Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today lives in Warcester Township, Pennsylvania and has been serving in Montgomery County as a state representative for almost two decades.

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.

Well, thank you for having me.

Absolutely, it's so good to be back in Montco You I talk to people all over Pennsylvania, but we're back in my own county. So thank you so much. That's right, I like it. We're gonna talk all about you, play some games and have some fun. So you ready?

center of the political world these days.

Absolutely.

All right, well, Matt, you were elected.

So the honest answer is we were in the wilderness for a long, long time in Pennsylvania. Obviously we were in the super gerrymander that came out of the darkest days of the Tea Party movement. And it was a compounding thing. So we wound up in a really tough spot. So to come out of that,

And then to be honored by my colleagues to get elected majority leader was just, you know, it was a really cool time.

I'm so happy. I really am happy about all of the gains that we've made in Pennsylvania because of this majority. So congratulations and I just love what you're doing with the power that you

What you're very kind to say and it truly is a team effort though. It's it's ⁓ it's 102 people all rowing in the same direction.

Yeah, thank goodness

for that.

Well, we're gonna play a game called Body Control.

You have four kids, correct? Four kids? You're a braver man than me. I have three kids and like that's already like swimming and drowning at the same time. I have some, my God. ⁓ Is it easier to get your children to sleep or keep legislators awake during committee meetings?

That is correct.

You're a quitter.

That's a good one. I'd say that's a draw. Is that a cop out of an answer?

That's a draw?

You're being very political here, so that's fine, I'll take that. How about this one? Is it easier to get your children to agree on what restaurant to go to, or to get legislators to agree on coming back to Harrisburg for a special election or session?

you can never get the Bradfords to a agree in a restaurant. And by the way, it's not just the children. Truth be known, Mrs. Bradford is not the most decisive when it comes to a restaurant.

letter. No.

Okay, that's gotta be hard. That's

gotta be real hard. I guess there's probably a lot of voting that goes on in your family. I'm assuming majority rules most of the time or do the parents get two votes?

It is

a squeaky wheel is really the way it typically happens. Let's be honest. We play K to the biggest problem.

Understood.

I agree with that. I have two more for you. Is it easier to get your children to stop fighting with each other or to get House Republicans on the same page as House Democrats?

It's the Senate Republicans. That is the, you know, 40 years in the majority turns out to be about 40 years too long. And they are, ⁓ they're not a cohesive group and they're not one that has governing on their mind much these days.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I cannot wait to flip the state Senate and give you the trifecta and just the progress is gonna be unstoppable in Pennsylvania. So I'm glad at least there's some working across the aisle in the house. That's good to know. Good, all right, here's my last one. Is it easier to get your children to do some chores around the house or get house Democrats to write bills that deliver for Pennsylvanians?

Yeah, no.

You know, I will say it again. I said it's not just all kumbaya. There are times of honest disagreement, but House Democrats have really. They've learned the art of compromise and they've learned the art of teamwork, and so they really have figured it out. The Bradford children not quite there yet, so they're a work in progress.

That's so much.

It's easier to write good legislation than raise your kids. That never has a truer story been told.

Yeah.

Well, Matt, your family opened a small business a long time ago, and you frequently worked there after school as a child. So how do those experiences shape your worldview and future aspirations?

You know one of the things funny so but first of all my mom owned a flower shop growing up so it wasn't the coolest business. It wasn't like they had a sporting goods shop or something that is like a 16 year old boy. You be like, you know that's a great place to go to work, but I will say tips delivery tips at the holiday season were very cool, so I did appreciate that. But honestly, it's funny because our Republicans often act like they have a monopoly on.

you know, business issues. And sometimes I really am kind of shocked because the issues that my parents' small business and so many small businesses care about are not the issues that my Republican friends often seem to make out to be the important business issues. I don't ever remember my parents saying, you know, that minimum wage is too high. it was, you know, if it was only $5 an hour, we could produce some really bad, not family sustaining jobs, but damn it, the economy would be better for it.

