Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today lives in center County, Pennsylvania and is a rising operative in Pennsylvania democratic politics. Utilizing her experience and relationships on the state committee, she has run winning campaigns at both the statewide and local levels. Thank you so much for being here, Laura Shadle

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.

Thanks for having me, Zeke!

I'm so excited you're here. I love talking to people who are grinders for the Democratic Party that do the work day in, day out, that is not publicly advertised because you just know what it takes to get more Democrats elected and what Democrats will do for the state of Pennsylvania. So I really appreciate the work you do. I see it all the time. And I just want to thank you and showcase that on my podcast. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Absolutely. We're going to learn all about you, play some games and have some fun. Are ready? All right.

I'm ready.

Well, Laura, you've been involved in a number of campaigns with judges over the years and other candidates as well. Do you apply for campaign positions or do people reach out to you?

That's been a combination of the two. There are certainly some over the years that I've expressed interest in. I'll see where my services could be. But more recently, think I've been able to utilize certain relationships, certainly again, serving on the state

so I would say it's been a combination of two. I just try to jump in wherever I can help.

It's great. I'm sure a lot of people who either listen or watch want to get involved in helping Democrats, but it can be a very intimidating endeavor, right? To reach out and say, hey, I'd to help your campaign in some fashion. They might not know where to start. So where did you start? Where did you get your first inkling that you wanted to help candidates run for office?

So I would say, I mean, if we went back to the very beginning, I'm in my early 30s now. ⁓ I started volunteering when I was a teenager, when Obama was running the first time. It's very fun talking to our younger Democrat, or literally the PA young Dems that are getting involved now, because some of them were actually born that year, which blows my mind. ⁓

That's crazy.

can start by volunteering and just kind of getting to know who is involved, who's running things, who your local party is, things like that,

I think there's lots of different ways that, ⁓ you know, we can make that first step, whether it's volunteering, whether it's having a certain service.

that you might be able to help campaigns with. There's usually somebody, I mean, everybody's always looking for help in some way. And then, you know, we just try to spot talent from there and keep building.

Right.

Yeah, you just have to look for the helpers. I mean, you are a big helper now, but you just have to want to do something and don't stop looking to find the right person to get you to that next step. And I'm very grateful that you started when you did. But it doesn't matter how old you are. If you want to get involved in the democratic process, you don't have to ask for permission. Just ask to put your name out there and someone will find you. And I'm very grateful that you're one of those people in Pennsylvania.

Yep.

Yep.

Laura, in your late teens, early 20s, used to model and were involved in various performing arts, singing, dancing, comedy. Do you still do any of those things?

just truly do not have the bandwidth. I've kind of gone full politics now.

Yeah.

you know, any personal time I can, I do love creative outlets. A lot of the modeling I used to do was very much with ⁓ artists too. And then I've been involved, I've written and performed with different musicians, bands, and I've just always had that creative side too. I was interested in politics and activism at a young age, but I've always been a writer and interested in fashion. So just kind of all these interests converging, but.

I found a way in more recent years even to make my creative interests applicable to political work. I'm finding out more and more that you always kind of want to be on the cutting edge too, especially in an age like today when you're reaching

Yeah.

You know the more you can make somebody stand out the more original your approach can be and whether that is you know a digital strategy of a mailer or anything like that ⁓ or You know the way we're writing with can't you know always with our candidates to to help them? Convey their message to I found that if you have like the creative side to I mean There's there's just endless potential there, I just try to kind of make all those worlds meet

as one. And I still try to deliver that every day when I'm working with people.

Mm-hmm.

It's just a lot of fun.

Well, I might want to ask you to come over sometime and maybe teach me some TikTok dances. I'm always trying to, you know, stay on top of the trends. And I've always wanted to take hip hop dancing. Do you have any background in hip hop at all?

Not, not train now.

No.

Yeah, I mean, I guess jazz, it's been a lot of different. Yeah, jazz for

Cheers.

