Representative Malcolm Kenyatta.

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.

I'm happy to be here. Let me be probably not the first to say, but Zekely Podcasts, I fucking love that. that's a great, that's a great podcast name.

I

cannot claim that I came up with the name, a very good friend of mine did, but when I heard it I said, yep, that's it. That's gonna be great.

That's it right there.

Yeah, well it's so good to see you. We often run in the same circles of people, you know, in the Democratic circuit, but we don't always cross paths. So it's just really great to have some face time with you.

Yeah.

I'm happy to do it. you know, I'm, you know, really going to be listening to your podcast and watching your journey. so though we may not be in person, I will be hearing from you Zekely

There you go. You got it. You got it. Well, there's a lot

to talk about us. Let's get into it. All right

Yeah, let's do

What is your go-to joke? Like if you have to break up a room and just like, you know, settle things down, what's your go-to joke?

That's my culture joke.

I don't have a go-to joke, but I will say I do think I'm funny you know, it's really about being in the moment. I love a good callback, you know, to Yahoo, yeah.

Yeah.

Well speaking of that, I mean it was

epic when you were at the Liacouras , Center and somebody's phone went off and you said that's the future calling. was, I mean that was a great moment. If you're listening to this, I don't know if anyone can Google Malcolm Kenyatta Liacouras Center. That was an amazing moment.

Yeah!

Well, you know what, kept it. It's on my, if you follow me on Instagram, which is just my name, guys, it's on Malcolm Kenyatta, it's pinned to the top of my Instagram, because that was a funny, cool, cool moment. So I think that's more of my thing. Like, how do you be in the moment?

Uh-huh.

That was great. Yeah.

I love it. You're a quick comeback.

let's talk about documentaries a little bit. I love watching documentaries. Do you have any recommendations for me on a documentary I can binge with my wife? You know?

So what

a leading question and I'm happy to answer it. I think everybody should go to Apple TV or to Amazon and download Don't Wait Your Turn, which is an incredible documentary,

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

was done by Tim Harris of Seven Knots Productions and Al Roker, which is a story that followed my primary challenge against John Fetterman and my relationship with my husband, Dr. Matt.

And you can watch it. When I ran, there were a lot of people you might imagine who said, who does this guy think he is running for US Senate? I have this crazy idea,

Zeke, that what if government actually like fucking worked for

and not

billionaires who had front row seats to that catastrophe we saw in DC?

it should work for us. And there are not a lot of folks who understand what I understand about what it means when government works or doesn't work in the US Senate. And so, you know, I really worked my butt off to try to change that. But it was so special because, you know, it's not the traditional political

And what was so cool is how they centered my relationship, my marriage to my husband, Dr. Matt. And so you actually see portions of our wedding and it-

And I don't know, it's it's a beautiful story. And

Mm-hmm.

what I hope it does is say to so many other people who are on the bubble about doing whatever that big thing is for you, just go do it.

And, you know, I hope that that is what people take away from the story, not how great Malcolm is, but how great you are, person listening to this. Don't wait your turn. The time for turns is over. We have important things that we have to do.

to make sure that our future is much brighter than the darkness that we feels like you can be consumed in right now.

I agree. I'm definitely going to watch that with my wife. Say the name again.

It's called Kenyatta. Do not wait your turn.

I'll definitely be checking that out. Thank you so much. So you are running to be the vice chair for the Democratic National Committee, the DNC, which is the leadership board for the United States Democratic Party. And the vote is coming up this February 1st. And I want to know what was your desire to run for this position?

You know, after

And as a national party, I really believe that a couple of things are true. That if we want to win nationally, we have to win locally.

the impetus for me doing this is grounded in the experience that I've had just like

supporting candidates,

candidates at the bottom for school board, for borough council that at the national level,

it feels like nobody gives a

Nobody gives a damn. I mean, just think about it, for

if you are a local school board candidate, and just if the National Democratic Party did something as simple as highlighted your race and retweeted just something you did, for a local school board candidate, that might be the biggest moment of engagement your campaign will ever have over the course of that race.

Mm-hmm.

