Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to the Zekely podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today is a lawyer and staunch Democrat representing Pennsylvania's fifth congressional district, which is in Montgomery County. Her legislative priorities include voting rights, education, supporting economic growth for her region, common sense gun safety, women's rights, and ending hunger. Thank you so much for being here. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon

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 on Zeke.

It's so good to see you. These are challenging times we're living in right now. we knew that these were going to be troubling times, but here right now we're going to try and find some joy together. Okay? And I have a lot of questions to ask. We're going to play some

games. So let's get into it, okay?

Sure.

right, let's talk about swearing a little bit. What is your favorite swear word?

I mean, I did actually get to drop the F-bomb on C-SPAN one night. I did, I did. I even made Jimmy Kimmel with it.

You did. Well, that is...

It's awesome.

Trump was in office the first time and the Mueller

released, we had a 13-hour reading of the Mueller report from start to

Mm-hmm.

because we were concerned that not enough people seemed to know the really damaging things that were in there.

Mm-hmm.

And

so we got to about one o'clock in the

and I happened to have the portion of the report in which the former and now current president reacted to the appointment of Mueller and he said that he would be effed. And I got to read that on C-SPAN and Jimmy Kimmel did a clip of it and called it C-SPAN After Dark.

Got to read it on C-SPAN.

I have to say fuck is my favorite swear word. I'm glad that you made it onto Jimmy Kimmel. That's

I think

Yes.

So what is it like being a member of Congress?

I mean, every day is different. I say it's really good for a person with ADD because, you know, one minute you're talking policy,

next minute you're drafting a bill and then you're helping someone get their social security benefits. And then, look, there's a Chinese spy balloon. So there's always something different going on. I when I'm in the district, it's really a lot of fun to do these visits to different workplaces and schools and hear about everybody's different issues

Mm-hmm.

ideas.

So that part's really exciting. know, if you're someone who's curious and likes interacting with people, it's great. It's frustrating when you can't solve problems.

Mm-hmm.

And it's just this weird tension every day between being in the middle of some really, really vital and important stuff and just being an American, an ordinary person in your community. One of my favorite Congress mom.

moments was when I was preparing to question the then acting attorney general of the United States and it was a pretty tense hearing and everything. I'm waiting my turn and I get a text from one of my kids, hey mom, what's the Netflix code? So, I mean, you constantly run up against this, you you're on this national stage, but you still have to make sure there's milk in the refrigerator and, you know, get to and from work and get a car repaired or whatever.

You

Yeah.

Is it what you expected?

I really didn't put that much thought into

Running for Congress was not a long-term goal. It was in reaction to what I and apparently many people viewed as the country going down the wrong path. So, you know, when we do that in this country, you run for office. So I rather precipitously decided to run for office and ended up in office and now just trying to do the job.

Mm-hmm.

So parenting is a very humbling profession. I think you and I would both agree,

Were there any times that you felt like you missed the mark as a parent? I mean, I have a number of times

You know, every day you question, right? But

Yes.

do have a family story about a time when we were visiting family up on Lake Ontario and there were some water snakes there. So one of the kids was scared to go in the water, but we also knew that the water snakes run away whenever somebody goes in the water. That child was also refusing to drink his milk.

huh.

Mm-hmm. Okay.

I may have told my son that water snakes were lactose intolerant and that if he drank his milk the snakes wouldn't bother him and so he did and they didn't and about five years later he stood up at the dinner table and said you lied to me. So you you question these choices but it worked at the time.

hahahaha!

Yeah,

that's hilarious. mean, you know, gotta do what you gotta do sometimes as a parent, you know, gotta push those boundaries.

What is your proudest piece of legislation that you were a part of and passed through both chambers?

boy.

Pass through both chambers. Yes, yes it does.

Yes. Yeah. I feel like that'll narrow it down a little bit, right? Because it'll narrow it down.

I mean, the bill where we passed the expanded child tax credit is probably something that I would always go back to because having the opportunity to do something that had such an impact and kind of prove a theory in real time that if families had more money that they could spend to meet their needs as opposed to what's being dictated to them, that it would actually help lift them out of poverty. And in fact, that's what happened.

