps. If you make $5 too much in rural development for rural development loans, you don't get the rural development loan. Plus it's a loan. You have to pay that back.

And a lot of families here, they can't afford the additional bill. So it became over time a calling to run for

So that's...

Yeah, it's crazy. mean,

we should not live in a state, let alone a country where people don't have access to running water. I mean, that's just that's a human right. You know, that that's an inalienable right to life, to have running clean water in the state of Pennsylvania and everywhere in this country. So that's yeah, that's terrible that you had to go through that. And it shouldn't cost four thousand dollars to get running water in your house.

I mean this extends also to sustenance like having food, having access to food. How many communities do you go into and there's food insecurity in America and that shouldn't occur.

shouldn't occur. Yeah, food insecurity, water insecurity, housing insecurity, these are all things that you will totally address as a member of Congress. And so I find it very honorable and thank you for choosing to do this.

Well, have you ever watched the movie District 9?

I have not.

So the basic premise is it's aliens land on Earth, and then they become stranded, and then they struggle with discrimination and segregation, their resources are exploited. mean, there's a lot of parallels between that movie and what is happening in America with immigrants right now. So we're going to play District 9, where you have to decide in the following scenarios if it's either human or prawn. In the movie, humans called the aliens prawns, kind of like a slur, essentially. So if it's human.

God.

It means it's sensible, empathetic, democratic values, or prawn xenophobic, out of touch, MAGA filled nonsense. so human good, prawn bad. All right, so first thing, end birthright citizenship. Is that human or prawn Yeah. Yes, yeah, very much. I mean, it undermines the 14th Amendment, right, and the American identity. So we definitely don't want that. I'm glad that you're on the same page.

That's prawn That's that's discrimination.

What about a create a path to citizenship for DACA recipients? So for those who don't know, it stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It's an immigration policy that allows some young people who are brought here to the US as children to request temporary protection from deportation and also to work as well. So should we create a path to citizenship for these people?

We should be creating that. That's very human.

Very human, right? Yes, we should. I agree with you. What about eliminate due process for undocumented immigrants?

That's prawn that's bad. Let's not do that.

It is not a crime to be undocumented, right? It's a civil offense and we should not be weaponizing that against these people who are just coming here for a better life.

I have two more. So hire more immigration judges to process asylum cases fairly and swiftly.

That's human

very human. That's right. That

is part of the reason why we have such a backlog of immigrants trying to come to this country legally is because we don't have enough judges at the border to process these claims. And that is due to the fact that in Trump's first administration, he fired a lot of those judges and he cleared the bench and it takes time to rebuild those judges. So we should absolutely be doing that. So very good. All right. Last one. You're doing a great job. Great job. Table.

all undocumented immigrants as a national security threat.

That's that's prawn that they're not a threat. majority of immigration, the people that are immigrating to the United States, a majority of them are doing so in the legal manner. They are not a threat. They're trying to do this legally. Why are we trying to prevent people from having the same opportunity as what we do? I will never understand that.

Yeah. They're not a threat.

Yeah, it's not.

I mean, look, it's all propaganda. It's all distraction techniques to get people to focus on the other, the boogeyman, so to speak, while they gut pillars of our democracy. But every study they've ever done, ever done has shown that crime is lower in immigrant communities. They pay a ton in taxes that they will never have access to. They are a net benefit to the United States of America. So they are not a national security threat.

There are people in the White House right now who are national security threats, but not people who are out there taking care of our elderly, who are picking crops in fields, They're good people. So very good. Thank you for playing District Nine with me, Jenn.

Yeah,

absolutely. I mean, I live in a rural part of the country too.

You know, we have the berry patches and we have the apple orchards and there are people that we pay to do those jobs. And there's a lot of people that are afraid to come to work now.

Yeah.

and they're here legally.

It's terrible.

Yeah, it's terrible. It's just terrible. The amount of fear that the Trump administration has placed in hardworking Americans and also immigrants here trying to make a better life is just terrible. And we have a lot of work to do to repair that fear. So I agree with you. We have a lot of work to do.

