Hello, I'm Zeke, and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk, Pennsylvania. The guest I have today lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and for the last 27 years she has been instilling scientific knowledge into the minds of children as a middle school teacher. And now she's running to flip a state house seat blue on November 3rd to address kitchen table issues affecting everyone in the Commonwealth.

Thank you so much for being here, Monica Weninger.

I’m Zeke, a doctor, a Pennsylvanian and unapologetic supporter of Democratic values. You might have seen me on social media working my ass off for Democrats and meeting some pretty amazing people along the way - like President Barack Obama and Governor Josh Shapiro.

For years, I’ve knocked thousands of doors all over Pennsylvania and poured my heart and soul into supporting candidates and causes that make a difference—from local school board races to national elections. The personal is political, and I take every election in Pennsylvania personally.

Where the mainstream media has failed you, I will give you truth and independence. You’ll hear from Democratic leaders, candidates, and change-makers who are working to improve the health of the Commonwealth, and it won’t be boring as hell.

No matter where you are, I’ll meet you with hope and a plan to make your community better one day at a time. Welcome to the Zekely Podcast. Let’s talk Pennsylvania.

Thanks for having me, Zeke.

This is great. I love having people from Bucks County because once again, Bucks County, Pennsylvania is going to be the centerpiece of what happens across the Commonwealth and in the country.

Yeah, and and thanks for having me. And and yes, absolutely. Bucks County is going to be the one to watch. You know, we're a purple county in a purple state. And the trifecta train is gonna roll through Bucks County. very exciting things happening.

my god. Trifecta.

That that it's so amazing to think that we could have a trifecta after 30 years of Republican

Yes.

rule. It's time, and you are a part of that. So we're gonna learn all about you. Play some games and have some fun. Are ready?

Yes.

All right. Well, we're gonna play. You told me your favorite game, What the Buck. Okay. Anyone

Yes. Yes.

who runs from Bucks County, we're gonna play What the Buck. It's a trivia game, and you and your husband love to compete in bar trivia, right?

Yes,

yes, we do. We're trivia fans.

And your name at Trivia Nights is We Drink and We Know Things,

Yes.

which I know at Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones. Very, very good. It's a great.

Yep. Very good.

I wish they wouldn't have butcher end of that series though. It was such a good show and then just ruined it. Do

We

you feel the same way?

we waited so long for that last season

Yeah.

and then and that that battle in the dark like what was going on? Yeah, that was I know.

Mm-hmm. You couldn't even see anything. I couldn't

couldn't see anything. it was so disappointing. All right. Well, they you're gonna do better on this than they did on the show, okay?

Okay.

Okay. So in celebration of America's 250th birthday, a sculpture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was inve was unveiled at the PA Farm Show. What was it made out of?

PA Farm Show I'm gonna take a guess, I'm gonna say cheese.

Close, close. It was butter. A th you're close. Yeah, a thousand

Butter butter. Okay, dairy. I was I was

pounds of Lando Lakes butter. And a fun fact, the butter is repurposed and recycled into renewable energy at a local dairy farm. Yeah, so you don't just waste a thousand pounds of butter. There you go. All right, here's another one. Governor Josh Apiro celebrated the inaugural call of which cruise line to the port of Philadelphia this year?

I'm gonna take an educated guess here. I mean, I've always gone Royal Caribbean.

Norwegian. Yeah, Norwegian. So the Norwegian cruise line will offer forty one annual sailings out of the port of this new terminal, which will generate two thousand one hundred and eighty-five new jobs and approximately three hundred million dollars

throughout the Commonwealth. So thank you, Governor Josh Shapiro, getting more shit done. All right, here's the last one. Two coaches in Carnegie, Pennsylvania have been suspended indefinitely after getting into a fight during what type of youth sports game?

Where was it from again? What were the

Carnegie. Carnegie, Pennsylvania.

I mean I'll just go with football.

You got it. Football. It was third and fourth grade football. Yeah, these two I know they I got a they got a little hot under the collar and they they're now suspended, pending an investigation. So there you go. I hope so too. Probably not.

Hope it was worth it.

Probably not though. It's it's kids' sports. I mean, come on, people, get a life.

All right. Well, I I'm gonna have to show up some time at your trivia nights and see how you and your husband play together because I'm sure it's pretty impressive to watch.

And you you could play along too.

I'm terrible at trivia. My wife would carry the team. We should totally

Okay.

carry the team. I am terrible at trivia.

Monica, your father came to this country from Hungary with a vision for a better life.

Yes. Yes.

he got a union job, bought a house, raised a family. Is your father still alive to this day? Okay.

No, he passed away in twenty twenty one.

So may his memory be a blessing. which political party would your father have aligned with based on his life experiences, do you think? Yeah.

I mean we were Democrats like the whole time. That was

n not even a question.

Mm.

