Summary

In this episode of The Zekely Podcast, host Zeke engages with Senator Vincent Hughes, a long-serving member of the Pennsylvania State Senate. They discuss a range of topics including the importance of relationships, the challenges of modern politics, mental health advocacy, and legislative efforts in education and healthcare. Senator Hughes shares insights from his extensive experience in politics, highlights the significance of community engagement, and emphasizes the need for voter participation. The conversation also touches on local businesses and initiatives aimed at reducing violence in communities, showcasing the senator's commitment to improving the lives of Pennsylvanians.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Senator Vincent Hughes

03:12 Star of Stage and Screen

05:08 Reflections on Legislative Experience

09:20 Thinking of Hughes

11:03 Standing Up For Pennsylvanians

14:49 Something About Hughes

15:37 Political Engagement

20:58 Eagles Trivia

24:17 Breaking the Silence: Mental Health Advocacy

29:34 Small Business Spotlight

32:01 Decreasing Violence

36:02 Constitu-What?

39:32 Why Are You A Democrat?

40:37 What Gives You Hope?

45:20 Future Plans

Sid Bookers: https://sid-bookers-shrimp.foodjoyy.com/

Constituent Services: https://www.senatorhughes.com/services/

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

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

Hello, I'm Zeke and welcome to the Zekely Podcast. Let's talk Pennsylvania. The guest I have today has been a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate since 1994, representing parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County in the Seventh District. With over 38 collective years of legislative experience in Harrisburg, he is a sage in Pennsylvania politics and has made an undeniable impact on the Commonwealth. Thank you so much for being here, Senator Vincent Hughes.

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.

Dr. Zeke, my pleasure. Dr. Zeke, a sage. I am a sage. Whoa.

You are a sage, man.

Well, I have some questions for you, some games and trivia, we're gonna have some fun. Are ready? All right, so. Yes.

Okay, I'm ready. wait a I wanna be clear. You

really wanna talk to me. You didn't wanna talk to my wife, right? You really wanna talk to me.

I mean, well,

so speaking of your wife, this is a great way to start out the show. Your lovely wife, Sheryl Lee Ralph, she went viral recently describing your marriage.

So what do you have to say about being married to the illustrious and wonderful Sheryl Lee Ralph?

it's a blessing and what we've learned in life, if I'm ever giving out any advice, when you have a blessing, you take care of it.

You nurture it, all right? You protect it and you invest in it so that it'll grow. So if she does what she does in Los Angeles, I do what I do in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, it was always gonna be a commute, so it's just a little bit longer. Now that time, that time round trip flights to LA from Philly were $200. Can't find that

That's right.

Mm-hmm. Well, that's a...

Woo!

Well, you have a wonderful marriage. We love to watch it. And please keep the content coming, okay?

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm not gonna make this entire show about you and your wife, but I do have our first game about your wife, okay? It's called Star of Stage and Screen. I'm going to describe the movies or shows and you're gonna try and name them, okay? So we'll see what you get, all right? A group of dedicated, passionate teachers and a slightly tone-deaf principal find themselves thrown together in a Philadelphia public school. All right, I'm starting off easy for you, okay? All right.

Okay.

Okay, all right.

Abbott , elementary okay thank you

In this sequel, Las Vegas performer Dolores Van Cotier is surprised by a visit from her nun friends.

Sister Act, Sister Act 2 actually Sister Act but then it's Sister Act 2, yeah.

Sister Act Two,

you got it, you got it. After a professional shyster, Thomas Jefferson Johnson gets elected to political office using name recognition, he develops a conscience. You got it, you got it. Eddie Murphy, play that, play Johnson. Yep, there you go. Police Chief Xavier Quinn investigates a gruesome murder of one of the wealthiest residents on a Caribbean island. The mighty Quinn Denzel, the Denzel Washington. You're crushing this, all right.

Distinguished gentlemen, a name you know.

The mighty Quinn. Yes.

alright

The last one, on her wedding day, all that stands between a young woman and marital bliss is surviving the chaos and expectations of family and friends, each intensifying her spiraling pain.