Now, the fact that we only had it for a year and we haven't been able to extend it is disappointing, that's a big one.

Yeah.

And why couldn't we extend it?

because of the Senate. yes.

There you go. More specifically,

the composition in the Senate, right? We don't have enough demo.

the composition

of the Senate and the prevalence still of the filibuster. So, yeah.

Yeah,

so more Democrats and we'd be able to extend that.

Yes,

All right, we're gonna play game. I think you're going to like this one. I call it Mary Gaelic. Okay, because I traced your ancestry back to Bally Bunyan in County Kerry, Ireland. Okay, I apologize about butchering the name of any of that.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

No, I think that's

right.

So I have a little quiz to give you to see how well you know your ancestry. Okay, it's multiple choice and we'll see how you do, okay? So this is specific to this county Cary in Ireland, okay? What are the main two beaches called? Okay, this is multiple choice. Ladies Beach and Men's Beach, Pike Beach and Pole Beach.

boy. Okay.

boy.

Crystal Beach and Comfort Beach or Front Beach and Side Beach? I mean, because obviously you go back there at least once a year just to reminisce, right?

My family came over about eight generations ago.

Hahaha

Yeah, well,

that, okay, there we go.

my god.

Bill Clinton. Yes.

Well, say Balibundi and everyone's like, Clinton used to golf there. Yeah. OK.

I did not know that. I'm not a golf person.

correct. A

very humble number. And this is the last one. Gaelic football is similar to American football in what way? Played with footballs? Same scoring system? Both have goal posts or they have the same helmets? Because obviously in your family you play this game, I'm sure, over Thanksgiving as a family.

Okay.

I don't play it, but it's really, really popular in Delco. Yeah. I'm thinking it's... Yeah. Yeah. Many. It's either goal posts or the football. Or both. Okay. Okay. Okay.

I did not, didn't know that.

There's a Gaelic football like team, like really? Wow.

I'll give this to you. It's the goal post since you said it first. Everything else is different. Yeah.

I was reading about it. It's quite an interesting take on football. But yeah. No help. Well, they do. They do. But they're definitely not anything close to like what American football is like or anything like that.

Sure. And no helmets, right? Yes. Okay. Okay.

Well,

so I have one question for you. What does Balabanyan mean?

Oh gosh, I should have looked that up. I'm worried because when I think of Bunyan as a doctor, I think of something on your foot that's like a lump. So is it like a lump in some way?

Ha

Sure.

No, bally is the Gaelic word for town, so I believe it means town of the spring tree, something like that. Yeah, but I could be totally wrong, but... Okay. Okay. Yes. That's funny.

the spring tree. So I'm going to let you be right on this because I don't know the answer. I probably should look that up for my deep dive into where your ancestors came from. Well,

there you go, Mary

can people find what you've done? Because I know that you're doing so many good things for Pennsylvania and for people all over the country, but how can people find what you're doing?

Ha ha ha ha!

Well, it's tough to figure out because our media is so fractured now. It's like where to put things. We did just do an end of year kind of review of all the things that we've been involved in. So that should be findable on scanlon.house.gov, which is my office, my official website. So that's there. And we're constantly trying to build it out with...

more materials, but it shows things that are available through the office, like constituent services. We have a lot of youth programs, like a congressional youth cabinet and an art competition and coding competitions and things like that. And then just the various services that we can provide.

Yeah,

I just want to make it more accessible to people to find out what someone like you who has so much power is doing. mean, people should have easy access to and they do. It's on a website. You just have to want to go to the website. So I'll make sure to post that link so people can go to it, and then they can find out all the great things that you're doing.

Okay.

Hehe.

Mm-hmm.

that's great.

And we are on, we're still on Twitter, we're still on Facebook, we're on Blue Sky and Instagram.

You know, again, with the fragmentation of the media trying to figure out the best ways to reach people, including through podcasts like this

I'm very grateful you agreed to come on because I really want to promote what you're doing.

no.

All right, we're gonna play another game. It's called the Two Name Game, okay? Because you have a compound name. You do, and so I'm gonna give you some scenarios and movies or shows, and you're gonna tell me the name of the person maybe. And it narrows the field because all of them are compound names, okay? So what actor bludgeoned someone with a bowling pin?

