Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to the Zekely podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania.

The guest I have today is a resident of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He is a renowned attorney with substantial experience prosecuting and defending civil and criminal cases in both state and federal courts. And now he is running to be Bucks County's next district attorney. Thank you so much for being here, Joe Khan.

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.

Thanks for having me, Zeke. It's great to be with you.

I'm so excited you're here. Is this your first podcast experience?

It's my first with you.

I agree with you, this is your first time on The Zekely Podcast . We're going to get to know you, why you're running for this important position and play some games and have some fun. So you ready?

I'm psyched, let's do it.

Alright, let's do it.

Well, first of all, I have to ask you, why have you decided to run for the district attorney of Bucks County?

There's just so much bad that's going on right now. And, you know, it was, it was horrible that, that Trump won the election in November. We've been here before, right? And,

I think a lot of us try to answer the question after we process the results, you know, what's the good that we can do.

And when Donald Trump became president and was sworn in to see these vicious attacks, right, the Shakespeare line of let's kill all the lawyers, right, of attacking lawyers, going after law firms.

firing any prosecutor who wouldn't bend the knee, it really just drove home for me the need to do as much as I could with the skills that I have as an attorney to try and fight

So this is Zeke, something that was always in the back of my mind since I moved to Bucks County, seeing the more that could be done.

I'm really happy you're running for this position and I agree there's a lot that you can do as a district attorney no matter where you are but Bucks County certainly could use it and we're gonna talk about more of that a little bit later. So we'll get into

Now we're gonna play a game because that's what we do here on The Zekely Podcast. We're gonna play sustained or overruled. I'm gonna give you a couple scenarios and you're gonna tell me overruled or sustained.

Reclining your seat on an airplane before the snacks are served.

Is it for me or for my kids?

You can let

for either or either or this is etiquette. talking about at 30,000 feet

Well, I would say that's overruled for me.

But I'll let my kids do it.

Okay fine.

Gotta let him get comfortable.

Alright, what

during a movie in a movie theater?

Overruled.

totally overruled. I hate that. I hate when people do that so much. Yeah, I agree.

What about walking in the street when there's a sidewalk?

I think that depends on the jurisdiction, Zeke.

I

gotta say, it drives me crazy. It drives me even crazier now because my kid is learning how to drive. And so he always used to hear me complain about it. And now that he's driving and he's trying to be really careful, he's like, oh dad, I totally understand what you mean now. Why can't they walk on the sidewalk? I was like, I told you, man. It's overruled for me. Totally overruled for me.

All what about eating fish at work?

Who would do that?

Overruled

see for me. It's kind of like 50-50 because if it's good fish and a good marinade I'd be cool with it You know if it's not too overpowering or pungent I could I could let someone get away with it, but I would say probably most people would agree with you

Yeah.

See, when you say it works, a lot of people where I am, they put their lunch in the microwave and that's just a hard no. You do not put fish in the microwave and that's the only thing we have here to heat stuff up.

Uh-huh. I mean, I

probably wouldn't, I've only done it a couple times at work and when I haven't gotten the side eye, but I gotta tell ya, know, sometimes you just gotta eat the

Okay.

for playing sustained or

Joe, while you were the solicitor for Bucks County, you substantially improved outcomes and services while saving the county millions of dollars by practicing diversity and inclusion. How did embracing diversity and inclusion save Bucks County money?

Yeah, I mean, honestly, in a lot of ways, it was easy. We just wanted the best of the best, right? We wanted people that were going to bring things to the table that we didn't have already.

