Summary

In this episode of The Zekely Podcast, host Zeke interviews Caleb McCoy, a Democrat who running in a special election this coming Tuesday the 17th to flip a Pennsylvania State House seat Blue. McCoy shares his inspiring journey from growing up in Altoona, Pennsylvania, to serving in the Army National Guard, and his motivations for running for state representative. He discusses his policy priorities, and the importance of community and healthcare reform in shaping a better Pennsylvania.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Caleb McCoy

01:02 Family & Loss

03:18 Why Democrat?

04:57 Service

07:22 Nursing

10:14 Legalize It

12:32 Alex Pretti

14:32 Which Specialty?

16:14 Hope

17:46 Help

Caleb McCoy: www.therealmccoyforpa.com

Full Video Episode Available On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheZekelyPodcast

Short Clips Can Be Found On TikTok: @drzeketayler/@thezekelypodcast and Instagram: @thezekelypodcast

www.thezekelypodcast.com

Hello, Pennsylvania. This is Zeke from the Zekely Podcast. And what you're experiencing right now is a special election spotlight. Okay. I have Caleb McCoy here with me and there is a special election coming up this Tuesday, March 17th. And it's an opportunity to grow our Democratic majority in the state house. He's running an HD 79, which is in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and it's a 20 + Trump area.

But I'm hoping we can make some of our own luck on Tuesday and flip the seat blue. So Caleb, thanks for being here.

Hey, it's good to be here. How are you doing?

I'm great. Thanks. You see what I did there about making your own luck at St. Patty's Day on Tuesday. Did you pick up on that?

Dude, we've been leaning into it man. You know you can't you can't have a you can't have an election on Saint Patrick's Day as a McCoy and not be like yeah man, we're doing it. Put the shamrocks up, get the get the pot of gold ready. We're doing it.

I really want to do it with you. I'm so excited that you're running. Look, I know you've been knocking doors a ton. So I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me so I can promote your race.

So Caleb, you grew up in Altoona as the oldest of seven children. That's a lot. I have three kids. ⁓ That is a lot of kids. You must have never been bored, I assume.

Yeah.

No, definitely not a house where you were allowed to be bored. We kept busy

where I was like, ah, so close to being out of diapers. Just looking forward to the youngest ones being done with that phase. And yeah, really did feel like I had a hand in kind of helping.

them form who they were. And it was very cool. I really loved it. And to this day, you know, all of us are still living in the area. some of us skipped out in big ways. Some of us left in small ways, but everybody came back and yeah, it's been, it's been really cool to this day. We're all really close. I've been calling around, ⁓ you know, over the last couple of days harassing them for, know, trying to recruit them to go do poll greeting and stuff. you know,

Man, it's incredible. I love my family.

Yeah, that's great. It's great you have that support system. ⁓ But unfortunately, I read that your mother passed away from cancer while you were in high school. And may I say, may her memory be a blessing.

How did that affect your life in terms of your worldview?

Yeah.

It shaped a lot of like how I saw myself and how I viewed my siblings and how I viewed the world, not really in like a direct.

way in the moment, but in a way that played itself out over the next years and decade, you know, and still to this day, I find myself thinking about things a little differently because of.

coming from such a large family, and I'm sure your mother was so involved in all of your lives, that you carry a large part of her with you to this

And I wish she could be here to see you win the seat, but I'm sure that she would be extremely proud of you for your values and your ideals and the kind of person that you've become.

Yeah, I really do think that I've maintained a lot of the things that I value and hold dear and use as guiding principles for myself are things that I learned directly from her and from the systems of belief that we grew up

I'm really happy that you carry on her memory by doing all the things you do today.

Caleb, why are you a Democrat and why do you choose to represent the Democratic

I am a Democrat because when I look around, that is the party that is most in line with the vision that I would like to see.

I want to help the working class. I want to make life demonstrably, materially better for working people in this

I don't think there's a way to do that outside of the two major political parties. And so I feel like I am happy to work with the folks that I'm meeting and like, it's been so exciting kind of going from the federal perspective to a statewide perspective where I feel like my values are much more in line with the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania than maybe the Democratic Party of America.