Okay.

I do.

Okay.

in a timepiece about the oil rush in America.

Daniel Day-Lewis. Okay.

You got it. Daniel Day Lewis.

See, you're already off to a good start. What actress played in the Netflix show that brought chess into the limelight?

just looked this up the other night. Anna Queen's Gambit.

Yeah, yes, yeah, it's,

guess, Anya Taylor Joy. Close enough, but yes, it was The Queen's Gambit. I loved that show, that was so good. Yeah, it was really, really nice. I am terrible at chess, but I enjoyed watching it. All right, what actress had to be sewn into her outfit at the end of the movie that focused on Summer Lovin?

that's it. Okay. that was astonishing.

I actresses get sewn into their outfits frequently.

Yeah, I was trying to give it away by the summer Lovin

I'm sorry. I'm not getting-

It's okay.

Olivia Newton John, Grease

okay, was not thinking about that. Yep, it is, it definitely is, and she was definitely sewn into that outfit. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it's a time piece. It's a time piece. It's OK.

She was definitely sewn into that one. That is

correct. All right, one more. What English composer is responsible for work on the Broadway show, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, and School of Rock?

Andrew Lloyd Webber. There we go. Okay.

You got it. That's pretty good. You got most of those. you go. Compound name game for you.

Mary Gay Scanlon I bet that's the first and last time you're ever going to play that game.

Well, thank you.

People in general, are looking for a unified push in some way from the Democratic Party to combat the extremism of the Republican Party. And I know that we don't have the numbers right now. We just don't.

to fully stop them in Congress. But I think a lot of people are curious, you know, what are Democrats doing behind the scenes to organize, to do what they can to push back against this extremism?

Okay.

Well, I mean, one of the problems is we're in this phase right now where I think the Trump folks have called it shock and awe. So they've just thrown all the spaghetti at the wall. And it's difficult because they now have control of the information sources and they've shut down the information and won't respond to requests for it. You don't want to go off half-cocked and start talking about something that turns out not to be true.

My prediction, I guess, is that this initial period is going to be the most chaotic, but it will be chaos throughout. But there's a lot of different strategies, since we don't have the majorities in either House or the White House. I mean, we've already seen some success in just public pushback. They've had to pull back on some of their early pronouncements. They sort of pulled back on their disastrous funding freeze.

So there is political pressure. There are lawsuits which people are participating in or helping with and we've seen some success there. There are huge fractures and fissures within the Republican Party and they have behaved very nicely to each other for the first week or so. But even at the end of last year we saw some of the more

extremist in terms of wanting just to shut down all government, some folks defy Trump and refuse to pass what he had in mind with respect to the debt ceiling. you know, trying to find common ground where we can, trying to push back where we don't have that common ground. You know, unfortunately, I'm afraid some of it's going to come down to

Mm-hmm.

the pain that's inflicted upon the American people in a variety of ways by these really ill-conceived destructive policies and directives that are getting pushed out.

people like you speak up publicly and push back on things, even if you can't do anything about it from a legal standpoint, I know that people need that hope. And I know that you do that already, but the more you can do that, I think that'll help people in Pennsylvania around the country.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Well, and I think

that is what we all have to do, is to say, this is wrong. This is not normal. This is not what our constitution provides for. This is not what, you know, the golden rule doing unto others provides for. So whether, you know, you approach it from religious or morality or rule of law, what we're seeing is a truly extraordinary attempt to really subvert a lot of American values and

and just the way our system is supposed to work. And I think we do all have to keep speaking up and saying, no, this is wrong. And here's why. And that's why even if we're in the minority, one of the things we're doing is reaching out and saying, look, I need your stories so I can put a human face on this because, yeah, it sounds great. We're going to deport all the criminals, but that's not what is happening.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

And everybody already did that to the extent that they were funded to do so. But we have millions of folks in this country who have come to our border. They are not criminals. They are in our country. They are awaiting U.S. government action on their application to stay here. And that isn't happening because our system is so broken. So it's like so many things that we're confronting under this Trump 2.0 administration.

These aren't binary choices. There are places where we need to come together and come up with real solutions as opposed to just screaming about things that just aren't true.