And I'll give you one example.

you know, we invested a lot in reaching out to some of our neighbors who didn't speak English as a first language. And it was important to us to have at least one attorney, right, who could speak to a lot of those constituents of ours. And in doing that, we learned from a lot of folks that they felt like they were being mistreated by used car dealers. This was something that got on our radar from some of our Spanish speaking constituents. And that gave us the idea

Is there something we could do at the county level about that? And that led to Bucks County coming up with the first bill of rights for used car buyers. We have a used car lemon law in Bucks County now. We're the first county in Pennsylvania to do it and I hope we're not the last. ⁓ It's really borrowing what New Jersey set up on a statewide level and bringing that across the bridge of Bucks County. So that's something that protects everybody, right? It doesn't matter who you are in Bucks County. You want to buy a used car, you have a certain set of

Interesting.

Wow.

That's amazing.

I mean, that's such an amazing story, right? You took a community, a marginalized community at that, one that couldn't speak English, that was being taken advantage of by car dealerships and by passing an ordinance, a law,

it will help every person living in Bucks County.

And certainly we hear so much negativity from the Republican Party saying that diversity and inclusion is a net negative for the society that we live in. It's just not true. And we're just talking about a local issue, buying a car. It's just incredible. I love it. I think it's a great example of how embracing diversity and inclusion helps everyone. Thank you for that. I really appreciate that.

Thanks.

what are some specific initiatives you'd like to work on while district attorney?

I mean, there's all this, I'll call it public protection work, because that is actually the term that Josh Shapiro used when he was the attorney general, protecting working families, protecting the environment. We have nothing like that in place right now. I think at best, the current DA is doing half the job by prosecuting crime, but not paying any attention to all these other areas where we can use the DA's office to stand up for people. So that's really, really important.

But it's also really important that we are proactive in protecting people's rights. One of those rights is the right to a clean environment. I Pennsylvania is really unique that we enshrine the right to clean air, pure water, know, the natural enjoyment of our natural resources in our constitution. There are a number of other protections we have as well, right? We guarantee every child in this Commonwealth the right to a quality education.

And, you know, in my view, the Constitution also protects the woman's right to choose. And here in Bucks County, you know, I, ⁓ when I was the county solicitor, I took a stand in court, became the only county solicitor to do that, to advocate for access to the abortion pill when that issue came before the Supreme Court. And the local Republican party came after me and they are very invested in stopping me from becoming district attorney here in Bucks. But for me, it's critically important that

when you take that oath of office to the Constitution, that this isn't just some ceremony that you do on day one, that you take it seriously, and that when you promise to uphold and defend this Constitution, that includes all the Constitution. So I think we have to really make sure that we're doing everything we can with that office, not just to protect the constitutional rights of the accused in criminal cases, which every prosecutor needs to do, but we also take seriously the obligation of a sworn officer of the law that...

attorney is to protect those rights for people in Bucks County.

Yeah, I mean look if the Republican Party is coming after you, you're doing all the right stuff. That's just the bottom line. You know, we know what their platform stands for. It stands for tearing rights away from people, not giving people more rights. And so we need someone as a DA to make sure that all rights are protected. So I'm glad you're going to do

district attorney in Bucks County.

Alright Joe, what is your favorite holiday and why? And I know you grew up with a Muslim father and a Catholic mother, so this could be a little dicey, right? I mean, I don't want you to offend anyone if they're listening or watching this from your

Well, we celebrate all the holidays. love Thanksgiving. Yeah, Thanksgiving. mean, first of all, you know, we're a big football family, a lot of football on

⁓ yes!

but it's also a day of a lot of great food and a day when we really get to bring everyone together and get to see mom and dad who are still, and you mentioned that they are ⁓ Muslim and Catholic. And of course that means that they raised us in a Jewish neighborhood, ⁓ which is where we really just got all the holidays together. But Thanksgiving is really something that's for everyone.

Ahahahahah ⁓

I love

it.

It's

the great American holiday that everyone can take part of and we love it.

It is my favorite

holiday Thanksgiving. And the food is just top tier, right? And I like, I cook Thanksgiving every year. I try to anyway. I just love every component of Thanksgiving. got the turkey and the sweet potatoes with the melted marshmallow and the cranberry sauce and the mashed potatoes. Like, and everything, like you have to have everything on the fork. I like to have every component on the fork for the perfect bite. I chase that dream every single year. So I'm glad we share that with each other.