We have a lot of work to do.

Well, you will be running against a Republican incumbent, and I'm not going to say his name, because on the Zekely podcast, I do my best not to advertise for bad actors, and he is a bad one. Okay, because...

He

is an ultra-maga.

Ultra MAGA,

Mm-hmm.

It's just terrible.

hands

down would have done that no question because that's the right thing to do.

Yeah,

You as a congress member are supposed to wake up and do the right thing, and he obviously can't even do that.

No, I mean, honestly, if you looked into his personal dealings to, you know, he owned a business before before running for Congress and he got sued twice, two times he got sued. One was from disabled persons for having price gouging and the other time was from his employees because he was withholding funding illegally. Okay, so this is we were already not dealing with a good person. And now

Mm-hmm.

Right. Yeah.

we are suffering consequences of that in our district. You he's against infrastructure because it didn't benefit his

100%.

We need people that are reflective of the area. You know, if you're a multimillionaire, you're not reflective of District 9. We're a very impoverished area. And we need somebody that can, one, listen to the people that are here that are seeing these problems, and two, understand where they're coming from.

Yeah.

Yeah, I believe you are that person.

Well, I'm glad. I hope I get at least 250,000 more people just like you.

Yes.

Yes, ⁓

I'm going to try and help promote that. I'm going try and do that for you.

You have been endorsed by the Center for Free Thought Equality, which advocates for the separation of church and state, protecting civil liberties, and advancing progressive policies. So Republican policies continue to erode

separation of church and state. know, Louisiana recently was the first state to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

would you do to protect the constitutional right to make sure that all religions and no religions are respected in America?

The First Amendment is clear. It says you have the right to religion and your religious freedoms. So we need to protect that at all costs.

my religious beliefs shouldn't have a bearing on your religious beliefs. Your church is outside of my church. Your religious doctrine might be outside of my religious doctrine.

Right, yeah, correct.

There's no reason to intermix that into government because by doing so, you're diluting the ability of all the other religions to have their freedom and the government from running smoothly. So no, my job as a legislator is to make sure that that is all happening outside of the government. There's no reason to have church in government. What you do is you elect good people and you'll have good legislation.

Mm-hmm.

I'm very happy to know that you will respect all religions and no religion and keep that separate from the dealings of the government as it should be.

let's play a game called, let's pray on it. Okay. A true or false game.

The Supreme Court once ruled that students in public school had to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag. True or false?

They once, it was the Supreme Court you said once, and no they didn't rule on that. That's false.

the Supreme Court of the United States.

That is true. That is true.

I know it's crazy. So Minersville School District v. Gobitis,

Basically, it was against Jehovah's Witnesses. So there was a case where Jehovah's Witnesses were refusing to stand and salute the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance.

They overturned that decision. But isn't that crazy? That happened in this country.

It's crazy,

because they shouldn't have ruled that way in the

It

shouldn't have ruled that way in the first place. That's clearly an ideology that made its way to the highest court in the land. And they thought, that's a great idea. We should compel people to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in our public schools.

I know.

It was added. don't know the specific year, but yes, we're going to go with.

That,

atheistic ideology of the Soviet Union, right? So they literally added it there during a state of war with another country. How crazy is that?

That's correct. We need to remove that. Can we just remove that?

I feel like we're in a place in this country right now that even if it was removed, they just put it back in when they got in power again. Right. Like we're in this really weird flip floppy stage where people are focusing on these things and we have much bigger fish to fry. But I just think it, I just think it's bizarre that that was a time period when that was inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance. So yeah, there's that. Well, thank you for playing that trivia game with me. You did a good job.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you have also been endorsed by the American Small Business League, which has founded on the principle that small businesses are the backbone of a vital economy, So how would you help small businesses in Pennsylvania and around the country as a member of Congress?

99 % of all businesses are small businesses, right? Do you know the percentage of small businesses that get government contracts? 23 % of all government contracts are supposed to be, through the SBA, are supposed to go to small businesses. The problem is, is some of those small businesses aren't that small.

Right.

No.

Okay.

Okay.