Yeah, hip hop is cool, though. I wish I was up to date as much with the TikTok trends too, because I kind of need to lean on some of the younger Dems even the meat like, remember, I'm living near a major university too. So 33 is like

Yeah.

Yeah.

consider it old in some spaces, and I need translators.

well, we gotta organize our students too, but.

I know. Well,

you I have no shame. So maybe you can teach me some good jazz moves one of these days. OK.

Enjoy.

going to play a game called America's Next Top Model. OK. I don't know if you did you watch the documentary recently about America's Next Top Model?

I have not watched the full document. know there's a lot of, yeah, it did not age well.

my God, it is terrible. I mean, if you

ever want to watch people just take no accountability for what they did to these women, that is basically what that entire series is about. But I wanted to quiz you. I did not watch America's Next Top Model religiously. I don't know, did you watch it at all in the past?

Yep.

So here's the thing, I did and would notice some of the problems at the time. also just liked, I like fashion shoots and like the creative side of it. So I would watch purely for that. But yeah, looking back, it's a little rough now.

Mm-hmm.

It's off

the rails. OK, well, I'm going to ask you, this is like true or false, if these were actual photo shoots for America's Next Top Model. OK, so let's see if we got this. So here's the first one, a crime scene shoot where they had models basically recreate various crimes like getting shot in the head or, you know, getting hit by a car, like a hit and run. that actually happen? True or false?

Okay.

I'm gonna say true. think they did that. Yeah, they did that. I'll bet.

Yeah, it is true. It is true.

They actually did that and it was terrible because one of the models, the contestants actually lost their mother to gun violence and they had and they actually had her like recreate a scene where she was shot. Yeah, it was terrible. Yeah, I know it's disgusting. know tyra banks was just like, I wasn't in charge of like production. I just I just showed up in films. It was ridiculous. Yeah, it's like no accountability. All right, here's another one. A raw meat shoot.

That's sociopathic.

Yeah.

Do like I just work here. Yeah.

where they had to wear raw meat, like raw meat bikinis. Did that happen? Yeah, that did happen. Yeah, the models, I don't think that the animal rights ⁓ organizations are too happy about that. And that sounds disgusting and a waste of meat. But yeah, they had models drape themselves in meat for a photo shoot.

I think that's true. Yeah.

That is Upton Sinclair. Yeah.

Yeah,

all right, here's two more. How about an eating disorder shoot? Would they have made them act like they were bulimic, anorexic in a photo shoot? Would they have done that?

I hope not.

I want to say no, they didn't go that on the nose, they? ⁓ they did.

they did. Yeah.

they did. They had them ⁓ recreate those those moments on America's Next Top Model. Yeah.

as a PSA or just?

I don't know what they were thinking at the time. They probably were probably looking for rage bait, click bait, all that stuff. But yeah, they thought, we're just going to throw caution to the wind and make a ton of money. And then they got away with it. All right, here is the last one. Did they do this? Changing your ethnicity shoot.

Okay.

Yeah.

They did do that. I remember. Yeah, I actually remember this one.

Yeah, they did.

Yeah, they did that.

It was just unbelievable, right? I mean, for someone like you who was in the modeling industry, I don't know what type of things you witnessed or some of the darker sides of the industry, but America's Next Top Model seemed to showcase the worst parts of the industry.

were not my experiences, but I was probably working with very different types of people.

wow.

No, no, no meat bikinis for you. That didn't happen. No, no meat bikinis. Well, I think that Tyra Banks is in Australia now. And after that documentary aired, I don't think she's going to come back stateside any time soon. I think she's going to stay pretty, pretty far

There was no meat bikinis from now.

Probably not.

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.

Laura, you are a state committee member for the P.A. Democratic Party and you're running for reelection this year. What have been some of your accomplishments as a state committee member and why are you running for reelection?

one thing that was important was, and I advise this to anybody returning or new to the PA Democratic Party, is that really ingratiate yourself ⁓ with people from all over the state and learn about what they're doing in their

Mm-hmm.

the people I met on the state committee, we were all communicating.

and saying, hey, we're all running these county slates. What's working there? What's working here? How do you do this? that's really, that's something I think we've seen actually increase since my time there.