Have you ever bought the sweet potatoes from the farmers market, the Ardmore farmers market? They have the best sweet potatoes I've bought anywhere. And if you like sweet potatoes or sweet potato pie, which is one of my favorites, you gotta go to your farmers market and you gotta get those purple, I think they're purple sweet potatoes. They're amazing, super sweet.

I have not. No, I have not.

⁓ I love sweet potato pie. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah,

yeah. Yeah, I usually get the canned yams to be honest, just to like speed up the process. But this year I might have to do it, I might have to do it differently this year. So that's great. Thank you very much. Thanksgiving.

You don't even need to add sugar, that's how good they are.

I don't do that.

I got you. I got you, Joe.

Joe, what has been the hardest part of being a lawyer?

I think probably the hardest work I did was the work I did at the beginning of my career when I was prosecuting child abuse and sexual assault, because that was really hard. And you know this from your work, you know, in medicine, it was really hard work to leave behind at the office. And I think to be the best version of yourself, you need to find a way.

to kind of build those protections for yourself and to have the kind of self care that is necessary to keep doing that work.

And the idea of...

of self-care, of kind of taking care of yourself, the idea of secondhand trauma. These weren't ideas that we had a language for at the time. And so I think when I have the opportunity to lead the DA's office here, one of the first things that I need to make sure I do is I take care of my people and I make sure that we give them the tools, whether it's taking breaks or making sure we have the right kind

boundaries in place to allow them to be the best version of themselves and take care of themselves so that we can then take care of others, which I think is what our job is as public servants.

think it's great that you think about that team approach out of the gate. That's great. And I can totally relate because pediatrics was my least favorite rotation when I was in my training, my training days. just, it is very difficult to leave that at work. You know, I never enjoyed the child abuse cases. I never enjoyed when pediatric cases didn't go well in the OR. So I was very happy to be done with that part of my training. So I totally relate with

The DA I mentioned who was in office then, he's someone I worked with all the time. We teamed up when we sued polluters. We teamed up when we made Bucks County the first county in the country to take on the social media companies for targeting kids. But he became a judge and he's no longer there. And the person who is there now not only listens to these election deniers and these conspiracy theorists who would have

to sort of elevate that kind of nonsense, but for the district attorney to do it, it really offends me. And I'm just going to make sure that we are successful in the election this year and we put an end to it.

Yeah, I mean people need to know this stuff. They really need to hear it. That there are elected officials who would undermine their ability to vote. The most sacred thing you can do in a democracy. And we need someone like you who will protect that right. No matter

office you hold.

All right, let's play another game, and I call it Khan-Core.

Khan-Core, all right, like core issues for Joe Khan I'm just gonna give you like either or scenarios. You're gonna pick one, okay?

Alright, so a Star Wars or a Star Trek?

OK.

Star Wars.

Star Wars, yeah. Have you seen Andor by the way? That show Andor on, I think it was, I don't know if it was Disney plus or something.

No, so I grew up when the original movies were coming out. So I haven't really stayed current with all the new stuff. But tell me about it.

Mm-hmm.

I have to say that show in the timeline that we're in now, it spoke to me.

it had me in a chokehold. This was like a gritty Star Wars. It was really gritty about

fighting the Empire.

and it was just like the long game. What I liked most about Andor was that every season was supposed to be a year. And it just shows you how long it takes to fight a revolution. It's the slow march forward and working and coordinating with people all over the place to fight for the right things. And not everyone lives to see the outcomes that you want to get.

but it really just spoke to me. It really, really did. So I would say if you need to binge on something to give you

really Andor did it for me in what we're going through today. Yeah, definitely see it. All right, so that's that one. How about Legoland or Six Flags?

All right, that's beautiful. Thanks for sharing that.

Six Flags.

Six Flags?