What gets conflated with a pro-business agenda could not be further from the truth. you you mentioned on the first time we're from Montgomery County. Montgomery County used to be the heart of kind of chamber of commerce, business Republicans. Those people in most cases nowadays find themselves more comfortable in the Democratic party. And again, I'm not saying we have a right, a monopoly on righteousness or good ideas. But I think we have a lot of very successful businesses in Montgomery County and Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Because we understand what really grows jobs is access to a very educated worker pool, the access to the amenities and the things that Southeastern Pennsylvania has in spades. The fact that people, when they go to work at GSK and Merck and so many of our great employers in Montgomery County, people want to live here. And that's what helps grow it. Yes, and listen, we have work to do and rightfully so. And that's why we're proud that we've cut the corporate net income tax with.

with Governor Shapiro. We have a story to tell that that is traditional business friendly, but I think the business friendly conversation often is a little short sighted in Pennsylvania. And I speak from some personal experience, but also just the lived experience of being here in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. since you worked in a flower shop, did you have a favorite flower of your own? Did you cultivate that?

that is a tough question. I don't remember having a favorite. You know, I like the ones that smelled well, but I smelled good, but I cannot tell you which ones they were. think freesia is the answer to that question. Freesia, my recollection, smells very good, but I also have allergies, so they would make me sneeze as well. So.

Freezia?

my gosh, God,

so much character built at such a young age.

Yeah, something about that.

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

You know, this is a totally corny answer. This is where I will sound like someone who's so naive. I really believe in the Democratic Party. Like, I'm proud to play for the Democratic Party. And it's not a game, and it's not, I think, you know, too often it comes across that way. The history of the Democratic Party, whether it's Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, people put real points on the board for working class people. You know, that's kind of where my heart is.

My dad grew up in Chester City. My mom grew up in Upper Darby. The ability for upward mobility. I'm from the first generation of my family that had the opportunity to go to college. That to me is why I'm a Democrat. It's not even a hard question. It's a point of pride. I also love the diversity of our party. I look at our 102 members and it's a bare majority. It's a majority of one. We have members from...

who could not be more conservative and are in very different place than where I am as a progressive in the Southeast. But we also have members in the city of Philadelphia or DSA members, but are proud members of a Democratic caucus. Gay, straight, black, white, Latino, new to this country, been here from the Mayflower. That's what I love about the Democratic Party. We're a reflection of the best of our country. And sometimes it makes it harder, but what makes it hard makes it good.

I'm very grateful that you are part of the democratic value system that I share, and that you bring that to Harrisburg all the time and make the Commonwealth better. So thank you very much for that.

Well, Matt, I always learned so much by doing these podcast episodes and I did not realize there was a difference between the speaker of the house and the leader of the house because in DC it's pretty much synonymous, right? Like the speaker of the house is kind of the leader they set the agenda. But this is, Pennsylvania is the original democracy. So we do things a little differently here, right?

We do everything a little different in You ever try to buy liquor on a Sunday or some, there's some, there's some unique Pennsylvania things. They make us great.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm

Yeah,

no, I think it's great. I just I have no idea that was the structure. So we're going to play a game called Do You Have the Power? Okay. So if you wanted to bring a vote on having a ballot measure to change the PA Constitution to ban abortion in Pennsylvania, do you have that power now, Matt?

That's amazing.

government has decided to turn their back on women.

very grateful. And so you just told me the exact opposite of what I posed to you, right? So you would have the power to do just that, which is what the Republicans tried to do when they had the majority. And now you're trying to protect reproductive health care in Pennsylvania. I'm sure the rate limiting step would be the state Senate, which probably wouldn't go any further than that. But I am grateful that you as the leader would try and protect reproductive health care in Pennsylvania.

And you you say the Senate, but here's the thing, put them on notice and make them be put on the record. Don't say where you'd be when that bill is going to find its way to the Senate. Are they going to take any action on it? And that's going to speak volumes about where they are.

Yeah, right.

Okay, here's another one. If you wanted to bring a vote to acquire voting ID in Pennsylvania, do you have the power to do that?