Some of those businesses are fraudulently obtaining those government contracts. And we know this, there's documentation

of suggest this. We need to strengthen the SBA's ability to investigate. We need to make sure that they have enough funding, they have enough whatever in order to make sure that that 23 % actually obtains those government contracts. On top of that,

Okay.

would like to see and I'm sure the American small business would like to see that to increase to

also only getting 5 % of that 23 % goes to women.

So we make sure that women have a bigger say since 43 % of all small businesses are owned by women. I mean they have a significant amount of businesses yet they're unable to obtain those government contracts.

well that's.

Mm-hmm.

And outside of the governmental spectrum, we need to make sure that small businesses get a little bit more of our attention than those big corporate entities. We need to remove a lot of the tax breaks for the larger corporations that would free up a lot of revenue for us, make sure that big businesses pay their fair share and support a lot of our small businesses, especially through their first five years of life.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

So your first five years of owning a small business is actually the most crucial. So we need to make sure that they're able to access the funds that are necessary for them to survive, not just survive, but should thrive.

should thrive.

I mean, those are some great ideas. I do not own a small business. It's not something I'm going to go into. But as someone who doesn't own a small business, everything you said made a lot of sense. was crystal clear to me that was me a great explanation. So if you're a small business owner and you live in District 9 or anywhere in the country, know that she's got your back.

And see, I've owned a couple of small businesses. I know how hard it is.

It sounds like you know what you're talking about, and that's the kind of person you want in Congress.

The current Republican congressman in your district, who shall not be named, has testified before Congress regarding federal practices surrounding rights and caring for the disabled, and yet he voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act...

which would cut Medicaid for Pennsylvanians, many of whom are disabled. So as a member of Congress, what would you do to not only protect Medicaid, but also expand its access to those in need?

I mean, honestly, we...

hate the fact that he voted for that bill and knowing what his family business is.

Yeah.

It's stupid. It's stupid for him to vote for that because of his demographic that he served even prior to coming into Congress. But he doesn't care, right? And when you're working in a public office like that, you need to have compassion for people. You need to understand how much your impact is. You need to read the bills as they're passed.

you need to make sure there aren't components that are going to cut Medicaid

the 178,000 people that it's going to impact in your district. So one, I would have never voted for that. And I can say that with absolute confidence that I would never vote for a bill like that. Additionally, I think we need to open up avenues for dental and for mental health care within the Medicaid system.

And

percent.

your dental impacting your physical health, okay cool, that's gonna reduce our overall cost in the medical industry.

Mental health is a whole other facet of everything. One, it's going to reduce our costs in the healthcare industry, but it also is going to reduce our costs in the criminal justice side of things. Because when people are able to obtain mental health care, especially in rural communities like mine, you know, we actually see a significant decrease to crime. So if we can open up avenues for this access,

Mm-hmm.

then it's going to cost us as a people less money. And the science backs it. And it's science that the current incumbent has at his disposal. He has the Google, okay? Everybody's got the Google. And just use it. And use your

Right. Yeah.

yeah, when it comes to healthcare, you can't put a dollar sign on that. know, health is wealth.

if you can find a way to fund the Pentagon and the military budgets, and you know, there's really a blank check for that for Republican politicians a lot, there should be a blank check for making sure that every American has access to healthcare, dental care, psychiatric care, preventative care. You know, as a doctor, of course, that's my core.

But as a member of Congress, I'm glad that you will have those values as well.

Well let's play another game called what are the odds, okay? So you're gonna tell me which has a higher odds. Which has higher odds in America in someone's lifetime, becoming a millionaire or needing to be on Medicaid? What do you think? Yeah, actually, so you have about a 6.4 to 22 % chance of becoming a millionaire in your lifetime in America.

Need to be on Medicaid.

you have a 70 % chance of needing to be on Medicaid if you live to the age of 65. 70 % chance of needing Medicaid if you live until the age of 65. So if I was a gambling man,

I would say I have a much higher chance of needing Medicaid and we should support those services. All right, well here's another one. Which has a higher odds in America in someone's lifetime? Owning two houses at the same time or needing food stamps?

needing food stamps.