And so we have to be in a position where our party cannot simply exist

to worry about a national election every four

We have elections that are coming up

New Jersey, like in Virginia, key elections that are happening in a couple of months.

And so we have to think very strategically and thoughtfully about how do we move on from this moment and how do we do so with the reality in front of us that Donald Trump did not win a majority of the votes of the American people. if we added to the ballot, didn't vote,

didn't vote would have won 36 % of the election.

so there are a lot of people who did not vote in this election who we have to engage. That's the first thing I'll say. And the final thing I'll say on this is I am not, I refuse to spend the next four years somehow

for being a Democrat. Somehow apologizing to want to

sure everybody has healthcare or apologizing for our commitment to ensure that we can like, I don't know, have such luxuries as like

clean water and breathing.

clean air,

for giving a damn about working people who want to organize on the job and be paid a living wage. I'm not apologizing for those things. And the Democratic Party is in a

where we have allowed other people to tell us who we are for too damn long. Beating up on Democrats is like a cottage industry. If you want to get on TV right now, go and talk shit about being a Democrat or the Democratic Party. And we are not going to win by flogging ourselves somehow to victory. We lost a close election.

We should all be upset about that. We are going to experience every single day the impacts of losing that election. But we are not going to win by being the best articulators of what happened in the last election. That election's over. We are going to have to figure out how do we build the infrastructure to win the next election. And in my estimation, that starts with winning down ballot, with listening to people who are on the ground, who know their neighbors, and who are not spending every single day watching TV news.

Reporters, TV news, they are not our friends. And I'm not suggesting it's their job to be our friends. But we can't get our marching orders from some high paid consultant in DC or from some well paid talking head on whatever news station you watch. Our definition of what it means to be a good Democratic party, a strong Democratic party has to be driven by what people are telling us.

on the ground and we have local candidates who are listening and who are frankly winning. And I want to make sure those are voices that are heard at the national party. because a strong democratic party is a party that can deliver for working people and working families. but thank you for asking that question.

Absolutely. I mean, you are a grinder. And that is something that I respect so much about you. You don't just put in the work for yourself. When it comes to your campaigns, you show up for all Democrats up and down the ballot. And I know you're going to bring that energy to the DNC. So I'm so grateful that you're running for the vice chair position. Yeah, absolutely.

I really appreciate you saying that, Thank you.

Well, we're

gonna play a game, okay? And I call it Po- We're gonna play Poetry Corner, okay? Because you are an avid poet, and you founded the award-winning poetry collection Babble, which I guess won twice the College Union's Poetry Slam Invitational. So this game is for you. So I'm gonna give you some one-liners, and you're gonna try and tell me who the author was, okay?

I love it. Let's do it.

Dude, dude.

my gosh,

I'm going to in advance if you're listening, I'm gonna fail at this dramatically, but let's go. Okay.

I mean, you'll probably do better than me, okay? So here's

the line. No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. William Blake? William Blake? There you go. It's okay, it's okay. This is fun. I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service.

Maya Angelou.

Hey William Blake, you should have been my Angela.

my gosh, I should be much better at this. I don't know, tell me Zeke

It's okay. I'm just having...

Okay, I... This is... It's Rabindranath Tagore? I'm probably saying the name wrong. Yeah, it's a hard name to say. But it's... It spoke to me. It spoke to me, you know? Alright, here's a... Here one. All that glitters is not gold.

my gosh. So a good strong name though. Good strong name.

Langston Hughes.

William Shakespeare.

I meant this game

is just fun on all these gotchas. It's fun. All right, here, there's two more. There's two more. is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

Let's do it.

Let me just say, I like whoever said that, and it sounds really good.

Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson. All right, last one. For there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.

Hey Emily. Hey girl.

Now, there you go. Amanda Gorman, can't screw that up.

You

got it, you got it. I had a feeling you'd get the last one. Amanda Gorman, who I love very much, and she's a very powerful.