Yes, and also just what happened to his country when when the Russians invaded during the the Hungarian Revolution. He saw what the Russians did to his country and he did not want any part of that.

yeah, it's it's very interesting because sometimes you hear a narrative from people who immigrate from other countries say, Well, I saw what they did in my country and they somehow see the Democrats as the ones who are mimicking that type of behavior. I always find it fascinating that that they do that. What are your thoughts on that type of thought process?

Yeah, that is interesting because I I have heard that at the doors where people say that, you know, Democrats are communists and and I say to them, you know, well, my father left Hungary. He left because the Russians invaded his country. So he he went through that as well. so it is I I don't know where that comes from. That does kind of baffle me a a little bit. So I but I do relate my own personal experience

yeah, some some people are just very, very sad. They're just convinced that when they come over here,

they just have to join the Republican Party. I I'm not sure why.

It's crazy.

I don't I don't get it. It makes no sense to me. I guess it's a very good job in the Republican Party to to push that narrative. But but I think from your vantage point, certainly from your father's, you know, that was a very big part of becoming a Democrat. And I I agree. I mean, even to this day, the Democratic Party still has those those ideals. You know, supporting unions. We just had Labor Day not that long ago, right? I mean,

Yes. Yes.

I have interviewed a lot of Democrats on the show, and I have to say there are no Republican politicians showing up at the picket line.

when unions are going on strike, when they're fighting for better wages, for safer working conditions. So I'm glad that that your father was able to work and support his family, but also understood which type of party was going to support his family through that.

Yes, absolutely.

Monica, the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no to prohibit the use of ghost guns, machine gun conversion devices, and no to remove firearms from potentially violent people. Why would you do that?

Because she is beholden to the party line and she's not thinking about her constituents. She's just thinking about what her party tells her what position she should have.

I'm glad that you would vote for common sense gun reform when you become a state rep because I think it's just ridiculous that the most common cause of death for children in this country is gun violence. It's it's a it's a statistic. It's real. It's not

Yep. Gun violence. Yes.

some fabricated thing. And so if you can't do the minimum of try to protect children in your state as a representative, you need to find a different job. And I'm hoping you're gonna take her job this November third.

Monica, you enjoy binge watching murder mystery shows with your husband, correct?

Yes.

So are you the person who always knows who committed the crime in movies and you could ruin the ending if you wanted to? Okay. Uh-huh.

Well, that's my husband. Like I watch it to enjoy it. And he'll

come in, he has a formula. Like it's always the third person they talk to. So I'm watching

Okay.

the show. I'm getting into it. And he walks in, he's like, the secretary did it. Like, really? Did you know? So we yeah, so sometimes we'll have a competition, we'll try to who guest first. But he's he's good at that. I'll just watch it just for the enjoyment. You know, I just it's just a little getaway, you know, cause some of these the the shows I like to watch are very exotic locations. So it's just fun to watch and likable characters. They're more like the the

comedy ones rather than like the really deep ones. I

Yeah.

I use TV just for an escape. I there's life has enough drama. I don't I

I know.

don't like to do more. So just those silly little, you know, they're in the garden or, you know, Father Brown, you know, like those Death in Paradise. It's on the Caribbean island. So just like the the little lighthearted murder mysteries. Yes. Yep. Absolutely. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Like Monk, did you watch the series Monk? Yeah. Yeah, that that's a good example of that. Well, I think it's

interesting. Your husband has a whole formula. So has he ever been wrong? Has his formula ever tripped him up?

Mm maybe once, right? He'll never admit it. But it's it's actually pretty good. Like the third person they speak to.

Maybe once. Yeah.

Or it's or the person who says mentions someone else. Like it's always them.

Very interesting. Okay. Well,

I love this. I love this formula he has.

Okay, we're gonna play a game called spoiler alert, okay? I want you to ruin the ending for me in the following scenarios, okay?

If the Save Act passed in Congress and was signed into law, how would voting be affected in Pennsylvania?

there would be people who would be disenfranchised because the requirements for voter ID are very restrictive. And you would have to essentially get a passport. If if you're not

Yeah.

getting a passport, you're doing all the paperwork in order to prove your citizenship. It's not just proving that you're a resident of Pennsylvania, you need a birth certificate. Married women, women like me, who took their husband's name.

We have additional paperwork and there are going to be people out there that don't have the paperwork. I'm I'm thinking of even elderly people who have been living in a house, you know, 60 years. They move, you know, they downsize into their, you know, apartment. And do you think they're keeping all their paperwork? I'm thinking about people who maybe had the paperwork, but it got destroyed in a fire or a flood. Not everyone has their paperwork and not everyone has a passport, not everyone has a driver's license.

So this is it's essentially a a poll tax. So

Yeah.

I don't even know how the Save Act would even get passed. It would because it's unconstitutional. You can't charge people to vote.