We have the power to do it. Now, the question is, do we have the good sense to recognize that any bill, which is entire purpose is to disenfranchise voters would go nowhere in the Pennsylvania house? The answer to that is a no brainer. Listen, we can have an honest conversation about election reforms, but if your whole hope is to disenfranchise voters, you're not going to find an ally in the Pennsylvania house majority.

for that. If you wanted to bring a vote to allow open carry of a firearm anywhere without a permit, including Philadelphia, do you have the power to do that?

we have the power, but we will not be using it. ⁓ That is another example of some of the wrongheaded policies that would have guns in schools and on college campuses and in churches and in bars and all kinds of places that is just not only bad public policy, but flies in the sense, flies in the face of any common sense.

Okay, there you go.

Absolutely. Here's the last one. If you wanted to bring a vote to take away state funding from senior citizens in the Commonwealth, do you have the power to do that?

That seems like a foolish idea, so I don't even want to consider it. How about that as an answer?

Absolutely.

I just, wanted to highlight and showcase how much power you have as the leader of the state House of Representatives. are the leading, guiding the ship, bringing things up for votes, and you can bring up really good things to make Pennsylvanians' lives better, or you can make them a lot worse. And so I really appreciate that responsibility, and clearly you want to make the lives better for all Pennsylvanians. So I thank you for that.

Matt, since taking back the Democratic majority in the PA State House, what has been the most noticeable difference that you've seen in Harrisburg and subsequently across the Commonwealth?

Bills that had never seen the light of day, conversations that never took place in Harrisburg for too long, gun safety, just an issue like that. We can't pass every bill,

But I will tell you, having a conversation about gun safety, that is something that in my prior decade and a half of service, we had just never seen.

just could not ever reach the floor of the Pennsylvania house. We passed a universal background check bill in Pennsylvania over to the Senate. Now, you can almost hear the answer of what the Senate did with it. Nothing. But you know what? The House said the idea that in a private transaction, someone should be able to purchase out of the, literally out of the trunk of a car in a parking lot, an AR-15 or that type of weapon, a long rifle.

Yep.

in Pennsylvania without a background check, a criminal background check, a mental health background check is just absurd. And I'm proud that a few Republicans had the courage to join with us and send that over. That's the type of bill that needs to also, and that debate needs to be heard in the Senate. But the first step is showing that the state house can and did pass it.

Well, sunlight is the best medicine, so keep shining light on those bills that have never seen your desk, and hopefully they eventually make their way to Governor Josh Shapiro's desk.

From your lips to God's ears.

Okay, I hope so.

All right, Matt, this is one of my favorite segments to play with state reps. It's called Constitu-what? Where you have a chance to tell people, all my viewers and listeners, what types of constituent services that you offer as a state rep.

You know, I think people are shocked how many things we can do. I think people also shocked some of the things that people think we can do. The amount of people who think we get your Comcast bill reduced is always shocking. Excuse me. I often get a chuckle. Some of my small government Republican friends will show up and go, now, why do I pay so much for Comcast? Well, that's not actually a necessity of life.

That's a bummer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

you know a lot of times state government Love it or hate it state government is probably our most accessible elected officials and you can go into that office, you know You know nine to five any day

and they will help you get to the right office, whether it's county, federal, our local partners, and do an amazing job of kind of giving that warm handoff of getting government to work.

Getting unemployment compensation benefits handled, showing up to work, doing the people's business. You can't be a progressive Democrat. Earlier, I mentioned Lyndon Johnson and big ideas. You can't do that if you can't answer the damn phone or answer the questions people have. Government is also about, and this is Josh Shapiro's superpower, I often say.

Competence government has to be competent. There's no ideology to competence guys Government has to do it and do it. Well

Yeah, well, I will be sure to promote your website so people can go and check it out if you live in your district. And even if you don't, I think everybody should find out what their state reps offer because it isn't long. It's a laundry list of things that you offer. And people might be frustrated with what is going on in their county and you can help them out with it. So I'll be sure to promote that for you.

Well, thank you, sir.

Matt, you

your undergrad and law degree from Villanova, which is right up the street from where I live.

So what made you choose Villanova all those years ago?

But

it's only the greatest school in the world. goes without saying. So ⁓ we're that crazy Villanova family. My wife and I both went to Villanova. We met there. met on West Campus. We got engaged in the grotto, married in the chapel. We are season ticket holders. My daughter now attends Villanova. So we're the crazy Villanova family.