Mm-hmm.

I guess these are all accomplishments in a way, but it's just really important work that I genuinely love doing every single day.

And you feel like you're running again to continue that, to continue making the connections, to continue getting more Democrats elected, not just where you live, but help Democrats all across the Commonwealth.

Yes.

Absolutely, I'm doing it now. Like I'm already filed my running mates who I serve with here already filed my our state representatives are felt like we're good and centered, but there's ⁓ you know, there's other candidates I know even who are running here that you know, I'm going down extra days just to Help everybody go like that. I feel that that's part of my role Especially if you have that experience and happy to do it

Mm-hmm.

You got all your signatures? You're good to go? Good. I'm very happy that you did run already and that you served on the state committee. It's so

Yep.

And you're doing the work. You're doing it. You're making those connections. You're making those relationships. And it's only going to contribute to good things for Democrats in the midterm elections coming up this November.

Laura, you served in executive positions for the PA Young Democrats, Rural Caucus, and the Veterans Caucus. So what have you learned by being in these various positions?

these are really constituency caucuses, how much they can overlap and work together to not only to strengthen the base within the party too, but how these interests can be represented ⁓ in the candidates that we recruit and the elected officials that we

like the LGBT caucus last year even did specific palm cards

how judicial races impact the LGBT community, and they distributed thousands of these across pride festivals all summer. It was incredible. these are the different kinds of things that these caucuses can do. And this is just from people coming together and saying, it's not just a matter of being here represented in the room, but how do we expand that outward?

that's nice.

Yeah.

I think it's great that you get involved. And again, representation matters and you give these people a voice, know, people all across the state of Pennsylvania. So I think it's great that you went into those spaces and teased out the best of them. And you're clearly contributing back to the Commonwealth with those ideals. So thank you very much for getting involved. And I hope that you continue to where I know you're busy and you have like you have your hand in so many pots.

But, you know, the more

can help these smaller caucuses, the better Pennsylvania is going to be.

Alright, let's play another game

Name

Caucus. Okay? I want you to tell me if you believe these are real caucuses or not. Okay? How about the concrete pavement caucus? Is that a real caucus?

I'm going to say, I'm going to guess no. Okay. Okay.

It actually is a caucus. Yeah,

it's active within the PA House of Representatives, led by Mike Schlossberg. Mike Schlossberg, it's focused on promoting the use, sustainability, and benefits of concrete in infrastructure projects. There is a caucus for concrete in Pennsylvania. Here's another one. How about the caulking caucus?

Okay.

Okay.

The caulking?

Yeah, the caulking of the stuff that you plug up cracks with. Yeah, caulking,

Well, I'm going to guess it is now because it sounds like everything is. Okay. Okay. Well, yeah.

It's not, I made that one up. I have to get a gotcha here every once in a while.

well. All right, how about this one? The AstroTurf Caucus. Is there a caucus promoting AstroTurf in the state of Pennsylvania?

I'm just going to guess yes. There's not. Okay. These are all.

I made that up too.

I know. Okay, but here I got one more. This could be it. How about the Pipeline Caucus?

Okay.

there probably is for that.

Yeah, there is. Yeah. Yeah,

they focus on strengthening regulations, improving safety and increasing oversight of natural gas pipelines.

Good job. There are lots of caucuses in Pennsylvania, and there a of crazy ones

I got one right.

Laura, you attended for college. We are...

Penn State!

That's right, I only know that because I recently took my son on a college tour

And you majored in English literature, correct? Why was it important to you to attend college?