Sounds like our wedding. Okay. Wait a minute. Wait, we'll say that one again?

Ha ha ha ha!

All right, on her wedding day, all that stands between a young woman and marital bliss is surviving the chaos and expectations of family and friends, each intensifying her spiraling panic.

Fabulous

Four, that's the most recent one.

The young wife. The young wife, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I didn't put the dates next to all of them, but you know, I mean, look, four out of five isn't bad, so that's great. You're welcome, you did a good job.

Okay. okay. That one. That one. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's okay. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

All right, so now we're gonna focus on you a little bit, okay? 31 years, Vince, you've been serving in the state senate in the seventh district. I mean, holy shit, man. That is a legacy that no one's gonna take away from you.

you.

Thank

you.

what has changed and what has stayed the same.

Wow. So what I've come to find out in the Senate that it's a smaller body of 50 so that it allows for more personal relationships. You can really get to know a colleague, especially because of the four year terms as opposed to a house member of two year terms. So.

You can really have time. You have time in four years not to worry about campaigning all the time. All right. But you have time to craft relationships and try and in those relationships to find common ground. All right. so so that is is in many respects the fundamentals about being in the Senate. The problem the problem is

become so, so hard, all right? Especially in this current time that we're in right now, which far right on steroids, okay? That in trying to navigate the path to get to the common ground is much, much harder, much, much harder.

And so that has kind of been obliterated in the last several months, all right? Actually since January 20th, okay? And so that's what's really hard and it's heartbreaking, okay? It's heartbreaking that when you fuel it with the amount of money that's involved in politics, it's heartbreaking in many respects, because I see so much that can be done.

that really unites people, but it's not getting done. And look, I'm not gonna be, this is not a partisan statement, it is a statement of reality. Those of us as Democrats are talking reasonable kinds of things, Healthcare for everybody, right? know, 21st century schools for every student in Pennsylvania, all right?

Those on the far right are trending in ways that are very ugly and not accepting of people for who they are and for programs and ideas that just kind of make sense.

Okay? So a lot of people have this conversation, Dr. Z, where both sides are so far apart, so rigid, far left, far right. I'm not buying that. There is a left, there's a progressive side, okay? But there's a right that's kind of going off the rails. And that makes it hard to find that common ground.

Right. Yeah.

It's

hard to find common ground when you're in an abusive relationship. It's like, why can't you just make it work? It's like, this is an abusive relationship. mean, what do want me to do? I mean, it's true. I don't know what people

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't mind if I write that down. think I'm gonna use that.

Well, I'm really happy that you're fighting the good fight. I know you're doing everything you can, so thank you very much.

Thank you.

All we're gonna play another trivia game, but this is about you, and it's called Thinking of Hughes, all right? A trivia game about famous Hughes, all right? So I'm gonna describe them and you're gonna try, because obviously you're related to every Hughes in history, right? All right, all right. So which Hughes was a billionaire business magnate, aviator, and film director known for his eccentric lifestyle? Howard Hughes, you are correct.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, that, yes, well, you know.

I think it's Howard. Uncle Howard, I wish, but not.

Which Hughes was a famous poet, novelist, and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance? That is correct, Langston Hughes. Which Hughes was the British poet laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998? All right, is it Ted Hughes, Harold Hughes, Phil Hughes, or John Hughes?

Langston. Yes.

I have no idea.

John Hughes, Ted Hughes, of course, cousin Teddy, I'm sorry.

Ted Hughes. Yeah, I know, of course, Ted Hughes, cousin Ted. Okay, here's

one you might know. Which Hughes was a US Supreme Court Chief Justice and also served as Secretary of the State?

Secretary Hughes, Justice Hughes.

Yes! You're crushing it, William

Charles Evans Hughes? Justice Hughes, I told you.

Bueller! Bueller!

Was it John? It was John Hughes. You got it, man. You crushed it. You did a good job on that one. You're

Is it John Hughes? Right. Right. Thank you very much.

welcome.

Well, there are a lot of people looking to Congress right now. I see it all the time to address what Trump and Republicans are doing. But I know that legislators like yourself have been doing a lot of things to protect people in Pennsylvania. So could you just explain some of those measures to the listeners and watchers to what you are doing?