Correct, you have about a 4.6 % chance of owning two homes at the same time in your lifetime in America versus 50%. You have a 50 % chance of needing food stamps if you live in America at some point in your lifetime. Isn't that crazy? 4.6 versus 50%.

It is crazy, but if you look at my district, it's something that's blatantly obvious. And if our representative would actually look at the people that are here, he would understand that we need to protect those services.

Right,

yeah. Well here's one more.

Which has higher odds in America in someone's lifetime? Striking at rich in cryptocurrency or becoming homeless?

becoming homeless.

That is correct. So there's not an exact number, okay, for how many cryptocurrency millionaires exist in America, but there are about 172,000 individuals worldwide holding over $1 million in crypto assets. Okay, so even if you dilute that down, it's a lot less than 1%. But you have about a 14 % chance of becoming homeless in America in your lifetime. So I think you should support government services that ensure that people have

housing over trying to get a new meme coin. Yeah, I think that's a pretty obvious thing.

It's

definitely obvious to you and I.

Yes, I think what I'm trying to drive home is that you have much higher odds of needing support in your lifetime financially than becoming this shiny object that people get distracted with in our lifetimes. And so we really need to support these services because you may wind up on the receiving end of them.

mean, the number of people, if they lost their job today and couldn't find another one, would they be okay? How many Americans would be okay? 1%.

Yeah, most would not.

Yeah, yeah, 1%. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's no shame in asking for help. Asking for help is the hardest thing you can do in life.

The government is supposed to help you survive and thrive. And if it's not doing that, it's not doing its job correctly.

life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. I think it says that somewhere.

Exactly, and that the government should be facilitating

You noted on your website that you are a proud member of the LGBTQ plus community. And I want to acknowledge the courage it takes to be so public in the current political climate and just explain this feeling of pride that you have.

So I actually, I was married once to a man,

I lived in the South and I had a daughter. My daughter, and I mentioned this too on the website, but I am a survivor of rape. So I have product of that. She turned 17. She's super amazing, the light of my life. But you know, a bad thing happened and this is where we're at. When I lived in the South,

I'm sorry.

it became more and more necessary to, or at least it felt more and more necessary to kind of shelter yourself from the hate.

a divorce,

and I was working at the police department because I was working at the police department as a correctional

and one of my coworkers found out that I was dating a woman. And I ended up getting death threats in my locker. I had pride flags lit on fire in my yard.

There are real levels of hate in the country still towards the LGBTQIA+.

And the LGBTQIA plus is my family. You know, these are people that they've lived similar lives to me. We have community. We celebrate that community. And it's not some devious thing. It is just uplifting of love. And

That's kind of my goal in life period is to make sure that love has a space in our lives. And that's, yeah, they're my family. I

that are trans.

And the attacks that we're seeing in the government right now are so disgusting and so awful for people who just want to exist.

Yeah, yeah, it's terrible. I want to say a couple of things. One, I'm so sorry about the trauma from your past and how you've been discriminated and marginalized for being who you are. I'm a firm believer that representation matters. It matters for people who do not have the ability to be more public about their gender identity or sexuality, to see someone like you even running for office means something.

We have power as soon as we show up. So by being a representative, I'm showing the power of our community. And you always want to be the good one when you enter a room. Look at my history, look at what I've done for not just the LGBTQIA plus community, but for people in general. How can you say that that's bad?

Yeah, I mean when you help the most marginalized in any community, you help everyone. So that is very true. And I know that you will look out for everyone as a congressmember for sure.

Yeah, that's the job.

That

is the job.

We're going to have some trivia. Okay, Pride and Prejudice. Pennsylvania versus federal laws. Okay, so it's going to the answer going to be either both, one of them or none of them. Okay, and this will make sense as I ask you some questions. Okay, so employment discrimination. So do we have federal protections, state protections, or both or neither for the LGBTQ plus community?

in Pennsylvania.

I don't think we have state protections unless they did that recently. Did they just do that?