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I would say for the work I do now, it's critical to have that combined with lived experience too.

the analytical skills that I did not know that I would obtain, it's kind of why a lot of English majors actually go into law too. There is a level of close reading and analytical skills that you don't know you're going to learn necessarily when you go into a major like that. considering how much of my time I spend crafting messages,

Mm-hmm.

and proofreading, press release it, or writing and proofreading, it all comes back to that. And so, yeah, I think that's one of the things too. And it was actually advice given to me because I was already somewhat involved in politics when I started ⁓ college that it was ⁓ a former elected official who told me, he was like, don't study political science. you're already in.

the politics, he was like, study something else that will then, you'll never know, like it will be able to help you with your craft if you continue in politics. And that was some of the best advice I ever got. So that's.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That's interesting.

I didn't realize that most lawyers major in English. I had no idea that that was a very common major.

I don't know if it's most, I don't know the exact statistics on it. It was just something that was, yeah, was many, it's a combination of many lawyers I've met and also something we just were told in class. We're like, you know, a lot of you actually go on to become lawyers because of these close reading, these skills that we're teaching you now.

It's just a lot.

Interesting. I just assumed it was like political science or something like that. A lot of lawyers would major in that, kind of like most doctors major in biology kind of thing. Although I knew someone who majored in Spanish who went to my medical school, which I thought was kind of interesting. But no, I think we live in an age where you certainly don't have to go to college. There are lots of things you can do in this life. But I also think that there's this narrative from Republican politicians that somehow going to college ruins you as a person.

Yeah.

of this. Like, you know, this woke agenda and brainwashed, even though like all of these very prominent politicians are all sending their kids to very good schools. So I know it's all just part of this crazy narrative they have. But I'm glad that you did get what you paid for when you went to college, that you got this great education and that you translated that into great communications efforts for Democrats. Thank goodness you're on our side. But yeah, I like to showcase people that go to college that get the most out of it, because I do think that

Yeah.

Yep.

education and knowledge is one of the best ways to get yourself out of very difficult situations.

Mm-hmm.

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

even before I associated with a political party, I think there are certain values that we pick up on that I certainly

you know, I did not like injustice, could not tolerate seeing somebody being bullied, seeing somebody being disadvantaged. And

I mean, overwhelmingly though, it is the Democrats that are on the side of making institutions work for people, especially working

that. I believe in strengthening our middle

I believe in civil

I believe people should have health care, just these

things.

Yeah,

Yeah, it's the values, it's the ideals that's in the Democratic platform. And I always try to tell people to go and read the Democratic platform. It's online, it's free, it's 92 pages long, while 91 minus the cover letter. But yeah, you should read it. And it's very progressive, it's very grounded in

Mm-hmm. Yep.

And I'm grateful that you're working towards a more perfect union. And that's exactly what the Democratic Party stands for.

thoughts on the SAVE

I'm horrified by it, of course.

the

any time there is an effort to disenfranchise a really significant portion of the population, that is not only wrong ⁓ on a moral level, but

Yeah.

you have to immediately question why would somebody want to do that? Why is somebody afraid of everybody having access, especially certain types of people of certain different demographics, having access to choosing who's in power? And yeah, this causes serious, serious barriers that I don't think we've seen in generations. Well, no, we really haven't.

Right.

Yeah.

No, it's very much, you know, Jim Crow, voter suppression, poll tax. It's just crazy. I mean, it's not surprising. If your vote wasn't so precious, Republican politicians would be trying so hard to take it away from you. ⁓ It's all propaganda about dead people voting, undocumented immigrants voting. I mean, there's already voter ID necessary to vote in Pennsylvania. To register to vote, you have to prove you live in Pennsylvania.

Yep.

Yep.

and that you are an American citizen. You don't have to have another way to prove that you actually have to bring your ID the first time you vote in Pennsylvania. And it's every time after that you don't have to bring it, but the first time you vote in Pennsylvania, you have to show a form of ID.

you know, it's so partisan or polarized at the legislative level when they talk about these issues. But when you come down to the county commissioner level, the people who actually have to run these things, it's one of the reasons that ⁓ bipartisan, there's overwhelming bipartisan support for pre-canvassing. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

ballots, Republican

Right.

commissioners support this because they're really the ones getting screwed by the Republican legislators because they're like, hey, we actually know the mechanics that go into that. We have to deal with this. We have to run our elections office. And we're the ones getting death threats and that. I mean, it's

Right, yeah.