Who's incredible and who, you know,

who in so many ways comes out of you know, slam poetry tradition because, Babel was certainly we, you know, a lot of the poets who I just butchered, you know, we looked at my poetry professor, Dr. Kamika Williams Witherspoon, you know, would make us early on in a class that I took called Poetry as Performance, which led to me starting Babel because the class was incredible.

And I said, you know, there are a lot of us who want to keep doing this.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm happy to say that right now on Temple University's campus, Babel is holding auditions 17 years

17 years later, the organization's

wow.

going strong and it's

You know, it just gives me so much joy to know that, you know, a little idea I had with two friends of mine, Ariana Santiago and Nia Davis, that it's still going.

Mm-hmm.

That's amazing. Well, thank you very much for playing Poetry Corner with me. That was great.

And sorry

to all the poets who are like, Malcolm says he doesn't know these incredible lines. There we go.

That's fine.

It's all good and fun.

What's something that you've been putting off for a while because you've just been so busy?

That is a really good question. So I would say putting away all of the books that are scattered on the floor of our, I call it, I'm gonna use these air quotes, our shared office. So my husband and I have a shared office that I'm not really allowed to use other than to store my crap. so the floor up there is like littered with so much of my crap. So I'm sorry, babe, I'm gonna put away my books at some point.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

That makes sense. Yeah, I think after the election I did a lot of cleaning because I've been putting off for a long time and now I feel like I need to hang out with some friends more often. I've just been so busy.

Ha

And I just really, I

That's right.

need to hang out with some people and be more social because I feel very walled off from society sometimes with how busy we are. I mean, this is my side gig doing this podcast. I actually am a doctor full time. And so now with everything going on, just, find myself so busy. So I want to slow down and spend some time with friends. So that's something I've been putting off.

You know, that's so

important that you say that and I'll tell you that that's what we need more in this moment. know, social media has made us more connected and more disconnected than we've ever been. And so I'm happy to hear you say that. I'm gonna have that to my list.

Yeah, we just need to have more social interactions in general, I feel. So you are running for this vice chair position for the DNC, and I'm curious, will you still be able to serve as a state rep as vice chair? Okay.

Oh, 100 % completely voluntary,

know, volunteer,

know, gig. Um, and frankly, this is about continuing what I know you do all the time, supporting candidates up and down the ballot.

You know, we've seen vice chairs who do a lot, vice chairs who do nothing, right? I mean, it really depends over the years.

Mm-hmm.

And a part of it is the vice chairs don't have like very prescribed roles, but I've been very clear on what I want my role to be, supporting local down ballot candidates. Enough people are focused on DC and what's happening in Washington. I want to be focused on what's happening in people's Elm streets and main streets, what's happening in their communities. Because as we've learned over the years,

Who's on your school board, particularly now, and told the book bans everything else? You might not have thought about that before, but now that's pretty damn important. Who's the commissioner who's counting the votes and whether or not they're gonna do that fairly in a nonpartisan way? It's not something we thought about before. Now it's really important, and the list goes on and on and on. So that's where we have to be focused as a party, and if I'm lucky enough to be in this role, that's where I'm gonna be focused.

Yeah, well I'm really happy you can still serve in the state legislature because I don't want any more special elections, okay? Oh, thank goodness. All right, here's like a classic question for an interview. What is your biggest strength, do you believe? A little self promotion here.

No more special elections. I'm going to be around my friend.

Yeah, but you know what? I'm going to answer it this way.

one of my biggest strengths is

I collaborating with people,

And I do think when you start with the intention of every person you meet has something of...

of value to offer and contribute, you don't want to leave any of that on the table. You first of all, everybody's experts in their own life and experience. And if we are going to build strong teams to do anything, and you think about however you want to think about it, all organizations are just made up of a bunch of teams, strong teams use everybody's strengths and...

I like to walk in every room trying to identify what people's strengths are and trying to identify how we can do important things together. I think too often we have gotten caught up, particularly with politicians, in the cult of personality and it's tricked us. I don't want anybody in my cult, okay, my husband wouldn't

my cult. So if he wouldn't join, then you definitely shouldn't

I believe that the best things that get done, the things that we really remember.

they're done by big groups of people and by utilizing all of their skills. And so I try to walk in every room, not putting myself down, recognizing that I have something to, you know, a value, but also recognizing so does everybody else. And if you're smart,

You want everybody to bring their best to every interaction that you have.