No, you are correct.

we do not. have federal protections for employment discrimination. There are local ordinances where you, you know, where you could be protected, but right. But here's the underlying issue of people think, it's federally protected. cares at the state level? If that federal protection goes away, which in this current political climate could always be a possibility.

Yeah, in safety cities.

then there's nothing in many parts of Pennsylvania for the LGBTQ plus community. So that's why it's important to have both levels of protection. So you are correct. Right now we only have federal protections against employment discrimination for the LGBTQ plus community in

Here's another one. What about housing discrimination?

We don't have that in Pennsylvania.

That is correct. What do we have federal?

I don't think we have better all either, do we? Do we? Okay.

We do. there is, yep, so there is, there are

federal protections for LGBTQ plus people, but not state level. So in Pennsylvania, again, there are, there are various ordinances where it exists. It's various counties.

But there are

back dots to the federal protection too, so it's not a blanket.

It's not a blanket, but it's still stronger than the state level in

about public accommodations? So, and by public accommodations, that's a wide range. So that's restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, retail stores, transportation services like busing. So are there protections at the federal and state level for public accommodations?

We have a

federal, we do not have state.

It's actually, I mean, it's not. no, so the issue, remember the whole cake issue where there was a couple in, was it California or Colorado, I think, or both states where it was wearing the Supreme Court? And both of those times, essentially, they went with the cake bakers, right? They basically said, don't have to make a cake for someone just because they're trans or gay.

Delete.

there's-

You're right.

But we should though.

No, we should, 100%, but we don't, we should, but we currently don't. There are no blanket protections in the United States of America or in Pennsylvania for public accommodations.

until you are elected and we pass sweeping legislation,

Okay, last one. What about healthcare discrimination?

want to say we have federal protections. We don't have state protections for most health care issues.

That is, that is.

Yeah, that is correct. So we have federal protections currently, but no statewide protections. And again, this is because of the makeup of our legislature.

we need to get more Democrats elected. If we want to have statewide protections for LGBTQ plus people in Pennsylvania, it's not going to be on the backs of Republican politicians. It's going to be for Democrats. And certainly for you as a member of Congress, you would be able to vote for wide sweeping legislation as well. But only if you have the numbers to do it.

But the way that we this is we need to make sure everyone that is eligible to vote goes and votes.

Yeah.

That's right.

everyone eligible to vote registers to vote before the primary and before the before the general. We need that. So if you're listening, I'm going to talk to the audience first. If you're listening and you live in Pennsylvania, if you live in any state and you are eligible to register to vote, go register to vote. Check the box that says mail in ballot. Get that ballot to your house. Send that ballot back in. It's vital. This is how we take our country back.

That's right.

That's right, Jenn, because every election is the most important election.

there is no question in my mind whether or not I would vote for that. would absolutely vote against stock trading. You know, it's different if you come in and you have a 401k and you never touch it the whole time you're in office, right? Don't touch your 401k while you're in office.

But if you're making stock trades while you're in office, it doesn't matter what you're trading. You have a vested interest in any legislation that passes your desk. So you should not be making trades. It's unfair and it's unethical. So no, I'm very much against trading, especially by public officials.

I knew you would be.

know.

I know you will be.

Well, the median income in District 9 is approximately $68,000 a year. What plans do you have to make life more affordable for people in your district?

and redistributed that.

then you'd be able to have running water in District 9 for all of its citizens.

We'd be able to

in District 9. You know, we really don't need to focus on big business as Americans. Big businesses, they've already proven that they're able to survive. They can take care of themselves. We need to focus on small businesses. 99 % of all businesses in America are small businesses. They're considered small businesses. But we don't put a lot of focus on them. We need to, though.

They're what drives communities and I'm going to talk about communities until I'm dead because communities are what make life livable. You know, if we can build up the mom and pop shop that you can go to and get get a sandwich from their redistributing their wealth throughout your community to you. There's there's actually Todd and Rachel's. There's a there's a little restaurant called Todd and Rachel's. It's over in Tonkanic and

Right.

they actually provide funding and supplies on occasion to our local food banks.