Yeah.

It's

yeah, you would have Senator Chris Dush. his committee is where all good election bills go to die.

Everybody was at sea cap and he is sitting there telling like just lying to even his own Republican commissioners and they don't know what to do.

It's just completely, yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I'm hoping that we can flip the state Senate this year and get a trifecta and push all these great bills right to Governor Josh Shapiro's desk, who's also going to win his re-election and really get some shit done in Pennsylvania.

Yes. I

even have, I have.

there's Josh Shapiro's face. I love it. Josh Shapiro on a stick. I love it. Yeah. We're going to run it back, as you like to say.

Yeah, I thought that. We got props. I,

hold on. I have to run it back. That's it. Yep.

There you got the run it back hat. I love

it. I gotta get one of

halfway through the episode and you're still here. I hope you're enjoying yourself Please take a moment to rate my podcast five stars would be great Leave a comment as well. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit follow. Okay back to the show

Laura, you do correspondent work on a local regional radio show in Central PA, the Tormichael Show, the voice of Centre County, six to nine a.m. every weekday on 95.3. What kind of messaging do you focus on when you're on the air?

it's all community focused

And I think being heavily involved in your community is a great way to show goodwill and show, you know, residents and voters of all types that ⁓ who are especially turned off by the national discourse. Well, you know, here's a Democrat I know and who is involved in

say a local nonprofit that we're doing or there's this community event that's going on to beautify the town, anything like that. I do stuff like that on that show. I'm out at your local fire hall with my little microphone and the show is extremely well known here, especially in Centre County.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

It's gotten bigger, so ⁓ there are people from neighboring counties listening now too, which is awesome. But yeah, we just try to, and I think one of the things we really try to do is that just because there's a certain level

Yeah.

I mean, vitro and division, no matter where you turn, and especially really coming down from the national, we think.

you know, one of the best anecdotes to that is just getting to know each other as neighbors again. And so I can tell you, there are a lot of events that I'm at, and they absolutely know that I'm a Democratic Party official. Like, they've heard me, they know me, or they know who I am,

Yeah.

we've got to still be able to see each other as humans too, ⁓ considering how bad this gets

yeah, yeah, for sure.

And I like to think that the work that I can do on that show does contribute to that in some way. Because I know there are a lot of people who like,

absolutely have like polar opposite politics to me that they will at least, you know, we like and trust each other at this level and that it's got to start somewhere and

Yeah.

But yeah, it's just it's just hyping up in the way that you know, you see me on social media hyping up the Democrats. Well on that show, it's just hyping up Centre County. Just we love Centre County.

I love it.

I love it. I've never listened to him, but I did go to his website and he seems very engaging. So I appreciate what you do. You know, you have to meet people where they are and you know, all politics is local. So you're doing all the right stuff. And as someone who's in communications, it makes sense that you would be on a radio show. I hope that you get invited on a lot. Do you have to get like on a waiting list or is like whenever you want to go, you just call him?

He's a lot of fun.

No, the cool thing about his

actually a call-in show. does not, so like a statewide judge or a judicial candidate or somebody can call and then the next call could just be like some guy down the street being like, hey, there was an accident. I'm just letting you guys know. Like it's so much fun that way. Like you just never know what you're gonna get.

okay.

that's crazy.

and local elected officials will do it too, to let people know what's going on in their township. It's a neat little community.

Okay. Interesting. So

maybe I could just call him up sometime. He's like, hey, this is Zeke from Monco. Just want to give you a shout

You could!

Well, when I call, I'll say Laura Shadle sent me, okay?

Yeah.

Laura, you are a sexual and domestic violence survivor and very

active in advocacy spaces. And first of all, I'm very sorry that you experienced both of those things in your life. You've told your story to help move legislation in Pennsylvania to protect people from abuse, correct?