I love it. Thank you so much. That's right. Everyone has something to bring to the table. All right, let's play another game. One of my favorite games to play, Name That Committee, where we talk about, I love to play this game with people serving the state legislature because you all are on various committees where you discuss various legislation and bring them out of committee and vote on them. So I'm gonna give you some things you would talk about in a committee and you're gonna tell me the name of that committee.

potluck, Zeke. Life's a big potluck.

Hahaha!

We are.

Hopefully, okay? All right. You're gonna do great.

All right, let's do it. I hope I do better at this than the poetry one. All here we go.

What committee would you have heard testimony on public health challenges of legalizing cannabis?

So, I hope in the health committee, but I know that there have been some bills that have touched on cannabis that have made their way to judiciary, but probably not.

Mm-hmm. It was the liquor control, which I was kind of into. Yeah, I was in liquor control. I thought that was interesting, which I guess it's like a similar vein, I guess. I don't know. I mean, it's like, you know, it can have the same type of effects, but yeah, it's on liquor control. And I'm sure that probably a lot more would progress with, you know, legalizing cannabis in Pennsylvania if we had, more Democrats serving. Yeah.

You're kidding me!

I don't remember that bill because I'm on liquor control. I don't remember that one. Yeah.

There you go.

I mean, legalize weed, guys. Come on. I mean,

I'm ready to vote for it. I've co-sponsored the bills. It's just ridiculous that we have folks who need access to this medicine that they can't get access to. And also that because of our inability to do this, we're tax revenue on the table and we're allowing a black market to thrive. Legalize it, regulate it, tax it, and leave people the hell alone. Too many people are in jail for having a little blunt in their pocket or a joint.

Mm-hmm. That's right.

Let's get over it.

I agree with you. All right. What committee would have heard testimony on restorative justice practices focusing on non-carceral approaches to harm reduction?

So A, happy to sponsor that legislation and it was in judiciary, that one I know. And shout out to Representative Chris Rapp.

There you go, judicial.

There you go. I love it. What committee would have discussed an act amending the Pennsylvania Election Code in preparation for and conduct of primaries and elections further providing for assistance in voting?

So this one is state government and believe it or not, I believe I am now like the longest serving, longest, you know, right now serving member of state government. Very important committee. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's a gift and a curse talking to my Republican colleagues about elections, you know, not always fun.

You got it.

Really?

That's great.

That's awesome. All right, last one. What committee would have discussed an act amending the Professional Psychologist Practice Act and penalties against unlawful practice?

I am a new member of this session. for anybody who has an occupational license, I look forward to talking to you this session.

You got it.

You got it.

And as a physician, I'm in that category. And if I have any questions, I know who to contact. That's awesome. Well, thanks for playing. Name that committee. I love it. You did. You did a great

That's right.

OK, see guys, I did much better at that.

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

I have to say that's one of my favorite questions because

think in this moment we have to remember who the hell we are. You know, it is the Democratic Party that passed all of the modern social safety net from social security to Medicare, to Medicaid, to unemployment. It is the Democratic Party that has worked to ensure that people, if you get sick, you can go to the damn doctor

And we made so much progress over the last four years that you can leave that doctor's appointment I mentioned and actually afford the prescription, afford the things that you prescribe them, It is the Democratic Party that inspired this country to go to the moon and that has called us higher to treat people with dignity, decency, and respect. You think about the Civil Rights Act. You think about the Voting Rights Act. You think about the ability for people to marry.

who they love and not be fired from the job for putting up the picture of their loved one. It's the Democratic Party that has presided over the single largest expansion of new business applications that we've seen in the SBA, the Small Business Administration, in modern history, and the Democratic Party that in fact has been in a position where we have created

more economic opportunity for folks who have a good idea, as I mentioned, want to start a business, but for people who wake up every day and go to a job and want to be protected by a union. It is us that fights for those values. And when I think about, you know, the way that I grew up in a working poor family, a dad who was a social worker, a mom who was a home health aide, when I think about the reality that