So I talk about education a lot because it's fundamental. I think it's fundamental. right? No community can thrive, let alone survive, if it's not educated. So as you know, after a nine-year court battle, we won the lawsuit around discrimination in funding and education in Pennsylvania. And we've begun what is likely going to be a

hopefully no longer, then a seven-year march to fix that, which means extra money every year, extra money every year. That is important to me, okay? That is something that we're working on, supporting the governor, navigating the problems with all those who don't want to spend extra money, who saying that it's too expensive to fund schools equitably. I mean, you know, I mean...

Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Zeke, you know what it is, man. There

are school districts in Pennsylvania that are spending 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, $15,000 extra per child. And what's happening in those low wealth school districts like Philadelphia, but like a lot of rural school districts, all right? And we can never progress if we don't fix that, all right? So that's funded at, that's largely at state level. Now we have to push back.

Yeah.

to this conversation, this attack on public education is coming out of the Trump administration. Cut the Department of Education, US Department of Education, cut the funding and all of that. We gotta push back on that. So we're working on that. Second thing is this will be, this will again, write down your alley as a health professional. We want to put into law in Pennsylvania,

many of the basic tenets of the Affordable Care Act. The long, hard fight to get that done. We were part of the leadership team of legislators to get it fully implemented in Pennsylvania, working with Governor Wolf, I thank to this day for going hard at full implementation for Affordable Care Act, but making sure that pre-existing conditions are covered, even if they end them at the federal level.

That's right. Yeah, I did see that.

Mm-hmm.

we can make sure that they're taken care of at the state level. Making sure that if you're a child that you can stay on your parents policy up to 26 years of age, okay? The essential benefits package, all right? Making sure that everybody has these 10, 11, 12, 15 different essential benefits in their insurance package. We've introduced legislation like that in the Senate.

The House has passed much of that legislation, but as you know in Pennsylvania, it usually passes in the House to die in the Senate, okay? So we've introduced it in the Senate. We want to make sure that we fight that fight all the way home because whatever craziness they do down in Washington, we want to make sure that we protect it here in Pennsylvania. So those are two big areas. There's a lot more, but those are two big areas.

Yep, yep.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, I really am going to keep fighting to give you the Democratic majority in the state Senate so we can push all this legislation through and get it to Josh Shapiro's desk, whoever that governor might be.

Thank you.

Well, we're gonna try to get it done with Josh, okay?

Yeah, we're gonna try and get it done.

Now, what is something that people might not know about you? That a lot of people might not know about you?

What do you got? What do you got there?

Famous

favorite snack. No, no, Sea salt and pepper skinny pop.

Skinny pot. Skinny pot.

So that's the way to your heart.

That is one path, okay? That and coffee ice cream, okay? Yeah.

Okay. my wife

loves coffee ice You like double dunker? Double dunker ice cream? No? Just straight coffee. Okay. All right. So a bag of salt and pepper, skinny pop popcorn, and some straight coffee ice cream is the key to your heart. All right. I love that. I love that about you.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just straight up coffee ice cream. Okay? There you go.

There you go, you got me.

Well, there are elections happening in Pennsylvania this year, and I really hope that people aren't surprised about it. I'm gonna keep saying it over and over again. What would you tell people to motivate them to get engaged?

Well, if what happened on November 5th and since then has been happening can't motivate you to get engaged, then you're obviously not concerned about your community. The bad guy and the bad guys, all right? Very much a guy thing, okay? All right?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

won that election and you see what they're doing. All right. The hurtful thing is that was all predicted because of project 2025. All right. It was all there. And that's the hurtful thing about it. But hopefully people are getting educated about what by watching what is going on and they will step into their power.

was all there.

My fear is that people don't, my fear is that people think that they are powerless. When the truth of the matter is they are very powerful. All right? They have tremendous strength and all they got to do is step into it. All right? Get engaged. I mean, I saw it on president's day. We went to and had the good fortune to speak at the rally in front of Philadelphia city hall. think there were a thousand people there showed up just like that.