I feel like Legoland is more for the kids, right? I I have fun when I go, but you know you're spending like $1,000 when you go to Legoland, right? Like you know you're not walking out of there without a $400 box of Legos.

Alright.

my oldest and I went to Six Flags this summer and I hadn't been since I was a kid. I didn't realize that it's become sort of morphed with the DC superheroes now.

So that was all new to me.

totally.

I would agree with you. Six Flags for me, I enjoy much more. But definitely when my kids were younger, they were Lego land all the way. All right, now this is a very controversial one, Wawa or Sheetz

Yeah.

I mean, Wawa I go to probably five, six times a week, and I think I've already been to Sheetz twice in my life. So that's easy.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. I enjoy Wawa too, but it could be a toss-up for me. All right, what about the Poconos or the Shore?

I'll go with the shore. I'll go with the shore. Yeah.

I'm more of a Poconos

family, but I know you kind of have to choose, right? You've got your beach people, you've got the Poconos. I like the cooler weather. I like the temperature to drop 10 degrees. I don't like to get hotter for me. And the sand, I can't do the sand.

Why do we have to choose? I mean, I'm playing the game, but...

I don't know, I guess you could

do both, but if you're gonna drive two hours in a direction, people honestly have to choose.

Yeah, I was really honored. mean, the probably the greatest honor was was being ⁓ recommended by other county solicitors across Pennsylvania because and I really made clear when I when I accepted that award that none of the good work I did was work I did by myself. And, you know, so much of what I did was because I had an incredible staff. As you mentioned, we put together this incredibly diverse, talented staff, ⁓ but also a lot of the work that we did punching above our weight.

I mean, those are amazing awards and it just goes to show what you're bringing to the table as a district attorney.

Yeah, and that's really, I mean, that's really what I hope to do, especially if we're not going to be able to rely on the attorney general to pick up some of that work on protecting working families in the

huh. Yeah.

if your constituents don't like the fact that the price of insulin is being rigged or ⁓ that there are hazards to their

environmental health. And there's something that the top law enforcement official can do about it. I'm willing to bet there's a bunch of other DAs in some pretty red parts of Pennsylvania that are going be interested in teaming up with me in some of that work.

Let's get you into the DA's office and build some more awards for you, okay?

Joe, what would you tell people who aren't as engaged in politics as we are about the importance of voting in the election coming up on November

Well, look, I'll tell you the first thing, Zeke, is whenever I'm meeting voters, whether I'm knocking on doors or I'm at the supermarket, I mean, the first thing I do before I say anything about what I think is I want to hear what other people think. And usually what I'm going to hear about is some concern or some problem people have with how things are going right now. And I think that right now, Bucks County is a good example where people are really upset with what's going on in the country right now and whether it's the price of eggs, whether it's the tariffs.

whether it's the cruelty and the chaos that we're seeing from Trump, people right now just aren't having it. So I'd like to listen to people to hear from them what they're most concerned about. And usually it's something where there's something we can do right now if we make the right choices in our election. And that's when I talk about the importance of showing up and voting. And very often that has to do with voting for a district attorney who every day is gonna...

think about your problems. I go often to a part of Bucks County called Upper Makefield because I spent a lot of time talking to the families there whose lives have been completely upended by a pipeline leak ⁓ that Sunoco is responsible for. This is a beautiful community where the houses have now become prisons because the water coming out of the tap now has jet fuel in it and the property values have now plummeted for people who can't get out their homes.