I don't see that happening from a large corporation. I don't see people when it's too hot outside having a heat station like I was told about a couple of businesses down in Northumberland today. You know, we had a heat wave and makerspace allowed individuals that may be unhoused or maybe they just didn't have anywhere else to go to come into their doors and spend time in the air conditioning so they didn't have heat stroke.

This is how we redistributed it. It's not... Trickle-down never worked. Trickle-down was a lie.

Yeah.

of course. And you know, you make a really good point. I have not seen Walmart put out a statement during a heat wave to say, you know what, if you're really hot, just come inside Walmart and hang out, you know, go to the camping section, unpack a chair and sit for a couple hours and use our wifi. You're right. You don't see that kind of stuff. You don't see star

If you sat down

to the camping chairs and started just using the wifi and playing a game on your phone, somebody's going to come up and ask you why you're there.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

we need more first names in America and less, less Walmarts and all of that.

I hear you. mean, labor versus capital is the oldest rivalry in America's history, and we should always fall on the labor side.

Yeah.

Well, there are a lot of people who are angry at what Republicans are doing to this country. So what would you do as a member of Congress to try and combat these attacks on the pillars of democracy?

I mean, honestly, I've already been pretty public about the fact that I feel like we should impeach. And I understand the problems with impeachment. I understand how the process works and that we don't have the numbers right

But also we need to put stop gaps in place, right? Like we need to be able

least stifle their

but we don't have the numbers in Congress yet. Now, any day, any day a Republican could step up and say, this is the right thing to do, I would welcome that, and I would appreciate that. You know, if person that I'm running against right now did that, it wouldn't negate any of the bad that he's done, but it would actually be a really good thing that he could hang his hat on when he retires and say, this is the one good thing I did.

yet.

100%. 100%. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's again, it's you don't get a medal in valor just for doing what your job is supposed to be. But certainly the Republicans are in control and they set the agendas. They have the power to impeach. it would there's not a lot that you can do as a Democrat in Congress right now. Certainly you can grind some things down, but you can't make any changes. And that's why elections have consequences. And every election is the most important election. So we need people like you to have power.

to have the numbers. And I know that if we do get the numbers and an impeachment inquiry would be highly likely with Democrats in control because Donald Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors during his first presidency. And he certainly is doing it again.

Well, you have been endorsed by NextGen America, whose mission is to empower young voters to engage in the political process. So what would you say to the next generation of American voters to inspire them? And not just vote, but get involved in the civic process.

Until you take ownership of...

what's happening in the world, it's just happening to you. Once you take ownership of it, you are making it happen. So either you can let the world happen to you or you can take ownership and you can make the world happen.

And the only way to do that is to get involved in civics, to get involved in your community, to help build those communities, to help do that by voting. So please register to vote.

democracy is a marathon, but it takes involvement, it takes engagement, and we have to pay attention. So the next next generation has to do their part as well.

And watch out for the propaganda, because people try to do it.

It's true. It's out there and it's everywhere. But that's why I'm trying to do this podcast to cut through the noise and give real information to people who are hungry for change.

Jenn, do you have any hobbies?

I have a lot of hobbies.

Well, what's a key hobby that not many people know about you?

I build sets for drag queens and kings. That's one

⁓ that's fun. ⁓

So I do have some building background and occasionally some of my friends who do drag, they will reach out and be like,

I need this for my set. And also with theater background, I am able to kind of whip out a few things. I made a coffin for the drag king nationals. A friend of mine went to the drag king nationals, Justice, amazing human. They are an amazing human. I could talk for days about the amazing things that Justice does within their community as well. ⁓

Yeah.

because they also are an advocate and they work with disabled youth as their regular job, but then they also do drag.

Was there a lot of glitter in that coffin?

there's there's glitter everywhere. There's glitter everywhere in this

Yeah.

so I made this giant coffin, but it had to break down because the nationals were in Texas

a national drag king show in Texas?

Yes, and that was the irony of it, it was great. But they got runner up, so I was really proud of them.

Yeah. wow. All because

all because of your glitter coffin.