Right. No, that's that's a terrible ending to that story. terrible. I mean, yeah, I mean passports are expensive too. They're over a hundred dollars right now. To

Yes. Yeah, a hundred sixty or something. Yeah.

it's crazy. I mean, it's terrible. Obviously, this is the Republican ideology. They want to disenfranchise people and and make people apathetic so they can keep winning elections, but we're not gonna allow that to happen. All right. So that you ruined that one for me. Thank you very much. All right, I have no it's okay. I

Sorry.

have two more.

What would happen to Pennsylvanians if insurance companies could terminate coverage for pre existing conditions?

my gosh, how many thousands of people would be losing coverage?

Mm-hmm.

not only that, but costs for everyone else are going to skyrocket because we're going to have to absorb the cost. There's going to be more emergency care. you know, people are going to be putting off care. We're all going to pay, even people

Yeah.

who don't have preexisting conditions, those costs are going to be borne on everyone. And everyone's costs will skyrocket,

Yeah, terrible, terrible ending to that story. And again, as a doctor, I I'm offended very much so that people would be suffering and not have insurance coverage. And these insurance companies are making billions of dollars, billions of dollars. And you know, Democrats in the state house in Harrisburg have been trying to pass laws to protect people in case the Affordable Care Act was ever basically dissolved, which is what Republicans in Congress want to happen. They want to get rid of the ACA. And one of the most amazing things that came out of the ACA was just that.

Was that insurance companies could not drop you for a preexisting condition? And I've had so many people on the show who remember as a child that they would their parents would shop jobs just to make sure that their insurance would cover their children's illnesses. It's it's terrible. So yeah, I don't want that kind of an ending in Pennsylvania. No, no, no. All right, last one. If Pennsylvania became a right to work state, what would happen to the workforce in Pennsylvania? Would that be a happy ending? You ruin it for me. Go ahead, ruin it for me, Monica.

Okay, well,

twist, because when you hear right to work, that sounds

Mm-hmm.

nice, right? Of course, everyone. it's really right to work for less. So that that's the actual title of the money. Right to work for less. that's ba it's union busting, right? that

Mm-hmm. Right.

just means that people would get the benefit of collective bargaining without having to pay. it would weaken unions, it would weaken worker protections, it would weaken wages benefits. and again, everyone would pay the price, not just union members, because

we're going to be losing protections, you know, responsible contracting, you know, government agencies get bids and who knows what contractor they're getting. So that it would weaken unions. And even if you're not a union member, everyone will directly or indirectly pay the price for that.

Well, Monica, spoiler alert, Republicans want all those things. Okay. Republican politicians in a Harrisburg want all of those things to happen, and that's why we need you to get elected to make sure that we don't have bad endings. We have happy endings here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Hey, thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Zekely Podcast. And if you're enjoying yourself, please take a moment to rate my Podcast. Five stars would be great and leave a comment as well. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit follow. OK, back to the show.

Monica, you are a first generation college graduate. You earned your BS in medical technology from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Monica, I have something to tell you. We went to the same college.

Yeah, you know what? I learned that I was watching some old videos and I think

Yep.

when you were talking to Margaret Burke. Now when you were there, was it the n the name was already changed?

It was already changed to University of the Sciences and then later it was just University Sciences. Okay. Yeah,

you scientists

U Sciences. And now, you know, Saint Joseph's bought it. And so now we don't even have an alma mater anymore. It's crazy.

Yeah, that that hurt. That that that bothered me. I mean, the name change was okay. We live

I know. Mm-hmm.

with that. I know my pharmacy friends, they kinda like that because there's like a a book, the USP, which is like their book of you know,

Yeah.

the medicine. So they were okay with that. Use sciences. It was actually easier to say 'cause when people where'd you go to school? Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and S you know, it was really long. If you knew

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.

PCPS, but yeah, when when they were bought out, that was that was tough.

Rough.

I know. It's sad. I mean, we our claim to fame was Pepto Bismol, right? I mean, we invented Pepto Bismol that college. It's crazy. I mean, it was a delightful time in West Philadelphia, but

Mm-hmm.

it is no more. Well, I think it's great that you were a first generation college graduate. What did that mean to your family to see you graduate from college? It must have been amazing.

y yes, yes, it was. And it was actually it was kind of overwhelming. It was so such new territory that

Mm-hmm.

we were really kind of flying blind, like not knowing, you know, I was living up in the Lehigh Valley and just, you know, driving down to Philly was was kind of scary, you know. So

Mm-hmm.

it was it was a bit overwhelming,

and I do, you know, have a lot of empathy for first generation because it really is, it's tough. You're navigating so many things

not having a frame of reference. So I'm glad that my husband and I were able to

Give a lot of experience to my daughter when she went to to Penn State.