Okay? It showed people were very concerned about what it is that's going on. I want people to step into their power. All right? Because what's happening now does not represent the best of us. It represents the worst of us. Okay? If the cost of stuff was too high, well, guess what? It's going up. Okay? It's not going down. I...

Yes.

Dr. Zeke, there's a gas station not too far away from where I live on election day, November 5th. Price per gallon was 285. Right by that gas station now, it's 310. Didn't go down, it went up. You know, if healthcare is your thing, well, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I know. No, nothing, nothing went down.

You know, the threat now is reduction in Medicare. The threat now is reduction in Medicaid. Okay? And I will say this, you may know this, but I want you to have this. In rural Pennsylvania, rural hospitals are paid for largely by Medicaid. Okay? I'd say almost 95 % of their...

Yeah, yeah.

funding comes to Medicaid. You cut Medicaid, then you're cutting the funding that keeps these rural hospitals open, that provides healthcare to folks in rural Pennsylvania, that in fact is the economic driver for that rural community. That's the largest employer. That's the largest vendor purchasing of stuff. Okay? And so don't talk to me about cutting Medicaid.

Yeah.

Yeah.

which as you know, is especially if you're a senior citizen and you're going into, you know, supportive services and nursing homes and stuff like that, that's largely paid for by Medicaid. There's no alternative.

I know, and there's no plan. I

don't know if you remember during the first Trump presidency, which I hoped is gonna be the last Trump presidency, Mike Pence was going on this tour. might have been in Pennsylvania. There was an emergency room physician sitting in a cafe and up walks Mike Pence and they were talking about cutting Medicaid services and the ED physician was explaining exactly what you said. He said, you you're cutting Medicaid is gonna hurt my patients coming to the emergency room.

And Mike Pence was just like, well, you know, we just hope that more creative solutions will, know, the states will figure it out. There's nothing new. Like everything with this agenda that's coming out, you know, at the top in the Trump administration is the same thing they did last time. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. It never does.

Yep, yep.

Never does, never does. You know, it's like, how about, you know, the old gold, the golden rule, right? Doing to others as you would have them doing to you. Be kind to people, okay? Be helpful to people, all right? Don't be mean. You don't need to be mean. Be kind to people. Figure out a way to help people. That's, if you live your life...

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

In that perspective, if you govern in that perspective, try to create laws and budgeting and what have you from that perspective, things will go well. When you want to be mean for mean's sake. Come on.

Mm-hmm.

I

know. Well, I really hope that people are motivated to go out and vote this year. We have Supreme Court judges to retain. We have commissioners, sheriffs. I mean, you name it. So there's a lot on the ballot and I know people are going to be engaged this year. I just need to get out the vote.

And folks need to understand that every election matters. Every election matters. It's everyone, exactly.

every election is the most important election, 100%.

All right, so in honor of the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, let's do some Philadelphia's Eagle trivia, okay? Now I have to say I am the least sports following person ever. So, and I'm kind of embarrassed about it most of the time, but I didn't go to the parade. I had to work, you know, but you were there. Hey man, I'm a doctor. I gotta take care of the patients and I just, I couldn't do it. Well, you were there, I assume. Was it good? You weren't there?

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Did you go to the parade?

Nobody worked on

No, no,

was with my wife. The parade was Valentine's Day. And I have my priorities in order, okay?

Okay.

that's right.

Uh-huh. Gotcha.

Well, what'd do? What'd you do for Valentine's Day? None of my business. That's right. Keeping it fresh. I love it. All right. Well, we're going keep a kosher Eagles trivia game here, all right? So what was the first Super Bowl appearance for the Eagles? What's Super Bowl number? you remember? Do you know what it is?

That's none of your business. Okay. But that's, that's why we're celebrating 20 years this year, 20 years this year. Absolutely.

Alright.

I

Yeah.

15. 15. Yep, the

Eagles played the Oakland Raiders in Louisiana. Very good. What reason did former Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan give for cutting future Hall of Famer wide receiver Chris Carter? It's kind like a famous quote, I guess. Yeah. All he can do is score touchdowns.