And this is a community that went to the district attorney, like they went to all members of government and said, what can you do to help us? And what they heard from their DA was that this just isn't the job of the DA to get involved in. And it takes a minute, time for me to explain that this is absolutely something that the district attorney not only can be involved in, but needs to be involved

The district attorney is the power of the grand jury. The district attorney has the power to enforce environmental

concurrent with the attorney general. And so, so often Zeke, I hear from people what's on their mind, and it's my responsibility to explain that there is something we can do to speak to these problems, but that we can't do any of it unless people come out and vote. And I think that's the key for this year is making sure people come out and vote.

right. The buck has always and will always stop at the voter in a democracy. And if you want to see change, you have to get people who want to make change in office. And we need you to be the next DA in Bucks County. We have really important Supreme Court justices that we have to retain. must vote yes to retain all three justices. And we have sheriffs. We have to make sure that Danny Ceisler becomes the next sheriff in Bucks County.

Thank

We have so many important races on the ballot all over Pennsylvania, so I'm glad that you listen to people and give them a solution. And that solution is to get more Democrats elected up and down the

Well, Joe, I believe you and I share an affinity for Mexican food.

Right? You're, I mean, I love Mexican. It's my favorite genre of food by far. Are you a burrito fan, taco fan, no discrimination when it comes to Mexican food? What's your favorite?

All right.

Yeah,

I think it's shore on the Poconos, man. I don't know why you have to choose. just depends on what you're catching. But I will say this, if it's Tuesday, it's non-negotiable. We do tacos on Tuesday in my house.

Just

Tacos, taco

too. What's your favorite Mexican dive in Bucks County?

So there's a really good place very close to us. So if you're asking Doylestown is Las Fritas. However, ⁓ when we're ready to get in the car for about 20 minutes, there's a wonderful place called Tijuana Tacos. ⁓ That's Tijuana Tacos. It's a kind of a local franchise. They have one up in the Lehigh Valley. They have a couple down in Maryland.

Okay.

Tijuana taco.

and family operated, fantastic food. So it's about a 20 minute drive for us. So that's kind of our little splurge if we're gonna get in the car as opposed to walk to get our anta-jitos, we'll go up to Tijuana Tacos.

Yeah.

That sounds wonderful. If you're ever in Manyunk , okay, my favorite Mexican restaurant in the area is called Taqueria Amor and they make this salsa and they make it there. It'll knock your socks off. is this like this perfect smoky spicy flavor and I don't like really spicy things. But I do like a little bit of spice and they know it's good because they'll sell it to you in like a container to take home. Like they know it's that good. So yeah, Taqueria Amor in Manyunk Yunk.

Wow.

wow.

It's to die for. You should go.

That's my brother's district. I would love that.

There you go. Well, we'll all go together. We'll have a trio. We'll have a lot of fun.

Joe, what's it like having a brother who's a state rep?

Well, mean, know, mom always said he was her favorite and

no!

now he's everyone in Harrisburg's favorite because he's an outstanding state

⁓ no.

And we couldn't be more proud of him. You know, my brother was not a career politician, neither was I. He went into medicine, I went into law and we both found ourselves running for office when...

Yeah.

we saw problems that we thought someone needed to step up and address. In his case, he saw the fact that there was finally a vaccine created during the COVID pandemic. And he was really happy that as a nurse practitioner, he was in the position of being able to deliver those vaccines to the people who came into his clinic. But it turns out that the system that was in place had no plan for folks who were shut-ins, folks...

who couldn't come to him and even worse Zeke, it turns out that there was no real system in place for what to do if you had extra vaccines.

So my brother figured out that, just as an everyday person, he could get in his car after work and drive to people who needed these vaccines.

So this was just showing up for people in a way that he thought government ought to. And so he saw an opportunity to challenge someone that he didn't think was doing the kind of work that people in his neighborhood needed done. And that's how he unseated a six term incumbent.

by almost 20 percentage points. So my brother's story, I think is an inspiration to everyone. It's an inspiration to me. And it's incredible now that he's in office to just see how hard he

not just serving his constituents, which he does an incredible job at,

but showing up for Democrats all over Pennsylvania. And I know you've knocked a couple of doors with my brother, Tarik haven't you?