And I look around and I see the initiatives that they're pursuing and I get to talk to the representatives for the different areas and what they are trying to do. And I feel like this is something I'm like, this is okay. This is definitely the right place for me to be.

And I am excited at some of the ways I think that we at the state level could be doing.

things like pushing back against some of the monopolization of our healthcare system,

We could definitely be making sure that like we increase the minimum wage, we expand access to childcare, we make sure we get paid parental leave,

There's so many little ways that we can set things right here in a way that can help people live better lives. And I get really excited.

Yeah, 100%. And you realize you can do that through the Democratic Party. So as much angst as you have with Congress right now,

yeah.

you can do in Pennsylvania as a Democrat. And I'm very grateful.

you joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard after high school and served for five years. What inspired you to serve your state and country in that way at such a young age?

I, I found myself, there were a couple of things about that. One, my dad was in the army.

And then later he was in the Army Reserve and he, know, growing up that was something I saw a lot. He was a very disciplined person.

was an incredibly good father when I was a young man. And I feel like I really had a strong desire to emulate some of the things about him that it seemed like he had developed in the military.

but I did have a very intense sense of patriotism.

And like, still, I

feel that intense feeling of devotion to like wanting to serve this country. And that, that was again, like you look around and you're like, how do I, you know, how do I be part of like serving? like, that is literally, it's called the service. And so like, it seemed like a natural fit to like so much of what I wanted to do right at that time.

I mean, look, first of all, thank you for your service. I mean, that's an amazing thing that you did for our country and for the state of Pennsylvania. And it also makes sense to me that you would gravitate towards the Democratic Party because the Democratic Party looks out for veterans the most. mean, even especially in Pennsylvania, there are a lot of bills that they are trying to pass to help vets when it comes to tax breaks and, you know, purchasing houses and just surviving.

It is so strange to me that there is like a conservative view that they have like a claim on what patriotism is

They do a terrible job of taking care of veterans at every opportunity they get. It is really gross how often we see the Republican Party absolutely turn its backs.

on veterans over and over and over again.

And you mentioned earlier, I'm the oldest of seven. Well, all seven of us joined the

in one aspect or another. Yeah, mean, like veterans affairs means a lot to me. It's my entire family. The idea that like, have to listen to people talk about like,

Wow.

Yeah!

We're the real patriots and then they absolutely dismantle things that help veterans is so mind bogglingly gross and stupid to me. It's so infuriating.

Yeah, it's disgusting. That's why we need to go to

It is.

and help veterans in Pennsylvania.

Caleb, you are a registered nurse and you have worked as a traveling nurse all over the tri-state area. So how will you use your medical background to help deliver for Pennsylvanians in Harrisburg?

after I had graduated from nursing school, the first job I had was doing home care and I worked out of Dubois

we covered nine rural counties and I drove

all over the place and I got to see lots of people with lots of conditions. You know, the majority of our cases were actually like long-term care

And it was amazing to me. I learned so much about what a difference it makes for people.

whether or not they have the ability to kind of throw money into the situation. It was really sometimes quite upsetting to go and work with people who were absolutely wonderful people, you know, but it's really hard for them to get their wound care done because they close off four of the big rooms in their house during the winter.

and they just live in this part of the house when it's this cold so that they can run their heaters and stay warm. And unfortunately in this room, don't have a bed. This person sleeps on the couch, so the wound care stuff is very difficult. It's dramatic how different the outcomes can be.

even with the best of intention and good people and intelligent resourceful people, without money, sometimes you're just not going to have good outcomes. And that is a really upsetting

to

it really, like at that point, I found myself believing more and more in the idea of having universal healthcare, healthcare as a human

healthcare is something that we all need.

and realizing that there is such a huge difference between having the freedom to do something and having the ability to do something is actually like dramatic and important.

Well, it sounds like while you were doing this work, you developed a lot of empathy for people who were suffering and who weren't having an equal spot at the table when it comes to healthcare. It sounds like you learned a lot of good managerial skills and working with different levels of administration. And we need all of that in Harrisburg. And we need, first of all, more medical providers in the Harrisburg state legislature. We need that. We have a doctor, we have a couple of nurses, but we need more because we need your perspective.