I mean, it's a beautiful campus, by the way, when they expanded across the street

It's very nice. And I love the restaurant there. The refectory is top tier. And ⁓ also if you've been to Ripplewood in Ardmore, they're the same owners. So if you like a refectory, you should go to Ripplewood. It's delicious. Yeah, yeah, it's very good.

Yes.

Well, thank you for the heads up. I did not know that. And I will tell

you, you've got to go on to campus now. They're building a new library where the old Kennedy Hall was. And the building is gorgeous. In fact, every time I go by it now, I'm like, it looks like from the Harry Potter series. It's so beautiful.

gosh, it

is a beautiful campus, it really, really is.

Well, since you're such a fan of Villanova, I'm gonna do a little Villanova sports trivia, okay? Let's see how good you can get these. So, ⁓ first question, the men's basketball team has won how many NCAA national championships?

Okay.

3, 85, 16, and 18.

Wow, that's, you really do know your stuff. You are not a faux fan. Okay, that's impressive. All right, here's the second one. The men's team has won 112 of these, the most by any school.

You

112 of these.

112.

What did they want 112 of? Huh, now I feel like I stumped. I was so confident on the first one.

You dig? It's okay.

⁓ okay, okay. Very cool.

Is that Jack Craf?

Alexander Severance. Alexander Severance. By the way, I didn't know any of these, so the fact that you knew the first one is already impressive to me. All right?

⁓ yeah, yeah, okay.

No, no,

no, I should know that. That's Al Severance. Yeah, that's what it

Alright,

two more. Which female basketball play became the Big East all-time leading scorer and broke both the conference and Villanova single game scoring records? Player, I should say. It is? Very good. Very good. Alright. Yeah, there you go. Alright, here's the last one. The women's basketball team made an appearance in what...

Is it Maddie Segrist? Alright, yeah. She's the real deal.

food

You are correct. Sweet 16. And I know nothing about sports. I am so bad at sports. You would not have fun with me. I like the food, but I don't follow sports at all. I had to look up what that meant. The sweets, I'm telling you, that's how little I know. For those who don't know, Sweet 16 refers to the remaining 16 teams.

Sweet 16. Okay.

Yep.

in the single elimination for the NCAA division. So there you go. I'm not ashamed. I probably should be ashamed, but I'm really not. ⁓

No, no,

listen, there's the amount of time I waste on sports is probably your right to point out. ⁓

That's okay.

I do my doctoring, I do my politics and the podcasting, and by the time I'm done helping out my kids, my day's over. So there you go.

Listen, if saving democracy and saving your patients isn't enough, you know?

That's all I have time for. Maybe sports later on in

Matt, I understand many of the reasons why Democrats have a difficult time working with Republicans in Harrisburg. And I understand there's some better relationships now in the House, but you still have that wall in the state Senate. The agendas are just wildly different. So how do you speak with someone who maybe isn't so knowledgeable about the reality of working with Republican politicians and help them understand why progress doesn't happen as quickly as they'd like?

⁓ but I'm not going to let people off the hook. like what we saw during the most recent SEPTA funding debate, where you saw people from, know, frankly, the Republican appropriations chair for Lancaster

who literally said they're never going to vote for recurring funding for SEPTA.

to be so mindlessly parochial like that, and almost vindictive. mean, at the time, Joe Pittman, who's my Senate counterpart,

literally tried to, you know, make it into some John Cougar, Mellon camp. I'm from a small town type thing. And I'm like, sir, I get that. I respect the differences of where we are in this Commonwealth and that we're in a different party and maybe have a different ideology. but we are a Commonwealth and we owe it to each other to understand our differences. but also respect that we're in this together, ⁓ and not to be so small. So myopic that we lose sight of that.

So again, for those I would say it's a hard state. It is a very diverse state.

It's just hard sometimes for those of us in Southeastern Pennsylvania understand how different places are that aren't frankly all that far from where we are.

Yeah, just people need to be reasonable,

right? mean at the end of the day you have to be reasonable when it comes to making decisions that affect millions of people in a Commonwealth, right? And unfortunately, I feel like in the state Senate the Republicans just are not being reasonable right now, which is very unfortunate.