Well, I know that you will do whatever you can to stop what they're doing when the opportunity arises. And I want you to know that I'm doing my part in Pennsylvania because there are elections this year in Pennsylvania. And if we're going to win up ballot, we have to win down ballot. And so I think there's a lot of things that people can do to take back the power locally while you are trying to do what you can in D.C. So thank you for what you're doing.

Do you have any memorable moments from going to the beach as a kid? Were you a beach family? Did you go?

We were not

a beach family. We were not. I grew up in northern New York on the St. Lawrence River. So the Thousand Islands area, that was actually my summer job all through college. was a lifeguard at a state park up

Okay.

nice.

the St. Lawrence River, which meant that the water was about 50 degrees until July.

Yikes.

we called it, or maybe refreshing.

Yeah. Well, do

you have any river stories? Any memorable river stories? my gosh. Scandalous, Mary Gay.

Yes, but I can't tell them in

we were a beach family, and I think most kids who grew up in the 90s are probably lucky to be alive after going to the beach. I mean-

Mm-hmm. Yes.

I remember distinctly many times getting sucked out in these rip tides and getting barrel rolled. You don't have to deal with any of that. You're inhaling all this salt water and then you somehow make it back onto the beach and then you're about 50 feet further down where the current took you and you had to find your parents again. And Lord knows they weren't putting sunblock on us. So I'm, yeah.

no, yeah, didn't have to deal with that. Yeah.

haha

Right?

Yeah, well, and that's one reason

my family was not a beach family because we're all that northern European, just look cross-eyed at the sun and get a burn.

Yeah, I don't tan, burn as well. Well, I'm glad you had a very lovely childhood on the river and I'm just happy to be alive today.

Yeah.

I did. Yes.

All right, let's play a game. It's called a ConstituWhat and I want you to tell me some services that you can directly provide for the people who live in our district.

Sure. If someone's tax refund goes missing, we can track it down and try to make sure that they get it. If you apply for Social Security and you've been waiting for a year and you haven't had an answer, we can try to get the Social Security Administration to cough up an answer. We do passport days.

Okay.

couple times a year where people can come in. have the passport agency come out to some venue, a library or our office, and they can take the application and process it and push it right through very quickly. So any federal agency, we can be a

I did not know that.

small business administration. We've had folks who, you know, someone's used their number and applied for a loan under their name. So getting that straightened out with different ID problems that way.

I am concerned about the hiring freeze and the firings that are being threatened by the Trump administration because we're going to see that impact services.

I'm going to be sure to post the link to your constituent services page so that people can find that. If there are layoffs that are going to happen because of the Trump administration, do you think your office will be able to help people in some fashion?

Great.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Well, you know, we had some experience with trouble during COVID when so many of the agencies kind of

down or partially shut down. So it does cause delays. But we certainly intend to keep helping and we have a robust constituent services operation. It really kind of comes out of my time from working with legal aid. It's many of the same people and the same problems.

and you're just trying to solve them for them upfront. And we work a lot with our state reps as well, because of course they're dealing with the state agencies and things like getting a senior pass or trying to get a birth certificate or something. So we work together a lot to try to make sure that people don't have to go too many places.

Right.

Okay.

Those are lot of great services. I'll be sure to promote those for you.

be great.

Do you ever wish your terms were longer than two years? Yeah, I really...

Yes. Yeah. mean,

for so many, before running for Congress, when people would say, what, because I hang out in geeky civics crowds, people would say, what amendment would you like to the constitution if you could have anyone? And I would say the equal rights amendment, because women belong in the constitution. But since running for Congress, this two year cycle is insane. I mean,

All of the dark money stuff and the fundraising stuff is just so perverse and corrosive. But the fact that basically Congress grinds to a halt every other year so people can run again. And it just is such a waste of time and energy. I really think that that has not kept up with the times.

Yeah, I think it's crazy. I would have to assume that the reason why it was only two years at the time was because lifespans were just different then, right? mean, people didn't live as long. And so they probably thought, well, maybe I'll just run a couple of times and then someone will die and then someone else will have to come in.

Sure.