Mm-hmm. I mean, that's amazing. I to have a father who immigrated here from a war torn area and to see his child graduate from college. I mean, it just it must have meant so much to him. So I think it's great. It's a great story. And it just amazing we went through same college. Crazy. And again, I see your

I know.

diploma behind you. I have the exact same one in the exact same frame in my office. So, you know, we're never gonna say it's Saint Joe's. We'll always be our college, the original,

Yes.

okay?

Monica, I understand a talent you have is that when you meet a person, you can spell their name with element symbols. And as a chemistry major, I think that's hilarious because I had a periodic table of elements for the longest time hanging in my room. so what would my elements be? Okay, Zeke.

Okay, well first of all, is that your real name? Like are you like Ezekiel or

No,

so Ezekiel is my full name. You could do Ezekiel if you wanted, if that's easier.

Okay. You know, it's funny, I was thinking about this because unfortunately it doesn't spell perfectly, right?

Uh-huh.

so you like zinc, potassium, iodine, and then L like L E. Like there's no just L like lithium. So and by the way, I have my periodic table here too. I can't remember. Yeah, and and it

Uhhuh. Yeah, yeah, okay. There it is. Yeah, you got yours is in gla in glass. Very nice. I mine was

has a little sample of every element.

yeah, it's got a sample of every one. Very nice. Very nice. I I had a paper one that was all torn up by the time I was done my major

Yeah.

in college. That's amazing.

Well, we're gonna play a game called It's Elemental. Okay. I'm gonna give you a name or a phrase or something. and I I want you to convert that to the elements. And I picked words or phrases that you can spell them all. Okay. So I'm gonna see you can get it. All right, first one wages.

Tungsten?

Wage a silver Einsteinium.

Mm-hmm.

You got it. That's amaz that's amazing. I mean, I I could not do that even as a chemistry. That is amazing. Very good. I picked wages because the state rep serving in your district voted no to raise the minimum wage, which that was not very nice of her. It's ridiculous. $7.25

Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

an hour forever. And I would assume you would vote to increase the minimum wage when you become a state rep.

It's gross.

and it just shows that my opponent is not in touch with her constituents. everyone, even if you are not earning that minimum wage, everyone benefits when

Right.

workers get a fair wage.

Yeah. And I'm so I get so pissed off when people say, everyone's gonna leave. Has everyone left in the surrounding states? Because every single state that touches Pennsylvania has raised their minimum wage. And they're they're not deserts. Okay. The millionaires and the billionaires have not left the state. The companies have not all left. So that's that's a

Right. Right.

propaganda talking point, and that's not gonna happen to Pennsylvania. All right,

Absolutely.

here's another one. Union power. yeah. Give it to me.

Ooh, union power.

Uranium. Now there's a couple of you and nickel oxygen nitrogen. Phosphorus oxygen,

You got the un you got the union.

tungsten, erbium.

You got it. Very good. I'm impressed. I'm impressed. Again, we were talking about your father part of a union. We know that Democrats support unions. I was talking to Senator James Malone, won a special election. I'm hoping he's gonna win re-election this November third and get the trifecta and flip the state senate. He marches on picket lines, right? And he told me he's never been successful on getting his Republican colleagues to walk the picket line with him. So I know that you as a Democrat support unions. All right, here's the

Absolutely. Thank you.

last one. Vote PA.

Vanadium, oxygen, tellurium,

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Wow.

protectinium.

You got it. This is that that is an amazing talent.

Okay.

I have to say, that is an amazing talent. I I mean I could not I literally had to look all these up. So and again, as a chemist, I should be embarrassed by that. But that was a long time ago. Wow, that's amazing. That's such a cool party trick. I love it. And

I

I don't get invited to that many parties though, but

Well, I think if you're hearing or watching this, please. This is a great thing that Monica can do for you at your next bar by mitzvah, okay?

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

No, thank you. So you you've alluded to it, that I was, you know, I was I was born that way. You know, I was

Yeah.

born to this Democratic party. And not just, you know, you mentioned my my father's history, but even on my mother's side, it it seems a little cliche to say that I had the American dream, but my mom's side, they came over from Hungary too, just one generation prior. And my mom's mom, when she came over here in like nineteen twenty, she had to quit school in eighth grade.

to work at the local cigar factory to raise money for the family, you know. And then my mom got to she graduated college, got a great job as a secretary. I went to college, got a master's in teaching. And my daughter just graduated from vet school. She's a doctor. So we went

That's awesome.

from, you know, eighth grade dropout to doctor in like

Mm-hmm.

three generations. and that's the American dream. And that, you know, a lot of the democratic policies allowing families for all, you know, to have all of these options were a big part of that.

And then moving forward, when I was on my own and I had, you know, my own political identity, I remained a Democrat. I'm a science teacher, public education, science, Democratic Party stands by science. We make database decisions, public education. and moving forward, you know, I look at my daughter's generation, and unfortunately, there's a lot of problems ahead. You know, my my daughter, she has student loans the the size of a mortgage.