Matt, since the majority leader position came to you, part of your agenda is also whipping the members, not actually whipping them, but know, whipping the vote, essentially. Does that mean you work closely with Rep Schlossberg a lot? Because isn't he the house whip as well?

Mike Schlossberg is in and out of my office every five minutes. He's a hyper young man who does an amazing job for our caucus.

Yes.

I'm so proud of our members. I'm not the warm and fuzzy one. Schlossberg does that a lot better than I do and some of our other leaders, but they've all kind of balled in. So the reality is the whipping is a team effort too. Every part of the caucus is a team effort. They've really balled into the idea of like, guys, we have 102 members.

OK, yeah.

If we all go out there and fall on our face, it's on every one of us. I jokingly say if any one of us holds a veto, every one of us holds a veto.

Again, I'm so proud of them. They've done an amazing job with literally no margin for error every day. No one doubts for a second that the House majority can govern.

So, Schlossberg does an amazing job. The whole team has really kind of figured out how that, unlike DC where they've had a thin majority in the house, the federal Republicans, we don't want to make asses of ourselves.

Let's go out there and show that we can be pragmatic. We can be humble. so everyone rose in the same direction. It's pretty cool.

Yeah, well, but again, that takes leadership. So I totally get that you're the kind of person who appreciates everyone working together, but they only work together because they have someone who creates that environment to do so. So I don't want to, I understand what you're doing. I see what you're doing, but I don't want, this is your, this is your episode. And I want you to know that a large reason why Democrats in the state house are doing what they're doing is because of you. Because you are setting an example.

because you have the agenda that is reasonable, that makes sense, and that is why they're following your lead. And I want to showcase that.

is a team effort. you know, after we get done this, you're to pick up my love of sports. And sports is a team game. you know, I view politics much the same way. It's best done when you're part of a team. And it really is to the credit of everybody.

Yes.

Uh-huh, yes. Yes.

Absolutely. I'll let you have the last word on that, okay?

But you're kind.

Matt, how do you deal with misinformation and disinformation that people might bring to your attention?

You know, there's so much of that crazy crap out there. You know, if anyone ever goes into my office on any days, there's two. There's two big TVs.

many days I'll have like Fox News on one and and what used to be MSNBC on the other or CNN.

And it's almost jarring how different the news is. I would almost want to say it in air quotes because I jokingly say even the commercials are different. The ones telling me to go buy silver from William Shatner and some former Trump first term cabinet secretary. It's just

Yeah.

If nothing else should to Democrat should be a wake up call that there are people out there putting out very different messages into the into the world and responding to them in ways in which a lot of us can't even contemplate and you know, we've got to do a better job messaging and speaking, you know. We've got to talk on podcasts. We need to speak on social media, but so many of our institutions are also getting torn down. There is no.

You know, Walter Cronkite telling us this is the way it is anymore. There's just a variety of opinions that masquerade as news. So it is very difficult. And I don't think any one person has the answer. think, you know, it's made harder by you've got these oligarchs that own many of these platforms now, and they feed into this. And now you have a president who frankly leverages his power.

Yeah.

to curry favor with these people and then they kind of play back. It's a really dark time in terms of the impact on so many of our institutions right now.

I agree. We just have to keep speaking truth to power. something that was taught to me when I was in medical school is repetition is the key to masteries. We just have to just repeat it over and over again and get it out to as many people as possible. And again, I'm glad you're coming onto the podcast because it is difficult to get honest, truthful information these days because the mainstream media is failing us every day. So I'm glad that you're still fighting the good fight and just keep repeating it. Keep putting it out there. Be consistent.

Thank

and truth will win the day.

Matt, you've known Governor Josh Shapiro for a long time, both in the professional and personal sense, both Montco natives and all of your interactions in Harrisburg. What's something not many people know about our governor that you've learned over the years? Something that I couldn't find on Google, nice little gem.

Now, the thing that he tries to act is that he's cool.

He's really not that cool. I would like to point out, like, you know, I think because he, you know, he's always at sporting events, people are like, he loves sports and he's cool. I'm like, he's not that cool. I know cool. He's not that cool. I'm not all that cool and I know not cool, so.

He's not that cool.