Yeah.

and we have bills we need to move through the legislature to give more health care to Pennsylvanians safely, efficiently, and it sounds like your skill set would be invaluable. So I'm glad you had those experiences in life and now it's time to bring in the Harrisburg and put them to work for millions of Pennsylvanians.

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.

Caleb, your Republican opponent has made it a point to say that she will fight against Josh Shapiro's initiative to legalize marijuana in Pennsylvania. Would you be anti-legalizing marijuana if you were elected as a state representative?

I can't imagine a more pointless public policy. What a disaster that has been for America for so long. No, adult use recreational marijuana needs to be legal. It needs to be well regulated. We need to move towards a system where we have good, well-paying union jobs, where they sell us the products that we are already buying and that we are already using.

And that's without ever even mentioning the amount of damage that the trade has caused for people because of its criminalization and like the strain it is putting on our prison

like we just don't.

need this to be one more thing that people are getting tripped up on and losing years of their lives and harming their families and all that kind of

Yeah, and also we're leaving billions of dollars on the table that New Jersey is reaping benefits from. And New York State and Colorado and California, I mean, it's a billion dollar industry that's not gonna go away. And Republican politicians are constantly just wrapping their hands saying, Pennsylvania is losing money, how can we make more money? Well, decriminalize and legalize marijuana like a lot of other states and let's make the money. I mean, come on people, this is a no brainer.

Yeah, and I can't really figure out if it's actually moralistic panic, if it's actually like vote driving, using the screed of, think of the children, like hand-wringing BS, or if there is like just ⁓ an intentional conscious decision that they like the idea that there is something else that is criminalized.

I cannot imagine that this is a winning issue for Republicans. I don't get why they do it.

I don't know. I mean, you brought up the moral issue, but honestly, there's no moral high ground that Republican politicians live on anymore. I mean, if they have any morality, it's in the basement and they keep using the jackhammer to find

I don't think it's a moral issue. I just think it's ridiculous. And we need more people like you serving so we can push this through, get it to Governor Joshua Shaprio's desk and move onward already.

Caleb Alex Preti was murdered by ICE in Minnesota and he spent his life working to help people as a nurse. Did Alex Preti's murder influence your desire to run for

I I actually think if I remember correctly I had been nominated the night before

and I had an interview with the local paper

And I specifically brought up ICE and how upsetting I find them and how disgusting I think that whole thing is. And the very next day, that was when that happened. And I

that it may not

affected my decision to run, but it

demonstration to me

there really is no realm that the current administration will not stoop to. The current administration is entirely fascist. The idea that you would watch a man be disarmed and then shot to death on the street and then call him a

they are lying directly to us intentionally with no plan whatsoever except to momentarily use their lies to develop their power and then shift.

in whatever way they need to next to further their own

you know, I agree with you. And I think that even though you're going to be at the state level, there are things that Governor Josh Shapiro and the legislature can do to curtail this kind of behavior.

can't do that unless we have good people who are elected. So I'm glad that you would not be a pro-ICE state legislator. And there are a lot of Republican politicians who are fully supportive of the Trump administration, what they're doing with ICE, supporting

local law enforcement to work with them and and that is not something that you would bring to Harrisburg and I am extremely appreciative of that.

at my own local level, I will also

office to advocate and push for any way that we can ⁓ not to allow for our local offices to be used at their discretion also.

Thank you very much for

All right, Caleb, we have to play one

So I want you to pull from your experience as a nurse and give me a response to the following questions, okay? The game is called Which Specialty,

so which type of doctor has the biggest posse?

Yeah, cardiology.

Cardiology has the biggest policy? Interesting, interesting.

Yeah,

their offices are staffed the best. I think they just seem the most people. I think that like just the most people need a cardiologist. It seems like I always, if I'm calling a cardiologist's office, I don't know one nurse there, I know three or four.

More enough, I work in a cardiothoracic ICU, so I see cardiologists all the time and they do have a pretty deep deck. So yeah, I'll get on board with that. Which type of doctor brings in the best food for the nurses?

That is actually a trick question. It's always the nurse practitioners.