Every holiday season, me and my siblings, we don't have a family house to go back to because we live five or six different places by the time we graduated high school. We buried our parents before I even turned 27 because they did not have access to the type of healthcare that everybody deserves. It is the party that gives a damn about families like mine. I think our challenge has been that Democrats have not always moved at the speed of the need that exists, but

We can if we get the types of leadership that we need. And that leadership is going to come from the ground. And there's somebody who's listening to this right now, who's been thinking about, know, do I run for my local committee? Do I step up for, I mentioned school board again and again because of how important it is. Do I run for register of wills or clerk of courts? Do it. Run for office. And when you do, when we have a government.

that reflects the fullness of the American experience, then and only then will we have a government that can fulfill the fullness of the American promise. I truly believe that.

proud to have you as a Democrat representing me in Harrisburg. So thank you very much.

Thank you, my friend, and I'm proud of you and all the work that you do every single day. Seriously.

Thank

you, thank you. Let's talk about being an adult, adulting, all right? What's something in life you didn't realize, I know, what's something in life you didn't realize was going to be so difficult when you became an adult?

My least favorite word.

paying bills, like geez Louise. But also more seriously, and you mentioned this and I think it's important to go back to, I didn't recognize how difficult it was gonna be to stay in touch with friends. You know, I've read a number of different articles about, know, people who are at the end stages of their lives, people who've interviewed folks, in hospice or just folks who have lived a long time.

yeah.

And over and over again, a lot of researchers have found that in the top three things, people don't talk about their job or talk about any of those things. They talk about friends and family. And I think that the hustle and bustle of adult life, you go from being in school where, you know, high school or, or college, if you chose to go to college or go to a trade program, whatever it is, whatever that looks like for you,

where you have a structure where every single day,

You see people who really matter to you. When you go into the workforce, that becomes less and less common and you start families of your own and you stop seeing these people. And so I know that it's true for many folks. They're like, some of your closest friends. You're lucky if you see them twice a year.

And so, you know, particularly in this moment where it's gonna be so much noise and nonsense, so many shiny items thrown out by the,

Mm-hmm.

by the guy who's currently leading this administration, that it's gonna be really important for you to surround yourself with people you love and people who love you, because we need each other now more than we ever have.

And I didn't recognize the way adulthood was going to make that so difficult.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. I definitely have grown apart from a lot of friends I used to have. Being a parent, for me, has definitely been... I mean, Nothing you could have told me as a child could have prepared me for being a parent. I mean, it's definitely been the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life.

yeah, I bet.

We had three kids, but it is the hardest job in the entire world. yeah, yeah. You get to have fun with the kids and then give them back, yes.

I bet, I bet.

get to just be an uncle. I get to just come do the fun stuff. And then when things get real, I leave. Yeah.

that someday

I'll be able to do that with my grandkids. So I'm looking forward to that, but not soon, someday, Speaking about family, when did you and your husband meet?

That's right.

Mm-hmm.

Instagram was not a place where you're like,

did a lot of like direct messaging, or at least I was not doing direct messaging. And so I'm like, hey, I don't even know if you'll even see this, you know, message if I message him. and my best friend was like, don't message him. What if he's a

Mm-hmm.

I was like, I don't know if this guy who's in California and I'm in Philadelphia is going to come all this way to murder me. But if he does guaranteed lifetime

Uh-huh.

god.

guaranteed, and I love a good lifetime movie. And I said,

for sure. For sure.

you know, forget your girl. I'm going to message him.

And he had already messaged me. I never thought we would actually be in a long-term relationship. He lived literally all the way across the world from me. But lo and behold, the love of my life lived in Northern California the whole time.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Can you believe it? And so

I was like, I'll never want to talk to you again. And so we didn't talk for like a couple of days. And then I was like, okay, let's let's let's talk again. Come to Philly. He came to Philly and you know, it felt like I'd known him forever. you know, February 5th, we'll be married for three years.