Mm-hmm,

that's awesome. Well, I mean, he does swear. He does say shit sometimes. So I mean, that's the edginess that we get from Josh Shapiro. But you know what? I will take it.

That is true.

That is...

right, well, let's play a game called That's My Govna. All right, it's a trivia game for you, all right? So let's see if you can guess these. Shapiro initially majored in what in college, but nearly flunked out of organic chemistry before changing his focus to political science? Pre-med, that is correct.

Pre-med.

The same day he nearly flunked out of organic chemistry, what else happened to him?

Got cut from the basketball team.

That is also correct. Shapiro became the first, the only first year student in the University of Rochester history to serve as one.

Class president.

Student Association President. So pretty close, pretty close. Yeah, he was the first, I think, and still holds that title, the only first year student in history to hold that service. ⁓ Shapiro's first professional role in politics was as a legislative director and then chief of staff for who.

Okay, all right.

Congressman Joe Huffle. That's an easy one.

That's right, there

you go. Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district, you got it. All here's the last one. Shapiro has undoubtedly lost his car keys, his glasses, and probably his kids at some point in time, but what has he never lost?

an election.

is correct. He's never lost an election he's run for. and we can... He did on Villanova trivia. Well, your love of Shapiro shines through. And we certainly can't afford him to lose his governorship race next year. So I look forward to helping him.

I'm embarrassed to admit I did better on Josh Shapiro than Villanova.

Yeah.

Matt, there are a lot of people who are upset about what's going on in this country, as I'm sure you are as well, but you are doing something constructive with those emotions. You are a state rep. You are waking up every day and doing something for your constituents and for the entire state of Pennsylvania. How would you approach someone who is disaffected with democracy?

We need to dust ourselves up and dust ourselves off and get back up. Yeah, we need to get guardrails around this president and this administration, but you don't do that by being a bystander. You don't do that by complaining. You do that by organizing or knocking on doors and frankly, by winning elections. And that's what we need to do. Democrats are pissed for a lot of reasons. They're pissed at other Democrats. They're pissed at Republicans. They're pissed at the world.

But you know what? You also need to look in your mirror and say, what are you doing in your community to elect your school board, to elect your township supervisor, the farm system, frankly, for the legislatures and the legislatures to the Congress? We all have an obligation not to let that cynicism and that woeful feeling of nausea that many of us have in the pit of our stomach. And we see things that just don't fit with our view of what America should be and could be.

Well, we need that again. You know, we didn't think we would be back in this stage while we are.

⁓ We may not have wanted it, but this is where we're at. And it's time for everyone to ⁓ get ready for the fight again. And, you know, we can be annoyed with the Democrats and we need to take an accounting of our accesses and our mistakes. But at the same time, love of country trumps all.

I agree. We cannot succumb to apathy. Every election is the most important election. And I agree with people, you know, it's one thing to be disappointed with Democrats. I'm never disgusted with them. And I think that's an important distinction to make. I get disappointed with my politicians, but I am not disgusted with the Democratic platform. I know what it stands for. I'm a proud Democrat. And so we cannot be on the sidelines in a democracy. The only way forward is to get into good trouble.

And the minimum we can do is vote in every election in Pennsylvania. There are two elections every single year. So I appreciate you and please keep people inspired and tell them to keep going. have to vote.

getting guardrails around this administration, getting this governor reelected, expanding this house democratic majority. And the icing on the top would be to severely cut in if not take the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Oh my god,

I have no shame in crying tears of joy. You will see a lot of them if that happens. I I was just born the last time that Democrats had control of the state senate in Pennsylvania. I would like to live to see the day where that happens.

Yeah, gerrymandering is a bad decision over the years, but there's every reason to

with Josh Shapiro at the top of the ticket in a midterm election, Trump's historically unpopular.

Mm-hmm, yep, yep, yep.

you know, knock on wood, let's see what happens. Again, so important though. We get a democratic house, US house, hold the Pennsylvania state house. ⁓ obviously with Governor Shapiro at the top of the ticket, we have every reason to be optimistic.

Yes, yes.

⁓ But also with everything that's going on in our country, have every reason to make sure we fight like hell to get every vote.