Yep, yep.

I don't know.

That's literally what he said. He cut Carter out to the 1989 season and then Chris ended up second all time to Jerry Rice in career pass receptions at the time. Yeah.

Minnesota Vikings and

reunited with Randall Cunningham with the Minnesota Vikings. That's right, you're not aware Yeah, yeah.

If you say so, man, like I said, you could make everything up. And I just nod my head and say, you got it,

What year was the team founded?

1937? 33? Okay.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Stiegels! Stiegels!

Both teams had short rosters, so for the 1943 season, they merged and they were known as the Philpitt-Steagalls. You got it, man.

Phil Pinstiegles. And

I'll give you some trivia that you can hold. You know, they always talk about the Philly fans, Eagles fans are so rough and tumble that they throw, they threw snowballs at Santa Claus, okay? I was at that game as a kid. I'll never forget it. I was at that game as a kid. My pop took me and it's absolutely true. They threw snowballs at Santa Claus.

Okay.

That's memorable.

That's awesome. I mean,

at least no balls and not batteries like they do on baseball, right? I I at least know that. heard about my...

Right, that's true. That's true. That's true.

They actually, to make it little bit worse, they could have been like ice balls, because they had to break up the ice inside Franklin Field. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

That's rough. That's probably the last

time that guy played a mascot,

Yeah.

the historical origins of the issue and how your program has helped to reduce that stigma.

So what we did was we saw in those years, mental health, behavioral health, however you want to call it, it was very much a stigma to acknowledge it or even if you didn't publicly acknowledge it, to go seek help. Stigma in all communities, especially so in the African-American community. So what we wanted to do was to create a long-term effort.

that dealt just with breaking down that stigma. So we lifted up the voices of people who were suffering, gave them a platform to speak to their pain and talk about it, and then utilize that platform to connect them with resources. And fast forward so many years later, as you can see, Doc, there's...

People are willingly talking about mental health issues, okay? Even the roughest and tumblest of the athletes, okay? They're not afraid to discuss it. They're not afraid to talk about it. It's very much part of the public dialogue as you see as a health professional across the board. That started...

yeah, that's good.

Mm-hmm.

back in the mid 90s with us just doing a very, very simple thing, breaking the silence around mental health and behavioral health issues.

There's been some huge successes, huge wins where people got counseling and they found a way to counseling and they got it. And it just changed their life individually, changed their life in their relationships, changed their life with their families. So it's been, it's been one of the...

Mm-hmm.

more successful things that we've been able to do as we've done Breaking the Silence. And we're thinking about where to take it now in 2025. We have regular conversations with groups around how to deal with it in this environment that we're in right now, where the stress level is extremely high, where people are very scared, they're very afraid about what's gonna happen. While we're having this conversation, thousands of people have lost their jobs.

Okay? And you know, for many of us, you do your job because you love to do your work. Okay? I do my job because I love what it is that I do. All right? For many of folks who losing their jobs, many of them, it's not just about the paycheck. They love what they're doing. They love keeping the water system clean. They love protecting.

and defending against attacks on their personal, on our collective personal identification. All right. Action to systems. They love protecting that stuff. They love the healthcare, the research and stuff like that, that they're doing. And all of that, you know, it hurts when you get a notice, an email, you're out, you're done. Tomorrow, today is your last day. Don't show up tomorrow. Okay. That hurts psychologically.

Yeah.

yeah.

Okay? And we've got to make sure that we're helping people get through that as we try to fight back to change that. So.

Yeah, I think it's a very good thing that you went into that space. I have a therapist. I try to tell people all the time, mental health is just as important as physical. I mean, it's a part of your physical health, but people think about heart disease and lung disease and, you know, your lipid panels, but your mental health is super important. And I agree, we are living in very stressful times. So I implore everyone to have someone to talk to. And you can't.

I mean,

one of, so everybody talks about the long distance of my marriage with Cheryl and I, and they talk about, they've been together 20 years, it must be working, da da da, yeah. The most important thing that we did is when three months after we first met each other, we knew we had something special, okay?