Hopefully 30 more. I'm really happy for you. That's great.

There you go. Many, Hopefully

he stuck with me for more than 30 years. He stuck with me forever. There you go.

Well, 30 plus. 30 plus.

So, I don't, and I think you'll agree with me on this, I don't like when people shit talk Democrats. I really, really don't like it because I'm a proud Democrat. I've seen what the party can accomplish when it has the power to do so. I think that's the key.

So what do you say to people who have become critical of the democratic party?

Listen,

Let me say this,

we are in a position where I think we have derived too much of our identity from, you know, who praises us and the op-ed pages.

If you watch cable TV, the voices they bring on are the people who want to shit talk Democrats.

They don't have you on unless you are somebody who has something ridiculous to

about our party. Now, it does not mean and we cannot be a

that is not self-reflective and even self-critical. But I don't think Democrats suffer from a lack of self-critical reflection. I think all we do

is criticize ourselves. And I think the reason that that really matters is who the hell wants to join a pity party? Who wants to be a part of a pity party? People want to join something that's fun and focused on the future. And I've said it, yes, we lost the close election. And I think there's been so many things written about how and why that was. And we should read those things. But we should also be clear eyed that we're not going to win the next election by somehow retroactively winning the last election. That elections over.

and we have to figure out what's happening next.

I agree with you and I just feel like the mainstream media has given permission to a lot of people everywhere to keep talking negatively about the Democratic Party and it's unfounded because the Democratic Party is the only viable party to push back against Republican extremism. The only viable party. And I think that we need to understand that if we want incremental change over time,

then we have to show up in every election, right? Every election, the entire ballot, and then eventually we'll get what we want. But I don't think that the way to get there is to talk negatively about the only party that will do the most for all Americans. And so I,

Let me say this,

we have to get much better about, as my friends would say, you get out there and you talk your shit.

You know, be proud of what

That's right.

accomplished. Because if you ask the American voter about a number of things that Democrats did accomplish, they don't know we did it.

They don't know we did it. And so it's not good enough to

Yeah,

good things. You have to tell people the good things that you do. So we have to get out there, be a little bit more bold, be a little bit more unapologetic, and talk about what we will do if given the opportunity. I'm not gonna spend the next four years

chasing every shiny thing that he throws out. I'm gonna spend the next four years reminding

That's right.

person who I come into contact with the type of government that we can have that's by and for the people, not by and for billionaires. And we can do that. We can do this work. I I truly believe in us and I wouldn't be running if I didn't.

Okay, well I believe in it too and I believe in you. So thank you very much.

You too, my friend.

Let's talk about your service as a state representative.

I would say a couple of things.

me and Representative Jen O'Mara. Four years ago, she and I understood that there's a real issue with folks who are on our college campuses who are food insecure. It is a silent issue where so many of our students are eligible for food stamps. And so we...

got in the budget and have now for four budgets, a million dollars to go to hunger free campus initiatives. And that's something that we were able to just get tucked into the budget. Very, very proud of that.

That's great.

I got a bill, again, tucked into another bill to help expand liquor opportunities for our small theaters. there are so many small theaters who, movie and performance venues,

who can now sell alcohol in Pennsylvania, which is key. Nobody goes to the movie anymore without being able to get a drink. And we had to change that paradigm. And again, you don't get a big bill signing for everything that you do. But if you're not worried about getting the credit and you're just worried about getting things done, you can get a lot

That's true.

done.

But we've been trying to get out of the House.

for 22 years and we were able to get out last session. The Senate sadly didn't take it up, but called

the Pennsylvania Fairness Act, which basically says that no matter who you are, what you look like, who you love, that you can't be fired from your job or denied public accommodations. And that if that does happen, that there is a process for you to be treated with the fairness that everybody deserved. And it took 22 years for that bill to even get a vote on the House floor.

I was the prime sponsor of that vote in a bipartisan way. As I said, we got that bill out of the House and over to the Senate. so, you know, hopefully we can get it done this session. I'm certainly not holding my breath, but I'm certainly going to be fighting like hell to get it done. I know I did not give you one, but I think that that really matters.