I have no idea how she's gonna be able to afford a house when she has such student loan debt. So it's the Democratic Party and their policies that are going to move us forward so that my daughter's generation are going to have the same economic opportunities that I did in the generations before.

Yeah, I mean it's it's the values, it's the ideals, the big ten party. And again, just the trajectory of your life. You've seen you've seen it, you know? And I know a lot of people see that as well. Well, I I'm very grateful that you're a Democrat. I can't wait

Thank you.

for you to take those ideals to Harrisburg and again make things better, right? We cannot have the future of our country and our commonwealth strapped with all this debt. And we can do a lot more in Pennsylvania to help those people out. So I'm I'm very grateful you're a Democrat. Thank you for that.

Thank well, thank you.

Monica, the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no to establish a constitutional right to an abortion in Pennsylvania. How would you vote on this issue in Harrisburg?

So I am proud to be endorsed by Planned Parenthood. And yeah, it's f it it it's it's really frightening the attacks on women's health. you know, we're we're second class citizens when it comes to healthcare. So we we need to, you know, enshrine that in the constitution. It can't be a woman's right to health care and the right to her own body can't just be held up to the whims of whatever political party just happens to be in at that time. And and again, it's it's more than just

abortion. I mean, this has consequences far reaching, you know, whether it's in vitro fertilization, access to birth control. and even for women who, you know, aren't even interested in having children but just need regular gynecological care. In states where they had this these restrictive abortion bans, you saw good doctors leaving the states. And so they're leaving. They're just not getting out of the abortion business, right? They are packing up and leaving. So

Women who just need an OBGYN for something else, you know, polycystic ovaries or hysterectomy, they're not going to be able to find good doctors because they leave. So everyone is going to feel the effects of this.

Preach Monica. God, you just you hit everything that concerns me about people who vote against this. You know, and as a doctor, I have met physicians who have left states where they have these restrictions. And I have spoken to doctors in Pennsylvania who have clinics set up in surrounding areas just in case that would happen. it's terrifying. It's terrifying. I'm grateful that we live in a state still where we have Governor Josh Shapiro and thankfully a two-seat majority in the state house, which you're gonna help us expand this

Yes.

November 3rd.

But yeah, Republicans were one session away in Pennsylvania from passing a constitutional amendment ballot initiative to ban abortion in Pennsylvania. So the stakes are real. The stakes are high. And we cannot afford anything to happen in Pennsylvania because we know at the federal level exactly what they want to do. And what has already

Yes.

happened at the Supreme Court level, right? So thank you very much for being on the right side of this issue and for protecting reproductive access in Pennsylvania.

Thank you.

Monica, how has being a teacher prepared you to serve as a Pennsylvania state rep?

Good question.

believe it or not, it it it I think it translates very well the skill set needed to be a teacher, not just to be a leader, but also even just on the campaign trail, right? so first of all, I one of the things I even that I say at the doors is, you know, every day for 27 years, you know, I stood in front of a classroom and I am reminded on a daily basis, you know, 135 times a day, who I'm there to serve, you know.

When you are a teacher, you know you are serving those children, the parents, the community. it is in our nature to serve the community and not and to never ever forget who you're there to serve.

I don't know if you are familiar with our congressional candidate, Bob Harvey. He was a teacher as well.

Yeah, he was.

Eileen Albiar Center, she was social worker, so very

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Very similar.

So there's there's that. Just in general, our ability to adapt, be flexible, to be clear communicators, and to talk to be able to work with anyone, you know. another thing I say at the doors when people ask me, you know, what party I am. one of the things I say is, you know, if especially if this is, you know, a parent, I look at them in the eye and said, if you ask me to help your child, you know, parent conference, I wouldn't say, are you a Republican or Democrat?

Mm-hmm. Right.

Said, I to, I would help your child. So

again, it's in our nature to help people and to solve problems.

and then besides that teaching middle school, obviously you have to have thick skin and a

yeah.

good sense of humor. it's really tough. I mean, you you when you're at the doors, you know, you you never know what's gonna answer on the other side. You have to be able to let it roll off. just have a have a laugh. And and I've had a lot of good responses, you know, even Republicans who say, you what, I'm not gonna vote for you, but you know, you're funny.

You're I you're a good person. You know, I'm not gonna vote for you, but you're you're cute, you know.

Uh-huh. I

mean, look, there are petulant children that that grow up and never kind of stop doing that kind of stuff. So I yeah, I think you're gonna have a lot of skill sets to bring the to Harrisburg as a state rep. I love teachers, I love social workers. I mean, you're you're grounded, you understand the state of play. And yes, we need more, we need more educators in Harrisburg, right? Because when you craft laws, you need to have evidence-based thought processes when you're doing that. We can't just have people saying, I'm gonna use common sense. No.