Mm-hmm.

and remember I talked about blessings in the beginning and how you got to protect them and nurture them. We got counseling. We did free or relationship counseling, not to fix something that was wrong, but to invest in what we knew we felt. Okay. And if there's anything that I would recommend for relationships is that.

You gotta protect them. You gotta protect them.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay? And a lot of prayer too. A lot of prayer too. Yep. Yes. Yes. Yes. Sure.

Yeah, you have to invest in a relationship and having therapy is one of those things. So thank you for answering all those questions about that. That's

great.

So let's do some small business

Can you just choose a business in your district that you just want to some light on, know, show some love to?

This place called Sid Booker's, all right? Sid Booker's is on a corner of Broad in Bellefiel, in North Philadelphia, all right? They serve one thing,

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

fried shrimp. It's a cash business, no credit card, okay? You don't go inside.

Okay.

You stand on a corner, okay? And it's open to like two or three or four in the morning, okay? So when you were younger, Dr. Z, you finished partying at the club and you were hungry, you go up the broadened bell field to Sid Booker's and you get your dozen shrimp or a half dozen or two dozen extra hot sauce and you're good to go.

huh.

Okay.

Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Do they ever run out? they never run out? Never run out. Never run out.

Never, no, never, never. Shrimp is

the best. It's hot, it's succulent, it's great. I got my wife hooked on a Sid Booker. I would pick her up from the airplane. It's like midnight. I said, well, we're going home. No, we gotta go stop at Sid Booker's. Gotta stop at Sid's, gotta stop at Sid's. So we'd run up to Sid's. Couldn't get home.

Sib, I love it.

Uh-huh, and stop on by there. Uh-huh.

Mm-hmm.

All the shrimp were gone by the time we got home. Or if we got home, we had shrimp, she'd wanna break open a bottle of champagne. So it's two in the morning. All right, it's a weekend. It's a weekend, it's two in the morning, and we're having fried shrimp with extra hot sauce and champagne.

Uh-huh, uh-huh, and champagne.

Now, the tragic part of the story is we lost Sid a couple of weeks ago, had his funeral service. The place was packed with people because he was popular with everybody. that's, I wanna highlight Sid's. Highlight Sid's. Yeah, Broad and Belfield. Now you gotta be ready to stand on the corner, okay?

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Yes, I love it. That's a great story. Well, if I'm ever in your part of town, I'll check it out for sure.

And if it's cold, there's no heating lamps or nothing out there for you, okay? But in 10 minutes, 15 minutes, they'll serve you up.

You'll have it.

And I'll bring a bottle of champagne.

There you go. There you go.

You appropriated over $24 million in violence intervention and prevention of VIP grants for Philadelphia and Montgomery County, which is where I live. And you spoke in my house at the last fundraiser. had just about how

The violence that all you see in the media is not true. Violence has been decreasing in Philadelphia, Montgomery County over the years, largely due to money that you have appropriated to different programs in the area. So I just want you to talk a little bit about that, because I loved when you talked about it. So I just want you to talk about how that is influencing violence in our communities.

So we created, and thank you, Doc, we created a program called the VIP program, Violence Intervention and Prevention. It sits in the Pennsylvania Commission for Crime and Delinquency, PCCD, which I'm a board member of, all right? And we saw, and I'll use the immediate past to help explain it. We saw during COVID, 2020, 2021, we saw

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

a dramatic increase in violent crime. And we knew that there was a lot of work being done by the law enforcement community to improve their capacity, their resources, to get them exactly what it is that they needed to do their job. And we want them to do their job, to catch the knuckleheads, catch the perpetrators, all right?

But the other side of it is that if we intervene with folks, if we seeded the community that is filled with people who are doing wonderful work on a daily basis, breathing hope and life into neighborhood organizations, especially into young people, all right, that they'll see a different path. They'll choose a different path.

Mm-hmm.

And the state had never before invested in any significant way in these kind of neighborhood-based organizations, all right? Whether it be

baseball league or the football league or the STEM program or the music and arts program or summer job programs or things like that.

state never made a significant investment. So over the years, we've been able to put into about $300 million into these neighborhood based programs. And what we know is that as the investment started to happen, the crime started to go down. All right.