Well,

I think some of it was that and some of it was also the idea that it wasn't supposed to be a full-time job. These were citizen public servants, so they were supposed to go back and be a silversmith or a farmer or whatever. So you couldn't take that much time off from life when life was a lot harder in terms of just basic sustenance.

Right.

Yeah,

but they gave the Senate such a big leg up, you know, they really like, come on. Yeah, well, I guess that's true.

I know. Well, the Senate was always wealthier. And that's one of the

anti-majoritarian parts of it, trying not to, what is it? The People's House is the House of Representatives, so lots of turnover and some more chaos.

Mm-hmm. Right.

Well, I feel like I would be very supportive of at least a four year term for House members. If the Senate gets six, you should at least get four. I feel like so. Yeah.

Thank

It feels like that would be helpful just in terms

of not having this constant running for office. Because running for office and actually serving are two very different skill sets. And some people are good at one, some people are good at the other, some people are good at both. But being able to concentrate more on the nuts and bolts of a job, I think, would be helpful for everyone.

Right.

Well, I hope for a day where maybe we can amend the constitution and get that changed. Because I think it's necessary.

Sounds like a plan. Yeah.

Here's another game we're going to play. It's

Okay.

inspired by when I came to one of your speaking engagements.

you were dispelling myths about immigrants in our community.

So this is what we're going to do. I'm going to give you some true false type questions and I'm sure you have no problem answering them. Okay. So

Okay.

or false immigrants in United States commit crimes at lower rates than the native born population.

absolutely true in multiple studies including those by the Cato Institute.

That is

true. Yeah, according to the National Institute of Justice, immigrants have a 62 % lower homicide rate than Native-born Americans, and they are less than half as likely to be arrested for drug offenses as Native-born US citizens. You are absolutely correct. True or false? Most undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes.

that's definitely false.

That is true.

Yeah, in order

to

a job, you have to establish some kind of legal identity and then you pay taxes. But you don't get to reap the benefits of them either. folks who don't become citizens, for example, aren't eligible for Social Security or other public benefits.

Mm-hmm. That's right. Undock.

So yes, they pay a of money and they don't get to use it. True or false, undocumented immigrants are taking away jobs from US citizens.

That's generally held to not be true. We hear all the time from industries that are desperate for employees, and it tends to be things like agriculture, hospitality, personal care, hospitals, nursing homes, et cetera. They just can't find folks here who are going to take the jobs, but...

Correct. That is false.

Yes.

folks who want to live the American dream are more willing to.

I remember when you were speaking, you said that businesses in our district often come to you and ask for more visas, visa options to bring people in for their businesses. They're basically begging you to say, I don't have enough workers who want to work. I need more visas. And you're the kind of person who would sign off on those. So I just found it fascinating what people perceive and what's actually happening on the ground with your constituents. Like they're saying, I need more people to help.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah.

Right.

Bye.

and you are essentially opening the door for that to happen.

Right. And as well, I mean, you don't want people, you know, working on the black market because then that drives down wages and everything for everyone. making sure that we're opening up legal paths of immigration, legal paths to work, benefits all of us.

Yeah, yeah. mean, immigrants are a net benefit to America.

And so I just really appreciate the way you talk about immigrants. really, I appreciate it.

Well,

you're catching me on a night where right before your podcast, I was up in Montgomery County in Norristown at a community meeting with over 300 members of the immigrant community who are, quite frankly, terrified by the crazy orders being issued by this administration, know, targeting them for political reasons, you know, saying that everybody's a criminal when we know they're not.

saying that they're taking jobs when we know they're not, saying that they're only going to deport criminals and in fact, that's not what's happening. They're picking up anyone they can and just pushing this narrative that all these folks who have come to this country and applied for asylum or other pathways and are waiting for our broken immigration system to deal with their application. They're not criminals being here

is not against the law. They just haven't gotten status yet. So that's who's getting scooped up by ICE.

But again, the immigration system has not been funded in a way to do its work effectively. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done there and it doesn't involve

make-believe walls or, you know, grotesque raids on vulnerable communities.