It was common sense a hundred years ago for women not to have access to bank accounts. you

Ha ha

know, it was common sense to have slavery back in the day, you know, it was common sense to have segregation. It a lot of there was a lot of common sense out there. Okay, we don't need that anymore. We need people who understand that facts matter and that you can work with a bunch of people, and that's what teachers can do every day.

Well, we're gonna play Gen Z Lingo because as a teacher, I know you are very fluent in Gen Z Lingo. So I'm gonna tell you something, you're gonna translate it for me. Okay. Have you caught Stacy Garretti's social media lately? No cap, it's giving Ohio. She's honestly Dululu if she thinks she has main character energy.

Scary thing is, I know what you just said. So

Ha ha ha.

no cap is I'm not lying. And what was the next one? Ohio. Ohio is just like crazy. Like, yeah.

It's giving Ohio. Crazy, right? Yeah.

Delulu, that's like delusional. And

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.

yeah, main character energy. That's you know, you you you think that the world revolves around you and everything,

Yep.

everyone just believes everything that you are.

Yeah. You hit it. You got all. I mean, for

someone who flies down to Mar a Lago and to the White House to be around someone who thinks he has main character energy, that makes sense, right? I mean, it's terrible. It is so terrible that she is running for governor. And I if anyone thought that someone could outdo the last candidate who ran, you know, Doug Mastriano, he j you know, she just went up a notch in crazy. I'm really happy that Josh Shapiro was polling so well. He's done an amazing job as governor. I can't wait for his next term.

And he has Rizz

He he does have Rizz Yes,

he does. He yes, he certainly does. Charisma. All right, here's another one. I low key think Republican politicians ghost town halls because their messaging is cooked.

low key but

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, like it's it's not obvious.

Mm-hmm.

It's not an op like they're not saying it out loud like, Yeah, I probably yeah, I right. It it wouldn't surprise me if they did something like that. They they ghost, they just don't show up. They they ghost ya.

Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah, you got it. They just don't show up. Yeah.

And because it's it's their message is cooked, yeah, it's just it's terrible. It's they

Terrible.

haven't yeah.

I mean, I can't imagine being elected by a group of people and then just not showing up to town halls and addressing the constituents who elected you into office and confronting them when they have concerns. I mean, coward comes to mind. It's ridiculous. And just the hubris to think that you have that much power to not be held accountable for your actions, right? I mean, good, bad, indifferent, you need to show up an answer to what your votes are doing.

in your district and around the commonwealth. It's crazy. And not just at the state level, the congressional level. We've got you know, congressional lead leaders, air quote leaders, who ha

Right, right.

who haven't had a town hall in nine years. Nine years of not showing up when their constituents

Yes.

demand them and confront them. So I'm assuming you're gonna you're not gonna skirt town halls when you

I would love to have town halls. if if my opponent wants to have a debate, we are invited to a debate. I haven't heard back yet. absolutely. I mean, that's what you know, our constituents need to hear that, keep the lines of communication open. And, you know, even if and and I'm saying this at the doors too, you know, even if you don't agree with me, we should still be, you know, transparent and explain why we're making these decisions. It's it's all about accountability and communication.

You have to be upfront with your constituents, and I'm hearing that a lot. they are just feeling ignored.

Yeah, it's terrible. I'm glad that and I look I hope that you're you're gonna get that debate. I mean these days I feel like that could go either way, but I mean I think you'd cook her. I think you'd cook her in a debate. Seriously, because her

Okay.

voting record is just terrible. All right, here's the last one. I kind of reuse some of these. Okay, so you it'll be easy, okay? Some people think I'm Dululu for chasing the trifecta in Pennsylvania, but I'll be aura farming all the way to November third.

So again, yeah, I'm not I'm not delusional.

Mm-hmm.

now aura farming. Now

trying to just get as much goodwill out you are just trying

Good vibes.

to charm everyone.

Yeah, you got it. You got it. I mean, I want it so badly, Monica. I want it so badly. I I just really want to see Governor Josh Appiro sign off on such amazing legislation like legalizing marijuana, raise the minimum wage, pass a law to address child abuse victims in Pennsylvania. I mean, address data centers, not just an executive order, but actually, you know, address them.

I really cannot wait for that to happen and you're gonna be a part of that.

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

Monica, the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no multiple times to fully fund public schools in Pennsylvania. What will you do in Harrisburg to address that?

we still have about over three billion dollar shortfall, which may take about 10 years, you know, to close that gap. And we don't have that much time to waste. we we need to fund our schools.

more efficiently. And Pennsylvania is one of the worst states when it comes to our state contribution. We put too much of burden on local taxpayers. Ultimately, I mean the money has to come

Wait, hold on, hold Monica,

what does that mean? Hold on, hold on second. Burden on local taxpayers. So are you saying that fully funding public schools decreases property taxes? Is that what you're trying to say?