I have, ⁓ yeah,

Tarik and I knocked a lot of doors in Philly. absolutely, yes. And we had a lot of fun doing it. I mean, I sometimes go back on TikTok

go down memory lane and there are a number of videos of me and Tarik and also at fundraisers where he gives very fiery speeches. So that's great. Are you the big brother

is he the big brother? You're the big brother.

I am the big brother. I

am the big brother, yeah. you know, so I kind of had to do a lot of stuff the hard way, but again, I'm a proud big brother

really inspired by the work that Tarik does every day.

I'm sure he's proud of you as well.

Well, we're gonna play another game called the sibling game.

So between you and Tarik, who's the pickier eater?

Pickier eater? That's gotta be Tarik because he's pretty strict about what he eats. ⁓ He is a pescatarian.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm kind of an omnivore. I try and do things in moderation and I try to eat pretty healthy. But I think that's gotta go to the guy who doesn't eat any red meat, any chicken, any of that stuff.

Alright, fine. Tarik's got that point. What about who would win in a wrestling match? You or Tarik?

like arm wrestling or like like the old like WWF what are we talking about?

Yeah, like old school,

old school, like grappling on the floor, you know, and whoever taps out first kind of thing.

It might be me. I probably got a few more scraps growing up, you know, the two of us. So, but I don't think we've ever had to find out, but I might take that one.

⁓

No? Okay, fine. Those

days are long behind you, I guess. All right, who's the most competitive?

Yeah.

That might be me.

fine.

Hey, you gotta know yourself. Who whines the most? You or Tarik?

Who whines the most?

I don't know. I'm gonna pass on that one.

You're gonna pass on that

one? safe, very safe, very political of

Alright, this one's a good one. Who gives better hugs?

That's gotta be Tarik. Everyone wants to hug Tarik.

Tarik?

But who's competing, right? mean siblings definitely don't compete with each other.

Ha ha ha.

Joe, as a district attorney, you would help guide sentencing recommendations for crimes. What is your ideology on deciding the severity of a sentence for a crime?

Well, sentencing is really tough because there are so many things you need to take into

And one is the case that you have in front of you, right? You've got oftentimes a victim of a crime and it's really important to make sure that person has their voice heard. You have somebody who committed the crime who may or may not be the same person that's in the courtroom. Sometimes people change a lot, you know, over time and sometimes these cases take a long time to resolve.

And then you need to think about the impact on society, right? And so one of the things I can tell you, because there's so many different kinds of crimes and so many different kinds of cases, but what I can tell you is that in terms of a philosophy, one thing that was always really important to me was to try and do everything possible to make sure that everyone was being treated fairly. And I want to make sure this doesn't sound anodyne, but really being treated fairly.

⁓ regardless of who they were. And the reason I say this is that this was a real problem in white collar cases oftentimes, where you had a defendant who looked very much like the judge. This might be someone who was college educated, right? They kind of had a certain kind of lifestyle. They might've even done some good things in their lives and maybe didn't have some of the...

sort of traditional disadvantages that a lot of other defendants had coming in front of the courtroom. And sometimes, you know, there was a lot of kind of momentum for leniency for those kinds of offenders. They often had very, you know, high priced, high powered lawyers. Their arguments could be very compelling to certain judges. And I found it to be really important. You know, there's an old saying that the scales of justice don't balance themselves, right? And I think it's really important.

that at sentencing, especially if you're a prosecutor, that you make sure that you're doing everything you can to make sure that the right sentence is delivered. And that means that the victim gets justice and that the right message is sent to society.

So it's one of the many areas where I think our justice system sometimes skews towards unfairness. And I think it's really important for DAs and other prosecutors to do everything they can to balance those scales and make sure that we have equal justice as much as possible.

scales of justice do not balance themselves. Who said that? Whose quote is that?

I don't know first said it, but I mean, it's something I heard, you know, during the course of my career and I repeat it often because for me, it's something that I think we need to remind ourselves, you know, that our system is only as good as the people involved in it. And I think if you don't have people who really care, who really make it their mission to try and fight for

⁓ Yeah.