It does matter. And we just have to get more Democrats elected and then we will get that certainly passed someday when we have a control in the state Senate.

What is something that not many people know about you?

something that not many people know about me. You know, I always go to this because I love it and I just wanna push it out as much as possible and I don't get paid for this, but I am a huge fan of the Great British Bake Off. I am obsessed. I don't think there's a podcast I've ever been on where I did not bring this up, mostly because I want one of the producers of the show to hear this and invite me to the white tent.

You

huh. Yeah.

But it's so important to me because it's one of the ways that I turn my brain off. mean, just watch these people do these incredible bakes and be so nice and just do their thing. I adore it. It's so good. If you don't watch it, really take me up on it. It's so good. It will change your life.

Uh-huh.

Mm-hmm.

I'm gonna have to check it out. don't think I've ever watched a full, is it a series or just like a one-time event every once in a while?

it's a whole thing. They have seasons and there's a holiday special. It is the best show in the world, I think. Great British Bake Off.

It's whole thing.

Great British Bake Off. I'm gonna have to check that out. That's great. Well, I hope that as you continue to show yourself on podcasts that eventually they're gonna pick this up and they're gonna invite you on as a special guest. I'll plug you. If there's ever a vote, I'll vote for you, okay? As a special guest.

If you don't have Netflix, steal somebody's password and watch The Great British Reign.

Please, please.

Thank you, my friend.

This is another segment I enjoy, Small Business Spotlight.

What's a small business that you'd like to promote in your district that you want more people to know about?

There's one called Cake Life in the Fishtown,

Mm-hmm.

section of my district, incredible little cake shop as the name implies with just some of the best cake I just bought.

Mm-hmm.

Matt's birthday was not too long ago and he loves cheesecake, a big fan of cheesecake, so if you wanna know the way to Matt's heart, buying cheesecake. And we did like, instead of traditional birthday cake, we did a cheesecake and I got it from our friends at Cake Life.

Cheesecake.

Nice. Well, I'll have to check it out if I'm ever in your neck of the woods. Thank you for that.

Yeah, please do.

Let's talk about funerals for a second. You maybe never have been asked this question, but what do want your funeral to be like?

You know, the main thing I want at my funeral is good music. I love music and I know that's like, of course who doesn't love music? But I really love music. I very, very eclectic music taste. And I think I my funeral has really good music.

good music. Yeah, I I've told my wife what I want my funeral to be like, and she's probably not going to do it. She's probably not. I've always wanted Yeah, no, I mean, I've always wanted a Viking burial. And I don't know why I just you know, like where they push you out onto like a body of water, the fiery arrow, right? That's so epic with like bagpipe music or something. I don't know. She's I told her this. She just said that I'm not doing that. She's like, I'm not doing that for you.

She's like, this is my decision now.

hell yeah.

And then the arrows are on fire, right? Yeah.

I'm glad you could fantasize about that, but it's not going to happen. So she's not going to do it, and she's going to be in charge. So I'm probably not going to have a Viking burial, but it's something I've thought about. yeah.

She's not doing it, so at least you know this.

But I hope I have like, you know, a little mini concert, okay?

I want people to bring their best, bring their best, their best. Good music, nothing prerecorded, people gotta sing.

I think, yeah, yeah,

I think you have a much higher likelihood to get what you want than what I want at a funeral. All right, let's play one more game. Constitu what? Where you tell us some constituent services that you provide in your district.

That's right.

I love that.

I love that. So, you in our district office, we can

with any state related service. And so a lot of times people need to fill out their rent mortgage rebate program, which is a great program for seniors, folks with disabilities, our low income folks to get back some money. And we passed, I was so proud to vote for the single largest expansion and the rent mortgage rebate program over the last 30 years, which is just incredible. So we raised the awards.

Thanks

So we raised how much now people can get up to $1,000. And

we raised the income threshold, So now more more Pennsylvanians benefit from it. So that's really exciting. But also people need help with like getting their real ID or getting their birth certificate, all of those issues. But I always say to people, and I've always said to my staff, I don't care what you come to our office for, whether it's a state issue or not.