Matt, you and your family are also huge Phillies fans, correct? All right. See, and again, I'm happy for you and your family. I do not have the sports bug. My wife is a huge Atlanta Braves fan. Huge Atlanta Braves. I know.

Absolutely.

Oof. Oof.

She grew up in Albany, but Ted Turner owned the Braves, and so she used to watch the Braves on Ted Turner's, what network was it, TNT? TBS, sorry, TBS, I apologize. So that's how she became a Braves fan, and her dad's a Mets fan, so those were some interesting times. But I wanted to ask your opinion on some changes I think the MLB should take up, okay? So these are just some, it's just spitball here, okay? How about seven innings for a game? How do you feel about that?

I think baseball would be so much more enjoyable if it was a seven inning.

I'm a baseball purist, they did do that during double headers during COVID, I'm opposed.

You're

opposed to it? Okay. just feel like seventh inning stretches me stretching and finding the exit. You I just feel like that to me is perfect. Okay, fine. No for you. How about total netting enclosures for all parts of the field except for deep outfield? I mean like total protection from those balls. No? No?

No, part of the joy

for a kid is the thought of getting a ball. Even if it never happens, just the idea that it could.

Oh my gosh.

I just, have these, I have like PTSD from these like highlights of people getting whacked in the face with these balls or the baseball bats breaking off. Like I don't want to pay money to go to a game or I might get hurt. So I, I like the netting. So I just feel like, you know, if I want to get hit by a ball, I'll sit in the outfield. Otherwise just let me be. So no. Yeah. No, I don't want to do it. Okay. No for you. Okay. How about this? I think you can get on the same page on this. Cushioned seats should be standard.

That's the doctor in you. That's...

I would say cushioned and larger seats, but they're already charging such a fortune for the game. Imagine what they would charge with fewer seats and more cushion.

Okay fine, fine, yes. I know.

I need some cushions, know, my butt deserves that extra love for sitting for nine innings and God forbid it's tied, it goes into extra innings. I mean, I need the padding mat. Okay, we're on the same page. Okay, how about this? Built-in lap boards into the seats, so they kind of like swing up and over like when you're in class. I wanna put my food down and eat comfortably, you know, can't they do that? That seems like a no brainer.

Yes.

you might be on to something there. Maybe we found a common... Yeah, we got something there.

Yeah.

Fine. I just want, I want

to get my expensive french fries and chicken nuggets and I want to put them down and be hands-free. I don't want to like be balancing them on my legs or drop them, God forbid. Okay, fine. Well, if the MLB is listening, please take these up. I have serious changes I'd like to

Matt, what gives you hope?

I know.

there's a paraphrasing the Winston Churchill line that America always does the right thing after it exhausts all the other ⁓ alternatives.

You know, I'm not to be corny. I'm a patriot. I believe in the greatness of America. Her best days are ahead. We're we're testing ourselves right now. Pretty good, but I've got to believe in our institutions are people are spirit. Our history were better than this.

Well, you give me hope, Matt. You really do. Anyone who wakes up and tries to make Pennsylvania better through democratic values, you give me hope. So thank you for that.

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

Sleep, more sleep. ⁓

Yeah,

God, I need to get more of that.

I actually got away for like two or three days last week because like summer vacations and everything got blown up by the budget and pass and it was like the best thing ever.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

I definitely do not

get enough sleep. mean, in these times, it's hard to, our timeline is so crazy, but yes, I hope that for you. Get some sleep for me, okay? Well, Rep Matthew Bradford here on The Zekely Podcast. I am so grateful for everything that you do in Harrisburg. You're a true leader.

Yes.

I mean, as much as you try to downplay it, I see right through it. You are a natural leader. I totally understand why they elected you as a leader of the state house. And I really, really hope that we give you the state Senate democratic control and all the things that you've passed can just go right to Governor Josh Shapiro's desk. again, the progress that we will make in Pennsylvania will be unstoppable. And I hope that you were there to see it. I really do.

it.

I share your hope. Let's make it happen.

Yeah, we will. And it's gonna take all of us. It takes every election to show up and vote, and that's the only way it's gonna happen.

Absolutely, thanks again, Matt.

Thank you for what you do as well.

Thank you.

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 stronger Pennsylvania together.