Yes, yes.

Really? So are you trying to say that Democrats in Harrisburg who want to fully fund public schools want to make it cheaper for people around Pennsylvania?

Yes, that's yes, that's the whole idea. So your your taxes go down to relieve the burden. Pennsylvania has one

of the highest local tax burdens.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, it's a common complaint I get. People say all the time, why are my my property taxes going up every year? Well, like who what are they doing in Harrisburg? You know, how you realize that a large percentage of money that funds your school districts comes from Harrisburg. Where I live in Montgomery County, it's like almost a quarter. Almost a quarter comes from Harrisburg. And so you can imagine if we just shave off a couple million dollars every year, we're gonna have to make up for that, right? So I I'm glad you bring that up that point because I like to connect the dots all the time.

Okay, Democrats want to make life more affordable for you and give high quality education for your kids. So I'm glad that you would vote to do that in Harrisburg.

Monica, Governor Josh Shapiro recently, as I said, signed an executive order to address data center development in Pennsylvania, with the one of the only governors in the country to do that. What will you do in Harrisburg as a state rep to address these data centers from a legislative standpoint?

So we need serious regulations, guardrails to make sure that these data centers are either supplying their own energy, reporting their energy use, paying for any

strain that they put on the electrical grid, there is no reason why the local people that live there have to pay the cost of these billion billion dollar tech companies

so they can run their their data centers. So

there's a lot of work that has to be done. And I'm glad that Governor Shapiro did that executive order. That's definitely a step in the right direction. We have to be very smart and and cautious about this. But there is no reason that

you know, a a senior citizen who's on a fixed income has to pay more in their electric bill just so we can keep up with China. 'Cause that's that's one of the the messages that that they're saying. Well, we need data centers to keep up with China. Okay, then why am I paying for that? Why is that in our electric bill?

Right. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. No, I agree. I look, the Republican controlled state Senate is not passing anything to address data centers. Okay. The Democrats in the state house have been passing bills, which again die in the state center, which is why we need the trifecta, right? I mean, Governor Josh Apiro can only do so much. He's using his pen in a very positive way when addressing these data centers, but it will take the legislative branch to codify that into law so that moving forward, if we get a different governor.

Right. Those protections go away. Executive orders only last as long as a governor sits in his chair. So I'm glad that when you get to Harrisburg you will be, you know, with everyone else on this issue with the Democrats, we got the trifecta, we can push good legislation.

Absolutely.

Monica, on your website there's a quote by you and it says, Our government works best when it's grounded in facts. How do you determine something is a fact?

That's a big one. So I you have to look at the source. Where's where's what's your source of information coming from? And you know, it's a lot of it is about critical thinking, you know, and you have to look at everything skeptically and look at the source of information. Where are where are these facts, where's the data coming from? How did they collect it? And can it be repeated? You know, if somebody has something, they say it's a fact.

If it is true, someone else, like an experiment, you should be able to do the same thing and get the same result.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Let's let's take vaccines for example. Okay. How how did you determine that vaccines are safe and effective?

once upon a time when we did have, you know, faith in our government institutions, you know, like the CDC

Yeah.

and the NIH, you look at our scientists. I mean, I guess I'm thinking, you know, when my daughter was growing up and she was getting her vaccines 20 some years ago, you know, we looked at American Pediatric Association, medical association, CDC. We we have the information.

You can look at rates of things like, you know, measles, mumps, all those diseases. You can see, you can see the reported diseases going down.

Right. Mm-hmm.

We can see, you know, and as far as like the whole vaccines cause autism, you experiment after experiment, there is you don't see a link. There's no what they call causal link, right?

Zero evidence. Right. Mm-hmm.

and that's another thing people don't understand too. A and B can happen. That doesn't mean that A caused B. So

Right. Yeah.

you have to look very, very carefully and see what the connection is. And the thing is, good science takes a while and you have to look at the the data very, very carefully. It should be repeatable over and over again before you draw a conclusion.

Yeah. Well, the current Republican state reps serving in your district voted no to authorize licensed pharmacists to deliver vaccines deemed safe by the State Health Department. And I don't have to remind you, Pennsylvania is almost ground zero for measles outbreaks. You know, five hundred and forty plus cases just this year alone because of vaccine hesitancy, you know, which is promoted by the Republican Party and Donald Trump and state reps who is currently serving your district. So

It's very unfortunate because the data is there. It is it is as clear as day. And it's not this like common sense kind of thing, right? It's there.

And craft legislation based on the facts. And Monica, you seem to fit the bill. So I'm very grateful that you are grounded in facts and I agree with your quote on your website. We need you to win this November third.

Thank you.

Well we're gonna play a game called Dumb Ways to Die. Okay. I'm gonna tell you a disease that is preventable with vaccination. And you're gonna tell me if you know how you die from it. Okay. If you don't, it's okay, I'll tell you. But I just you can guess. the rotavirus.