Been beat out.

that

I do contribute to the holiday parties. So I'll at say that. And I do bring in donuts sometimes, but man, okay, fine. Fair enough. I'll let you take the dig on that one. No

All right. Here's the last one. Which type of doctor tells the best jokes?

neurology.

They have got, my God, they've got the funniest stories and they've got quick one-liners, at least the few that I've known. The neurologists are great with that. Sorry, brother. I was hoping I would have a good one for anesthesiology.

Honestly, yeah, I feel like I need to do better.

I couldn't get in any of those, but you know clearly I didn't structure this game well enough. I'll have to remember that for next time.

Well, the other thing is you're talking to a nurse who has mostly worked in home care and long-term care. So how often have I ever even worked with an anesthesiologist? Only during my clinicals.

All right. You know what,

Caleb, all is forgiven. All is forgiven.

Hahaha

take a lot of hope in like a growing solidarity amongst working class people.

And I look around now and I see that broadly happening in America. I also see it happening on the small scale. I see it even in the conversations I have with my family. I think that that is something I have a lot of hope in, that we as working class people

can stand side by side, arm in arm and say, no, no, no, no. We are going to demand that we are given the opportunity to live good lives,

to have a fair living,

and to retire with dignity. And I think that those are things that are very achievable with enough solidarity amongst enough people. And I really do have

That's great. That's a great message. I mean, you give me hope because you are a Democrat and you are running for office. Now, it's a definite flex for me. For those who can't see this, he is flexing right now. People are always saying, you know, where are the leaders? Where are the leaders of the Democratic Party? I'm talking to one right now. I'm looking at one. You are a Democrat. You are a leader. You're trying to run for office and do good things for the millions of Pennsylvanians, whether they're Democrat, Republican, Libertarian.

unaffiliated, you will work for all of them. And your values and ideals are important to me. And I'm just so excited. And by the way, I love your website name, TheRealMcCoy, for, know, for PA.com. Everyone needs to go there.

Hahaha

What can people do to help your campaign that is rapidly coming to an end this Tuesday?

Yeah, well, you know, we're coming down to it. we're in the last, we're in the big get out the vote phase. We've been knocking on doors like crazy. We've

amazing volunteer networks of people sending postcards to folks in our community, phone banking with folks in our community. It has been like the support we've gotten just has been

On Monday, have one more big phone banking. And

Pete Buttigieg. I guess I've become one of these people now that names drops people. ⁓ But he's gonna be actually leading the phone bank on Monday. ⁓ So like that's, yeah.

Wow, well how can people sign up? Can

they go to your website, therealmccoyforpa.com to sign up?

They absolutely can go to my website, therealmccoyforpa.com. They can go under the get involved tab and they can join up for that phone

you know, if you want to donate financially, we also have that as is on the real McCoy for PA.com. that money will be turned directly into, ⁓ you know, advertisements that will be running again in November, making sure that we get out the vote, making sure we get things in people's mailboxes and, ⁓

Yeah, I'm really excited about what I think we can do.

And now it's our turn, Pennsylvania, to do something about it. If you live in Altoona, this is your district. This is your state rep that you could have after this election on Tuesday and going into November again. But it only works if you're engaged. Every election is the most important election. And I don't ever want to hear someone say that their vote doesn't count. In Florida, in Florida,

for the first time in over 30 years, a Democratic mayor won by one vote in Boca

You could be that vote that you cast this Tuesday to send Caleb McCoy to Harrisburg. So now, and if you don't live in Altoona, you can go to his website, sign up in phonebank and let's get the vibes going. Let's be the cheerleaders on the sidelines, getting you through the finish line.

because we need more Democrats in the state house. We have to expand our majority and get the good shit done, the good shit in Harrisburg that cannot get done in Congress. again, thank you for coming on in such short notice. Thank you for helping me with

You

special election spotlight. And I can't vote for you, but I'm gonna be rooting for you all the way through Tuesday.

Hey, that's incredible man. And thank you for having me on. This is a lot of fun. I like your vibe, man. I'm looking forward. We'll have to have another sit down after this is all done. And hopefully you'll be talking to a state rep.

Absolutely. I can't wait to call you Representative McCoy.

Well, thank you so much 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.