That's amazing.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm not going to say that it's the only reason that the crime is going down, but I know it is a major reason. Because as I said, when you breathe hope and life into communities, into people, and get them doing things that broaden their horizons and give them different perspectives, or touches their heart, or touches their mind and says, wow, I can do that.

When you do that, things change. No different than in your profession. Okay? You're the doctor, you're gonna do the medical thing. But if you're talking to that patient and say, look, it's gonna be okay. If we do this, we do that, you're gonna be better. And it happens.

Yeah. You've to give people hope.

Yeah,

yeah, yeah, but you have to have the money there and appropriate it appropriately. And we need people like you to say, hey, we need money here. It's important. It's going to help. And you've seen those outcomes. So thank you for doing that.

Right. Right.

All right, this is one of my favorite segments, okay? ConstituWhat? Where you tell us some constituent services that you offer as a state senator in your district.

It's not much we don't offer. We deal with obviously housing crisis, because that is a very big problem right now, access to housing, no matter where you may be, whether you're homeless, whether you're a teacher or a nurse or a doctor whatever your circumstance, housing is a crucial, crucial, very hard to deal with problem. So housing.

trying to help young people get into college, help them figure out their career path, working with youth and youth related organizations around giving young people alternatives, make sure they stay out of violent behavior, things like

So we deal with a little bit of everything and the whole idea is when you leave our office, whether physically or finish interacting with our office, to be in a better position than when you were, when you came in. Okay? Sometimes we can solve those big problems and sometimes we can put you in the right direction to the person or people to solve those problems.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

We've helped people with passport issues who are traveling in Europe and whatnot and they lose their passport or whatever. And we've been able to track the right services down.

That's

great. I think it's important for people to realize how many things can be done through your representatives. Because life is hard. It's complicated. And you have to know that there are people out there such as yourselves who have an entire staff. Just pick up the phone, get online, you have a lot of resources available.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And

that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to have people are busy, they're living their life, okay? New phrases coming up, life be life-ing, okay? All right, you know, it happens, okay? Life be life-ing and you're overwhelmed and consumed. And so you go to an elected official.

Yeah, it does. Yeah, it's complex.

who has developed the capacity through their staff especially to figure out how to connect the dots, okay? I'm in a jam right now. I'm trying to get this dealt with. It's, you know, I'm up against the clock. If I don't find this particular paperwork, I'm not gonna get this job. All kinds of stuff. And our job is to figure out how to determine the validity of the person.

Right. Yep. Yep.

Right? Okay. You have that in your profession, right?

To determine the validity of the issue, okay? And then get right to the right person or entity that can help solve that problem. All right? And that's what we're trained to do. And that's what we try to do. So.

Right?

Mm-hmm.

love it. I love

it. I'll make sure to post the link for your constituent services page so if they live in your district they can go check it out.

Sure, sure, thank you.

Why are you a Democrat? And why do you represent the Democratic Party?

Wow, I'm a Democrat because it's about the people. It's about bringing different people together from different perspectives and seeing folks as the human beings that they really are. And respecting that humanity and investing in that humanity. That's why I'm a Democrat. That's why I made this choice.

Mm-hmm.

And that's why I'm always going to fight for that. And I know that when we stray away from that is when we don't do well. If we return to that, all right, and invest in that and believe in one another again and respect one another's reality, the good and the bad, all right, then we'll be successful politically and get good things done from a policy perspective.

Mm-hmm.

Well, thank you for upholding democratic values. I appreciate it.

what gives you hope

It was a Sunday.

It was a Sunday. My wife and I.

Her mother.

Two other friends, we just left church in Los Angeles.

Young man walks up to me while we're eating. Says, Senator. I yo, what's up? know, I'm trying to be nice to everybody. We're in Los Angeles, 3,000 miles away. 2,489 to be specific, airport to airport, all right?

I got, yeah. Yes, yes, yes,

yes.

Senator, I want you to know something.

I met you.

10 years ago.