I love it.

Yeah.

systems kind of will skew just to keep the system going.

they don't skew towards towards fairness. And that's very much why I got into into this in the first place.

I it. I have on my phone the notes app. have quotes. So I always put my favorite quotes in there because it helps inspire me. So since you don't know who said it, I'm just going to put Joe Khan OK, so now you're going to be in my notes of quotes. all

So Joe, is it true that you studied law under Barack Obama while he was professor at the University of Chicago? That's amazing. That's really cool. Can you tell me a little about that?

I did.

Yeah, well, you know, we joked about the fact that, you know, I had this Muslim dad and this Catholic mom raising me in a Jewish neighborhood, right? And, you know, it was a wonderful, you know, way to grow up to learn to stand up for everyone. But I also kind of had this experience of always feeling a little bit like an

And...

you know, I get to law school and, you know, I just meet this, this professor who also had a Muslim immigrant dad and a Christian American mom, right? And he helped me come to understand that a lifetime of having to build a bridge to another culture and every conversation that I was ever going to have, wasn't going to hold me back as a public interest lawyer, that it was going to be my superpower, right? And that's what really set me on the path that I began.

as a prosecutor standing up for victims of child abuse and sexual assault, right? Who needed someone who could earn their trust, hear their stories, and then become their advocate and seek justice for them. And so I owe a lot to him because I met him in a really critical time in my life.

That's great. Did you keep in touch at all? mean, did you get any contact information over the years or that was just a once and done thing?

Yeah, well, so I got to know him a bit back then. This was the late 90s. ⁓ I worked on one of his campaigns

Yeah.

Yeah.

Why don't you come be our legal advisor for the night? ⁓ And so we got to hang out and catch up. And then a bunch of my friends from law school ended up actually going to work for him in the White House, which is pretty great. And I was very happy ⁓ being here, serving as a federal prosecutor here, but I was really psyched to see my friends go to Washington and do great work for the country and to see him become our president.

That's awesome.

That's great. That is a great memory. I met Obama once when he was at a Kamala Harris rally. It was at Temple University. And it's hilarious because I was part of the receiving line. And what I didn't realize, I've never met a president before, or an ex-president, and they give you a card that you're supposed to hand to the president when you meet him, and it has a description of who you are.

and I'd done so much social media for the Harris campaign that it said influencer on it. didn't say doctor. I was an influencer. So I thought that was hilarious. Like I'm President Barack Obama and he's going to know me as an influencer and not a doctor. What happened?

You

Well, you're

a great doctor and you're great influencer.

And I'm an influencer,

Joe, you be the first Asian Pacific American DA in Bucks County history when you win?

Thank you.

I think I'd be the first Asian American DA anywhere in Pennsylvania. And I would also be the first Asian American elected anything countywide. We've got a lot of room for growth here. And certainly there's a lot of pride around that fact in a lot of communities. But it's not just folks in the Pakistani community who are excited about it. I think that a lot of immigrant communities

where I spend a lot of time and we spent some time in this interview talking about my love of Mexican food. I've done a lot of work to engage first generation, second generation communities. I created a political action committee called Second Generation that supported political candidates from these underrepresented immigrant communities. And a lot of the stakes of this election are about how we welcome or don't welcome immigrants in Bucks County. So yeah, I am very...

proud of the fact that, you if I'm successful, this will be an historic candidacy. I'd the first Democrat elected in 60 years, the first Asian American elected countywide in Bucks County, first Asian American DA. But really what's more important is that ⁓ we're going to have someone who's going to fight for everybody and make sure that maybe I'll be the first this or the first that. I'm going to make my business to make sure that I'm not the last and then I'm bringing people up with me and then we give opportunity for everybody.

100 % and I'm a big believer that representation matters. So I do think it's important to highlight that because there are gonna be a lot of young people who have aspirations to achieve things and they see someone like you in that spot, that's gonna mean something to them. That's gonna give them a goal. So I want this for you, I really do. For many reasons.