⁓ Yes, so either story or really experiences as a survivor too and kind of what trauma informed, well, what trauma looks like in general and what trauma-informed leadership looks

we just know the reality too of how many more victims and survivors there are out there that are not reported to and that anytime you can get a message out. And sometimes it's even as much as I'm still here and I'm alive that that is something and that there's a community that will support you. That can be enough to save somebody on the street. And I've talked to people.

who that's been the case. And making sure they know, people know where their resources are.

definitely done a lot of work with our local shelter and advocacy center. It's called Centre Safe here, but it's essentially a rape crisis center. And I know there's going to be a lot going on this year, too, with some of the flat funding issues that I will always lend my voice with them, because that is a major

Mm-hmm.

to keep these places running. But yeah, some of it's honestly just about that interaction and voice to ⁓ people who need to hear it the most. I'm a recovering alcoholic too, and it's very intertwined with that

Right.

I didn't even really start drinking until many years ago ⁓ because I had PTSD. And it's these kinds of things. people, I mean, it takes a serious toll. the more we kind of commute, especially now being in a place where I think I'm doing pretty well, and I can communicate

Mm-hmm.

you know.

just letting people know, like, I have been in some of the darkest places imaginable, and there are people that can help bring you out of that, and that you have the strength. Everybody has that within them, too, to come back, and that we can't control everything that happens to us, for

there really can be a light at the end of the tunnel, too, and we just kind of have to be those

It's something I do with my state rep too, because it's been an issue, domestic violence specifically, that's affected his life. He's lost very close people to him. ⁓ So we've partnered on legislation before too, and he's been a support to me, and to many other people in our community. So that's.

Mm-hmm.

That's the kind of stuff we want to look for in our leaders. And that's something I like to promote as well. That's just, yeah, I think it almost gets back to those values that we have as Democrats, right? That's why we get into this work. And so that's one way to do it.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, I'm very grateful that you were able to overcome those challenges in your life and get the help that you needed. And it makes sense to me even more so that you are a Democrat and help other Democrats get elected, because I think it's on full display which political party is the defender of abusers,

It's the Democratic Party that's on the right side of those issues. And so that makes complete sense to me.

as you said, you are the political director for state rep Scott Conklin who is serving in the 77th Legislative District. So, you know, what's the insider scoop on what's happening in Harrisburg these days? I you're like on the ground floor of all this stuff. What's the hot goss?

am I allowed to talk about?

whatever you're, I don't want to get you in trouble with your boss, but

I'm just curious, know, what's the, what are the, there's always gossip at work, right? I've got my work gossip. You've got to have some good stuff, something you can e-goss.

actually, in terms of things with the House Dems, there's something very interesting that I think is cool this year, just in terms of how totally locked in Dems are.

Yeah.

absolutely can be on a path to expand the majority for sure. And we need to because it's not, yeah, this one seat thing is just making the, and

Yes!

No, it's too much.

Senate Dems seem to be doing very well too.

I've just never, I don't know if I've ever seen this like this organized and focused and it's very, very exciting. Yes.

I love it.

⁓ you're speaking my language, Laura.

This is the kind of hot gossip I like. OK, if you're going to give me gossip, this is the kind of stuff I want to hear. Good, because I want this to be our year. Good, good. I want Pennsylvania to be focused on what's really important because there's going to be a lot of distraction that's going to come down the pipeline from D.C., from Congress. And we just have to get the job done. We have to get Joshua Shapiro reelected.

This is...

Yeah, not propaganda either. It's real.

We have to expand our majority in the state house and we have to flip the state Senate. And we can do that as long as we stick together, we stay focused and we get out.

All right, we're going to play a game called Stay Focused. Okay, I want you to tell me, are these good things to focus on or not? right. Making sure your voter registration is up to date. Yeah, good to stay focused on that. It's very easy. If you go to pa.gov...

Good. Always.

No, will

burn that bridge when we get to it.