Mm-hmm.

and you and I talked on the front steps of your old office. And you asked me, what you gonna do with your life? And I said, well, I'm probably gonna get a job at the local supermarket. I said, no, you're not. You're going to college. All right, you're smart and you're gonna go to college.

And he said, from that moment on, I went to college. I graduated. I'm now out here in Los Angeles. I own a couple properties, which I rent out.

Got a whole life out here. And it's because you said that you're not gonna work in the supermarket. You're gonna go to college. And he went. And I mean, you know me, I'm beaming, okay? I'm like, wow.

Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. And.

It reminds me, Morehouse College, the famous university in Georgia that focuses on young black men. Benjamin Elijah Mays, the great president of Morehouse, once had a statement. And it basically says, crime in life is having low aim.

Mm-hmm.

Okay? Not be an aspirational and reach for the stars. You know, just settling for... And... I always want to push folks to do more, to reach big, to have high aim. That motivates me. That gives me hope. Because you never know where it's going to come from, Dr. Z.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

That gives you hope. Yeah, that gives you a human. Right.

You never know where it's gonna land, okay?

know. You

plant those seeds not knowing how they're going to grow later on in life. You just have to hope. That's great.

Well my last question, what plans do you have to get yourself through these next few years? Because you know aside from being an amazing senator and spending time with your lovely wife, know, how are you going to take care of yourself with all the stuff going on around you?

Take care myself personally, professionally. Well, professionally, we've got to keep, we got, the resistance must resist. Okay. All right. We have to do it from a knowledge perspective. We can't just be emotional. Okay. Although everything that this guy's doing drives your emotional quotient, like over the roof. All right. So if you're on blood pressure medicine, take your blood pressure medicine. All right. Cause it ain't going down. No time to move. All right.

Anything. All of it.

Yeah, right, right.

get your exercise and get some sleep, all right? So the resistance must resist, we must make sure that we're providing factual information into the conversation, okay? So when they talk about closing the US Department of Education,

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Oh, that's terrible, it's terrible. Yes, it's terrible. But why is it terrible? Well, Pennsylvania receives $4.5 billion every year through the US Department of Education. That's why we can't close US Department of Education, because that money is necessary to help educate our children. So it has to be fact-based conversation, all right? Personally, just watching the kids grow and bloom.

watching my wife get all the accolades that she deserves, all of them. The 40 year overnight sensation, Dr. Z. 40 year overnight sensation. She says it all the time, all right? Watching her, I'm supposed to be planning a 20th wedding anniversary. She let put it on me to plan it.

Mm-hmm.

I love it. I love it, yes.

Mm-hmm.

You'll do a great job. I have no doubt.

I'm gonna hand it over to her, and she's gonna do it. If you know Sheryl Lee

Ralph, you know, all right, that's fine sweetheart, that's good. I'm gonna put the finishing touches on it, all right? Our wedding was viewed on Entertainment Tonight. This is her work. When we got married, Entertainment Tonight covered our wedding 13 times. 13 episodes. It's not my doing, it's her doing. 13 times, okay.

huh. Got it.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Wow. Wow. 13.

That's impressive.

What's the date of your anniversary?

July 30th. July 30th. Hopefully we'll be done in Harrisburg. Hopefully we've accomplished some great things here in Harrisburg, important things in

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

I those are great plans. Well, Senator Hughes, I really appreciate you coming on. You're an amazing legislator and I really appreciate everything that you do in Harrisburg to protect all of Pennsylvanians. I really do.

Yeah.

Well,

Dr. Zeke, thank you. That's my new name for you, okay? Dr. Zeke, thank you. I pay attention to you. I see when others wanna give up, you choose not to, okay? In fact, when others wanna give up, you double down, all right? I see you walking, I see you talking, I see you interviewing, I see you doing it all. And I'm like,

I like it.

Yeah, we can't give up.

That's my man, Dr. Z.

Amen.

I mean, look, Tim Walz is not the VP, but he wasn't wrong. We sleep when we're dead. There's too many, too many people are counting on us. So I mean this from the bottom of my heart, Senator Hughes, may you go from strength to strength. All right. Well,

That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Thank you, Dr. Z. Thank you very much.

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.