We know, the two of us know, many other people know that Republicans have no interest on fixing the immigration system in America. They're not going to do it. And I know that there was a bipartisan agreement, Trump said to kill it, and that's why we don't have it. I'm just curious, if there is someone who is undocumented listening to this podcast right now, you met with 300 people, what did you say to them? I'm sure that they were scared, what did you say?

Yeah. Right. Right.

Sure, mean just saying that they are my constituents and I'm going to continue to represent them. We had folks there from immigration agencies who can provide them with good advice about, you know, knowing your rights. That's a big thing. Knowing that if ICE comes to your door, you don't have to let them in unless they have a warrant signed by a judge. And that's the key distinction. There are these red

cards that people are passing out, they're little wallet cards that have what your rights are so that people know that and they can get them at ilrc.org.

I'll post that link as well.

happy that you were there to comfort them in their time of need and I'm sure you will continue to help them as you

How do you deal with misinformation and disinformation by your constituents?

That's a tough one and it's one that we're constantly trying to deal with.

a big issue over the past term and then starting again this term has been that the majority party gets to put forward bills and they're very fond of messaging bills that aren't what they say they are. And a recent example would be the Lakenreilly bill named after a young woman who was murdered.

by someone who was undocumented, but the bill allegedly would require detention of criminal immigrants. What it actually said was if you had been arrested for shoplifting or petty theft, you had to be detained if you were an immigrant. That doesn't solve the issues we don't.

detain, we don't have the funding to detain everyone who shoplifts, etc. but it has been billed as if you voted against this bill, because it was bad bill, that you were in favor of

you know, violent criminals in the country.

So we've had just bill after bill that is pitched as being one thing and it really is something else. And we started doing more explainers about these bills because it's just, that's the whole game right now for a lot of what Congress is putting forward. So trying to do that, trying to do town halls, going out and helping folks understand what's going on, but

Yeah, it's a lot going on and it's always trying to find other ways.

Yeah, it just takes time, right? They make a mess and then you have to clean it up essentially

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

a lot of it is also, mean, you know, the received wisdom is if you're explaining, you're losing. And so, you know, when you're starting on the back foot, that's hard. increasingly with some of these bills that get a lot press play, it's like you have to push back so that people understand because otherwise they're only hearing one thing.

So trying to get people in information in advance so that they're able to help sort fact from fiction.

Well, I appreciate any amount that you push back on misinformation and disinformation because somebody has to do it. So don't ever

What gives you hope?

think a lot of it is the number of younger people who are getting interested in policy and politics and pushing government to do the right thing. mean, you know, while the results of the last election were not what we'd hoped, there were an awful lot of young people who came out and did really great work. And we had what feels like a couple generations where we didn't see so much of that. People were kind of coasting along saying, everything's okay. But...

I do think we're seeing a resurgence of folks, and not just young people, realizing that democracy is not a spectator sport and that they need to be invested. you can't solve it all in one cycle, that it does take a longer approach sometimes.

is a marathon. Yeah. And my last question for you is what plans do you have to get yourself through these next few years?

Yes. Yes.

Well, I always do better when I make sure I work out regularly. So, you know, being able to run or go for a bike ride. My husband and I do Pilates every Saturday morning. So just something to physically burn off some energy because if I do that, I sleep better and if I sleep better, I function better. So that's part of it. You know, always trying to carve out time for family and friends, which can be really tough in this job, but...

That's the most joy I get, especially when we can have our three kids around in some way. We just got a new dog, one-year-old Lab, who is a handful, so providing some manners to the dog. But going for long walks with him is good, too.

Yeah, yeah, my

wife would never allow a dog that she would have to take care of because she's not interested in picking up the poop. So if we ever if we ever get a dog, I'm going to be the one walking the dog. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon for coming on to my podcast. I am so grateful for everything that you are doing for Pennsylvania, for the rest of the country. know you're going to do everything you can to to help when you can. So thank you so much for that.

Ha ha ha

There we go.

Well,

well, and thank you for this new venture that you have. You've been such a great communicator and really engaging folks across our community and helping them see what they can do to have an impact. So really excited to see where this next podcast venture goes.

Well, thank you for joining me here on the Zekely podcast. Stay hopeful and get involved. And until next time, let's keep building a healthy Pennsylvania together.