Exactly. feel like

Yeah.

about um

knowing the dates of the primary and general election in Pennsylvania. Very focused, right? May 19th is our primary. You have to be a registered Democrat or Republican to vote in the primaries, but everyone can vote November 3rd of this year. How about whatever Joe Rogan is saying about anything? Should we focus on that? No, no, I can't stand that guy. I don't really care what he's saying. I think there are much better voices.

focus, yes.

on social media where people focused all over the country and he, you're very kind Laura, thank you. It totally well, it can't hurt. All here's the last one. Getting the trifecta in Pennsylvania.

No, we all got to listen to your podcast. I know flattery will get you everywhere in this. So I know what I'm doing.

Right? That's all that that's it. That is that that

is the goal. If you if you I mean, I'm going to be crying so many tears of joy if we can do that this year. The last time that Democrats had control of the state Senate, I was 11 years old. And if you're listening to this, you can't see the gray hairs on my chin. I'm going to be 42 this year. I would like it to happen this year. So let's make it happen. Right, Let's make it happen.

Yep, got to.

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

Laura, have you ever lost a friend?

or had to walk away from a friendship over politics.

yeah yeah well it's one I don't know that we I can't think to or speak to a specific flashpoint as much as I think there are probably people who just ⁓ kind of faded away over time did not

Yeah, this is a question.

Yeah.

that happens

Yeah.

I think it's a question I'm going to start asking more often on this podcast, because I think that people do have a point of pride to a degree of saying, well, I can talk to anybody and I can get along with anyone. from my look, I think there's plenty of things you can disagree on and still be friends. I I don't like, you know, certain things on my pizza. And I think that maybe the width of a sidewalk in my, you know, municipality should be a certain width. And in your municipality, it can be a different width, like whatever, you know.

But at the same time, there are some things that I don't want to normalize certain behavior. I don't want to normalize misogyny. I don't want to normalize racism. I don't want to normalize xenophobia. I don't want to normalize othering people. And I think that that is something that I can't get on board with. And I think those are the things I've lost friendships over the most.

there are plenty of people who make it work for various reasons. I'm not judging those people, but for my own sanity, you know, for the world that I want to build for myself and my children, I can't be around people and normalize that behavior because it's not those aren't the kind of people I want to be in charge. I don't want those people as elected officials making laws that can control other people's lives. But actually, my last guest, Jalen Nix said he still has friends that

are Trump supporters who he screams at, you know, but like I can't, I can only scream so much, you know, and I have kids, so I yell enough. I can't yell at my friends. Like once you have kids, you kind of cross the threshold, you can't deal with that shit, right?

Yeah

Well,

I think it would be kind of what circle or what level of access people can have to you, like in terms of what your friends are, because I certainly, know what, I know Jalen too. I think I know what he's talking about. Like I certainly, I'm not from a deep blue air, like there, you know, there are plenty of people with different views here

Right. Yeah.

And so I don't necessarily cut people off in that way, but I wouldn't say these are the closest people in my life too. It's just, I have a lot of people, like I know a lot of people, so I'm willing to have those conversations.

Right.

Yes.

but yeah, that's complicated. I know it's really tough for families too. Yeah, especially when you're out in rural PA too. There are a lot of families that are completely torn by this stuff. yeah, it's tough out there,

Yeah, it is.

It's hard.

I know it's hard. There's your biological family and your chosen family, but it's all about protecting your mental health. And these days it's more important than ever to do that.

Yeah.

Laura, what gives you hope?

The biggest thing that gives me hope that it's a,

this kind of locked in together, certainly unity, but not unity in the way that some folks will use it to say, we've all got to be on the same side. That doesn't mean we can't change anything. No, we've got to be progressing internally, right?

I've seen much smarter, ⁓ more effective campaigns running.