Rhodovirus or R

Rodovirus.

O T A. That's that's like intestinal. Is that like diarrhea type dehydration?

It is? It is? Yeah.

It causes severe, unstoppable vomiting and watery diarrhea, causing you to die from dehydration. That's a pretty dumb way to die. Okay? So but it you won't if you're vaccinated, okay? How about measles or pertussis? How would you die from that?

Well pertussis is that whooping cough?

Mm-hmm.

So somet that'll be respiratory. That like suffocate like you won't be able to breathe.

Correct. Yeah, you're yeah, your

Yeah, your lungs fill with fluid and you suffocate to death. Pretty pretty dumb way to die. Yeah, pretty awful, but preventable with a vaccine. Alright, I have two more. Tetanus.

Lockjaw. That's

Yeah, right.

your muscles tighten up and then you can't you can't even

Your muscles.

breathe.

You can't breathe. Yeah, it's agonizing, violent muscle spasms, and eventually it will you know address your breathing muscles and then you will lead to exphyxiation and death. Pretty dumb way to die, especially

Terrible.

if there's a vaccine. Here's the last one. Mumps.

well, you get probably get a high fever.

Mm. You can. Yeah. This one this one's a little different. it causes myocarditis. So you get

Ooh.

severe inflammation of the heart tissue and then the electrical rhythm gets all messed up. It can cause sudden death and heart failure, which is a pretty dumb way to die, especially since there's a vaccine for it. So there you go. Right. There are lots of ways to die in the world. Not and it's really not smart to do that, if you can just get a vaccine for it, which

When it's preventable

and right, where we can't be it's one thing to play political games, but when you are playing with

Right.

people's lives and the lives of children, that is not

Yeah, children.

the time to play political games.

No, no, vaccines are safe, effective. Thank goodness they're available in America and around the world. And I implore anyone listening or watching this to please get vaccinated today.

Monica, what gives you hope?

Well, right now, honestly, you know, I'm I'm doing a lot of door knocking

Mm-hmm.

and I'm hearing I'm hearing a lot of good things. I I I do get encouraged when I'm I'm at the doors. I'm hearing people that are tired of the Republican Party and and Republicans too. It's not just Democrats. There are independents, there are Republicans who are just tired of the administration at all levels. there are people who want to do something.

I'm I'm also seeing more and more people volunteering. You know, we have you know, Canvas launches every weekend. Each weekend now more and more people are showing up. People are asking, you know, what can I do?

Not everyone likes to knock on doors, but they can drive me around, right? So if they

Yeah.

drive me, I can get to the houses quicker. So there's I have a bunch of people whose their job is, you know, they just sit in the car and they drive me around and they they're

doing a a big help for my campaign. I I can actually knock on at least 10 more doors a day if somebody is driving me around and that adds up.

So it's all the people that have been supporting me that are giving me hope.

I mean, you give me hope, Monica. I mean, anyone who wakes up every day to try and make the Commonwealth a better place through democratic values gives me hope. And I I mean, I have no problem saying this maybe trite line over and over again. I hate when people say where are the leaders in the Democratic Party? I hate it. And you know, I'm talking to a leader right now. I'm talking to someone who's standing up and leading where you live in Pennsylvania. So I I know tons of leaders in the Democratic Party.

And I just want more people to feel empowered to be a leader because we are the ones who are gonna save ourselves. Okay. There's nobody coming in that's gonna wave a magic wand and fix everything that's being broken right now. Okay. We are the ones that have to care and stand up and and people like you are gonna lead the way.

Monica, my last question for you is

what are your plans to get you through the next few years here in America?

that's a that's a very deep question. So well, yes.

I know. It's heavy. It's heavy.

Well, I'm hoping I will be working in Harrisburg at that time. So I'm going to be, you know.

I hope so too, Monica. I hope so too.

so I'm looking forward to just the increased energy and enthusiasm from Democrats in my little corner of Bucks County.

Monica4pa.com. F O R the Yep. Right, right. Monica4pa.com.

That's FO F O R, not the number four. If you

if you live in Warwick, Northampton, Upper Southampton, or Wrightstown, get off your ass and go to Monica's website, sign up to door knock, or drive her around so that she can door knock, make a donation. Look, this is our time, Pennsylvania. We need the trifecta. We have to expand our state house majority, and Monica is a part of that puzzle. So, Monica, you're an amazing person.

I love your story. I love your work ethic. I love your trivia knowledge. And I love that you can spell people's names with periodic table of elements. You're gonna be an amazing state rep. And I wish I could vote for you, but I can't. I'm not in your district, but I'm gonna be cheering for you on the sidelines. I can't wait to contact you in November Thunder. Congratulations.

Thank you. I I'll be looking forward to that call.

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