Thank you.

Joe, why are you a Democrat?

Well, you know, it was a Democrat who inspired my dad to come to this country. His name was John F. Kennedy. And, you know, my dad was a young man. He was a bridge builder. He had been born in India, a country that wasn't safe for his family because of the religion, and they fled to Pakistan. But that didn't turn out so great either. And so my dad came to this country inspired by John F. Kennedy. He met my mom. They raised

in this wonderful community in Northeast Philadelphia where I went to great public schools. I rode SEPTA to get to get the central high school, right? I was taught by great public school teachers and then met this professor who had this big influence in my life named Barack Obama. So many of the values of the Democratic Party have really been a big part of my life. And that includes the idea that government ought to show up and work for every.

And that's the approach I've tried to take over my 25 years in public service as an attorney. And that's, I think, the direction that we need from our next DA in Bucks County.

I appreciate that you are a Democrat, that you represent the Democratic Party and its values. And I look forward to bringing that to the Office of the DA. We need those values at all levels of government and especially locally.

Thanks Zeke

Joe, what gives you hope?

kids. You know, I think it's tough to see some of the really bad things that are happening right now in this country. But I try to, number one, think about what I can do to make the world better for them. And I spend a lot of time looking at the world through their

So I think we're going through a tough time as a country right now. It's a tough time for us as a county, but I'm very optimistic because of my kids that it's going to get better.

we have to have hope for our kids, right? Hope is a verb. Hope is something we do every single day to make this world a better place for our kids. So I am on the same page with you on that.

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

Honestly, running for DA has given me a focus. The blessing of having a long career in public service as an attorney on the criminal, civil, prosecution, defense side is that I'm able to do a lot of different things. And when you see so many challenges going on in this country, it can be hard to figure out where you can make the most difference and have the biggest impact. And it's clear to me having this impact, doing what no one has done before,

in my lifetime, which is winning this office as a Democrat and then rolling up my sleeves and getting to work to solving these problems. That's what I'm going to do. And, you know, I am, I'm going full speed on this, brother. We're going to, we're going to, know, catch a couple of Z's after the election and then we're going to hit the ground running because, you know, I really see public service as a privilege and I, know, however much time I have in this office.

If I'm elected, I'm gonna use every single day that I have to figure out how I can use this amazing power to make people's lives better. And I don't think we have the luxury of waiting. I think we need to get to work right away. So the minute that I take that oath and I'm gonna mean every word that I say when I swear to uphold and defend the constitution of this Commonwealth, we're gonna get to work when we hit the ground running.

I love your focus. I love your energy and I can't remember who said it but I have my my quote notes my note quotes, right? And and I read one somewhere that when it comes to running for office when you put the bit in your mouth you run like hell. So you really really do you got to run through the finish line. I know you're gonna do that. Well Joe Khan running for district attorney in Bucks County, Pennsylvania will be on the ballot this November 4th and like I always say

you

Yeah.

Every election is the most important election. Joe, can we support your campaign?

Joekhan.com, J-O-E-K-H-A-N.com. It'll take you right to my ActBlue page. we appreciate all the help people can offer, knocking on doors, writing letters, making phone calls. But right now, if you're not in Bucks County and you want to help, if you send us a couple of dollars, that will go a long way to getting the word out and helping us make history.

Absolutely, and I wish I could vote for you, but unfortunately I'm in your county next door, but I'm gonna be rooting for you and I have a feeling this is not gonna be the last time we cross paths and work together. So thank you so much for running. I really appreciate it and run like hell.

Thank you Zeke and thanks for everything that you're doing this year. You the work that you're doing, it's part of what does give me hope. And I love your podcast and I can't wait to hear who you have on next. Keep bringing the Bucks County people because they're awesome. And you're gonna love having them on.

Thank you.

Well.

Absolutely.

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.