But even like down to like the school board level, we had Democrats winning in like the reddest counties in municipal seats. And everybody just, yeah, they just took nothing for granted. And it was just so smart and so focused on the communities that they wanted to

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, there's just something, there just seemed to be a shift there that people just locked in in a way that I have not seen. And it's something I pay very deep attention to as an operative too, in the different ways we can communicate

yeah, there's just something different about it this time that our reaction, our response to what's happening and we just got to keep it up. It seems to be working thus far electorally, but it's also just bringing that back to our communities too and never becoming complacent or we will absolutely

end up backsliding again, that's for sure.

Yeah,

no, I agree with you. I mean, you give me hope. You know, I feel like you kept saying over and over again, you see people, you see people. And that's a large reason why I did this podcast is because I wanted to bring people on who I see in the community across the state who are doing things, positive things every day, things ⁓ in the dark, things that don't trend that you don't see in the mainstream media. And I'm very grateful that you exist, that you're doing this work. And that keeps me going every day. And, know, I'm like

one day at a time, that's all we can do, right?

Yeah.

My last question for you, Laura, is what plans do you have to get you through these next few years? Because last year was tough. It really was, and I'm sure it's not going to get any easier. So what are you going to do to decompress?

I hadn't thought about decompressing. like, I just tell everybody I'm Celsius and SSRIs. You know, that's fun though. No, actually, I don't know about decompress. I like, can't even think about it.

Hahaha

my god, yeah. Yeah, seriously. Yeah

No, I mean, I certainly make a joke about caffeine and medication, But there is like a level of ⁓ self-care you need. Like I have found that maybe going into my 30s too, but also just I like any little things that we can do to just keep ourselves healthy mentally and physically.

positive self-talk and daily manifestations, if you had asked me a couple years ago in my 20s about this, I would have just walked away. But this stuff actually works. I think at this point, I'm just at a point, too, because

There is such a stark contrast between the energy we're trying to put out and the good that we're trying to do and everything else, everything else just bombarding us every day. You just gotta find any way to stay sane and compartmentalize. That's all you can do. And there's lots of ways to do that. I think it's different for everybody, but just get, find your routine and stick to it.

Yeah.

That's all you can do.

Yeah, it's

true. I mean, I'm still trying to find that balance of self care. have three kids and I find myself, you know, just trying to get little moments. You know, maybe I take my kids out for an activity and I have a little moment to just do something with them. But yeah, I feel like I'm burning buckets of gasoline all the time. Just go, go, go. Whether it's from work to kids to helping Democrats, it's always a lot. But I agree. We need to try at least try and find a space to decompress and unplug. I'll keep chasing that dream.

But maybe, I'll tell you what, if we get the trifecta, I might even skip a week of the podcast. I have no promises or anything, but I may take a celebratory week. Let's just get it done first, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, that will be huge. that absolutely, that's not a, by no means is that a pipe dream. This is the goal. This is what we're working. Because I think at first going into this cycle, even so, or maybe last year, people were saying, I don't know about that, but I mean, we can try, but no, I mean, we got to really, really try. We can do it. There is a path. Whether the stars have to align and we have to all, it's like what I said before, it's like,

I know, that is the goal.

This could be it. I know. We can. Yeah.

You've got, it's that law of attraction. You've got to manifest it and then just do the work. And yeah.

Yeah, that's right. That's the key.

That's the key. And it's people like you, Laura Schadle who's doing that work. And I'm just so grateful for you for what you're doing in Centre County, Pennsylvania. I'm appreciative of you waking up every day and helping move the ball forward. And people are always saying all the time, where are the leaders in the Democratic Party? I'm talking to one. I'm looking at one right now. You are a leader in the Democratic Party and everyone has the capacity to do what you are doing. Just have to decide one day to get involved.

and participate. And so I just want to thank you again for coming on, for everything you're doing. I know we're going to be in touch a lot over the next couple of months. And I hope that we continue to find joy in the work that we do.

Absolutely. Amen.

Thank you so much, Laura, I appreciate you.

Thank you, I appreciate you

Well, thank you so much for joining me here on The Zekely Podcast. Stay hopeful and get involved until next time. Let's keep building a stronger Pennsylvania