We are going to make sure at the very least we give you a warm handoff to the people that can help you and not just say like go Google it or here's a number call

You

I remind my staff that we only get to do this work because of our neighbors who've given me this incredible opportunity to serve and you know, we want to not waste a day, not waste a day.

Yeah, I'll be sure to post a link below for people to check out your constituent services just to make it easier for people because I think it's important to realize that your state reps can do a lot of things for you. And if you're frustrated and don't know how to do something, you know, I'm sure the people who work in your office would be more than happy to answer over the phone or search on your website and you can get a lot of things done for you just through your representation.

I love that.

I really can.

Absolutely. And we always try to educate people So if you know, you know, if you have a pothole and you want somebody to fix it, hey, then like, how do we get you to city council and help you understand the process so that you can fix things, you know, moving forward. You know, it's just such a humbling opportunity to serve and.

Mm-hmm.

I just give so much credit to my incredible staff

I get to do what I do because I've hired some of the best people who love and care about my neighbors as much as I do and who get up every single day and work their hearts out to change outcomes for those folks.

I have three more questions for you, okay? Are there any sports that you think should be an Olympic sport that is not already? Spades.

Yeah, please.

Spades, spades.

I know they're talking about making poker an Olympic sport, but I think spades should be an Olympic sport.

Mm-hmm.

Do you think that you would be a competitor?

I would be an Olympic gold medalist.

Where did you, where did you, huh. Got it. Who taught you how to play? Your mom. Gotcha.

Hands down. And if anybody doubts me, get a partner, let's go.

My mom, my mom, and probably my mom and my dad. mean, you you

gotta learn how to play spades And I learned that I learned at a young age. It's the best card games ever exist.

Gotcha.

Spades. I don't think I've ever actually, I've played a lot of games with my kids. I don't think I've ever played spades. All right.

Oh, you gotta play spades. You gotta play spades. But I will

tell you, if you're playing spades right, it doesn't matter if you're family or friends, feelings will be hurt. Grudges will be nurtured. And that's how it goes.

my gosh,

that's crazy.

Well, we'll have to try and talk to the Olympic committees and see what we can do.

That's right.

Malcolm, what gives you hope?

the young people who I meet every single day. And I know that sounds like such a, know, Pollyannaish answer. And I'm still pretty young myself, but.

But I do believe that hope is work. Hope is not just...

this uninformed idea that tomorrow is going to be better. Hope is the understanding and the knowledge that tomorrow will be better because we're here. And we are more powerful than we know, particularly when we pool our collective power.

can be a place where literally we treat everybody with dignity, decency, and respect. We've never fully done that, but I'm damn sure we're not going to give up trying.

Me neither, me neither. And my last question for you is, and you kind of already talked to us a little bit about your plans, but what plans do you have to get yourself through these next few years?

Mm-hmm.

You know, one of the things that's been really, important, particularly over the last two years or so, committed myself to like a serious health journey. And I say to people who are considering their own, you know, health journey, whatever that looks like, that if being mean to yourself worked, it would have already worked.

I try to spend every day saying

things to myself. And so I tell you that whole story because I think in this moment, what we need to do first and foremost is be good to

Because when I think about the people who are cruel in this world, they're not nice to themselves. That's why they're so cruel to everybody else. And

Right? Hurt people hurt

people.

Hurt people really do hurt people.

I think a lot of times it's easier to externalize the negative things that are, you know, that are said and done. And so I think in this moment, we have to prioritize self-care.

I think first and foremost, it means is redefining how we speak to ourselves.

self-talk is important. And we're gonna have to do a lot of positive reinforcement and talk these next couple of years. That's for darn sure.

Well, Representative Kenyatta, Malcolm, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I am again so honored that you're still representing us in Pennsylvania. I'm so grateful you're running for this vice chair position for the DNC. I do truly believe you are the future of the Democratic Party. And I really hope in the vote next month that you'll be doing the job.

Well, thank you, my friend. I'll be back here Zekely so should your listeners.

Thank you so much.

Well, thank you everyone 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.