I mean, you had to have a fancy coffin,

if you're in there. So a lot of their drag has political components to it, too. So it was definitely a protest coming out of the coffin. But that's that's a thing that I do. Yeah.

I love it.

Mm-hmm.

That's great. I think it's

a great hobby. Great hobby. Glitter coffins I know who to call.

Yep, call me. Call

I will.

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

Why am I a Democrat? So when I was in high

we did an assignment one day and it was about different things.

different beliefs we held and it was, you think women should have rights? Raise your hand. Do you think black people should have rights? Raise your hand. Do you think this, do you think that and everything you raised your hand for? And then he said, if you think you're a Republican, go to this side of the room.

I was in Kentucky at this point in my life, in a rural part of Kentucky. Everyone in that room thought they were a Republican. And Mr. Kidwell looked at me and he goes, Jennifer, get the hell to the other side of the room. You're on the wrong

talked to me after

and he goes, every single answer to the question was a Democrat's answer. You need to go and read. So I went and I read. I read everything that I could read. And I was like, holy crap, I'm a Democrat. How do I tell my

no. I'm sure it might be easier to run for Congress and have that conversation.

it sounds like the value system that resides in you are the democratic values. And I'm extremely grateful you have those values and you're running for Congress and we'll take those values with you.

What gives you hope?

Every single day when I go out into the community and I talk to a new human, they are driving hope. There are so many people here that struggle.

But they get up every day and they go to work or they get up every day and they fight for their family. They go and they get water, but they're still going. It's community. You know, every single community that I enter in, that community gives me hope because that's, that's what we're looking for in America. That's the American dream is to have a community that upholds good values, that makes sure that everyone's protected.

and I see it every day and I get the privilege to see that every day now.

community is a good thing to keep people going and to give people hope. agree.

And what plans do you have to get yourself through these next few years?

I had a professor in college, his name was Dr. Corso, and Dr. Corso taught

playing politics was what his class was called. So it was finding the joy in the political environment. And you find that joy in various ways. We are actually implementing a lot of giving campaigns, so a lot of food drives, things of that nature, especially because of our impoverished area. And that is really what's going to fuel the fire of this campaign. I might not have a lot of money, but I can make sure somebody can eat.

Jenn Brothers running for Congress in Pennsylvania, District 9, Susquehanna County area. I mean, what can people do to support your campaign?

you can share with anyone about my campaign. That's the free option, right? You can say, this crazy lady in Pennsylvania is running for office. We really like her. We really support her ideas. You should check her out. That is free for anyone on the internet. If you want to come and volunteer, you can help me knock on doors.

That's your second step. It might not be 100 % free because you spent gas to get there. You can also contribute monetarily. through my ActBlue, which is available through the website, or you can just go to ActBlue and search Jennifer Brothers. It should pull up. I think I'm the only

Jenn brothers, Jenn brothers for congress.com, correct?

JenBrothersforCongress.com and through that you can contribute monetarily and you can either do that as a one-time payment or you can make it basically a subscription and do like a monthly donation of X amount of dollars. All of that money goes towards gas, goes towards printables. There are a lot of costs to the campaign,

wasn't aware of.

this

We have to also have on the table amongst all of our bills and stresses and worries, how to move the needle forward. And then it's to get people like Jenn elected. And so we have to make sure you are registered to vote, that you drag your friends and your family to the polls. So May 19th, if you live in Susquehanna County, District 9, I can't vote for her, but her vote will affect me, my patients, and the rest of Americans. So I wish you the best of luck, Jenn. I feel like

This is not the last time we will cross paths, but I'm very, happy you're running and I wish you the best of luck in your campaign.

Listen, you might see me on your front doorstep. I'm a private investigator. I'll figure it out. I'm kidding. I'm joking. But no. So I keep telling everyone, I might not be your representative, but I can be your representative because I care about the same things that you probably care about. ⁓ As a Democrat, we probably align pretty well.

⁓ my gosh.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

So

supporting my campaign really is supporting those ideologies.

100 % and we need more people like you in Congress today, tomorrow, for the next hundred years.

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.