00:00 - This program has been paid

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00:05 - Welcome to PMA perspective, your weekly half hour news

00:08 - program on Pennsylvania business, government, and politics.

00:11 - I'm your host, David Taylor, president

00:13 - and CEO of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association.

00:16 - Later on on this week's program, we'll have a recap of the 2025 election

00:20 - results with Charles McElwee, founding editor of Real Clear, Pennsylvania.

00:25 - But first, we'll take you to Danville to see how Geisinger is using modern

00:29 - manufacturing and design to streamline construction of their new medical tower.

00:34 - PMA perspective starts now.

00:38 - You're watching PMA perspective,

00:40 - a statewide source for business, government, and policy

00:43 - news.

00:54 - Newsmaker interviews with your host, David and Taylor,

00:57 - and reports from the field with PMA Carl Moreira and Joy Johnson.

01:03 - Now for a

01:04 - special episode of PMA perspective.

01:07 - Well, Alex Zimmerman, the chief administrative officer for Geisinger

01:11 - Central Region, your homeland.

01:13 - Thanks so much for having us here today for PMA perspective.

01:17 - Thank you for the opportunity. Looking forward to the conversation.

01:19 - It's a really exciting time in the life of the institution.

01:23 - Certainly.

01:23 - You know, Geisinger is a mainstay in this part of the world.

01:26 - Just to give the viewers a sense of perspective,

01:30 - you know what Geisinger footprint looks like in this part of Pennsylvania?

01:33 - Geisinger was established in 1915 by our founder, Abigail Geisinger.

01:38 - She built a hospital in honor of her late husband, George F.

01:42 - Geisinger Memorial Hospital was opened a few days earlier than expected in 1915,

01:47 - and has been caring for the members of Danville and all of the surrounding

01:51 - communities for the last 110 years.

01:54 - Geographically, we have a number of other hospitals

01:56 - here in the region as well, ranging into Geisinger

01:59 - Shamokin Area Community Hospital as well as Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital.

02:04 - Among those three facilities were caring for the broader

02:07 - geography surrounding each one of those communities.

02:10 - Certainly, that that Geisinger has,

02:15 - you know, leveled up, over over time that that the capacity

02:21 - has continued to improve to the point where this is a tier one trauma hospital.

02:25 - Yeah.

02:26 - We have, a number of services that others may expect

02:30 - to travel to more urban areas for.

02:32 - We're a level one trauma center here at Geisinger with a very sophisticated

02:36 - LifeFlight service, traveling folks in to us from, rural communities.

02:42 - We are a comprehensive stroke center again.

02:45 - There's only a small number of those across the country.

02:48 - And we were also the first comprehensive heart attack

02:51 - center in the United States here at Geisinger Medical Center.

02:54 - So a lot of pride in the level of services and level

02:58 - of sophistication we can bring to our, local communities and neighbors.

03:02 - It's obvious that that part of that dynamic,

03:04 - part of that experience is the process of continuous improvement.

03:08 - And that's where, you know, we find Geisinger now

03:11 - with this, this modernization, effort.

03:14 - Can you just talk about what, what that is going to be like?

03:18 - Yeah, absolutely.

03:19 - And, I think a day in the life here on our campus,

03:22 - we do face some challenges in terms of our capacity.

03:26 - It's routine for us on the daily to

03:29 - be at or near 100% capacity.

03:32 - Oh, wow.

03:33 - So, we're constantly trying to figure out ways to improve

03:36 - and make the experience and the flow of our facilities better.

03:40 - One of the pieces that is driving or modernization

03:44 - project is really looking to create a better environment,

03:48 - not only for our patients, but also for our caregivers.

03:52 - We're looking at, an expansion that is going to modernize

03:55 - our facilities, to care for our aging population.

03:59 - And also allow for some more comfort.

04:01 - We've been very focused on private rooms, which will obviously be more comfortable

04:07 - and a more conducive space for healing for our patients,

04:09 - but also allow for much better movement of patients,

04:12 - hopefully reducing wait times in our emergency rooms.

04:15 - That's fantastic.

04:16 - So I'm fascinated here.

04:17 - So tell the viewers about the space that they find us in here.

04:20 - So the space that we're in today is actually a mock up space.

04:24 - That was really brought forward,

04:27 - roughly about a year ago when we were in the planning stages.

04:30 - When you're doing a project as large as our modernization,

04:34 - folks really don't always get a chance to,

04:37 - to necessarily feel what the environment's going to look like.

04:41 - So we, found a space that was on occupied in one of our buildings,

04:45 - and we built a mock up space that has really two scale sized rooms.

04:51 - So inpatient rooms, different facilities, trauma bays and things of the like.

04:56 - I think the most impressive part about this other than having a look into

05:00 - the future, has really been the engagement of our staff

05:03 - and some of our community resource groups to get in here, provide us with feedback,

05:08 - and help us to make corrections on things that could potentially become problematic

05:12 - or less than ideal.

05:14 - When we opened the building in 2029, that's fantastic.

05:17 - And it enables you to, to optimize everything and have

05:23 - everybody look at it, crawl over it, torture test it a little bit

05:27 - that, because, again, as you said, when you're building this out, you'll be

05:31 - replicating this on a grand scale.

05:32 - How large will the project be?

05:34 - How many rooms will it have?

05:35 - When it's when it's finished?

05:37 - So in its entirety, big picture, this is going to be an 11 story

05:41 - building that somewhere north of 400,000ft², we will have a number

05:45 - of inpatient units, including medical, surgical, intensive care units.

05:49 - We're going to be doubling the number of rooms in our emergency department.

05:53 - And we'll also be including some, new and more modern

05:57 - operating rooms in the facility.

05:59 - So it's really going to, touch every aspect of the care we're delivering.

06:05 - And it's going to give us that flexibility.

06:07 - And I really want to double down on the private rooms.

06:09 - All of our adult medical surgical rooms will be private once

06:13 - this project is complete, which should improve the environment

06:16 - at which care is being delivered by our clinicians, students, nurses

06:22 - and the like, and also will be felt by the patients on day one to wonderful.

06:26 - So, so with the scale of a project this this big, can you describe,

06:31 - you know, what this is going to do for the local economy?

06:34 - I imagine that this is, an enormous number of, you know,

06:38 - construction jobs, skilled trades, jobs, and certainly, you know, a lot of work

06:42 - for the suppliers of the materials that will go into this 11 story tower.

06:48 - Yes, the number of jobs and the economic impact of this project is really great.

06:52 - We're expecting that the construction jobs alone will be somewhere

06:56 - north of 4500 jobs and an additional 300 or so jobs in other sectors.

07:03 - We did have an economic impacts study commissioned

07:07 - that showed the new tower, once fully operational,

07:10 - will generate $28.4 million more per year

07:15 - in economic impact than the hospital's current impact. Wow.

07:19 - This money will go back into the region, state

07:22 - and federally as part of direct and indirect impact.

07:26 - In addition to that, we expect that annual operations

07:29 - of the campus after completion of the project will generate nearly $102

07:34 - million in local, state and federal tax revenue,

07:38 - with more than $2 million staying in the region annually.

07:42 - That's just amazing.

07:44 - And especially again for the viewers who might not be familiar with,

07:48 - you know, this part of the Commonwealth, these are small towns and rural counties,

07:52 - and that kind of a huge economic impact is going to be,

07:55 - a real shot in the arm to this whole region.

07:58 - That's wonderful. Thank you.

07:59 - Yeah.

08:00 - Geisinger has been a part of the community again for over 110 years.

08:04 - It's a significant employer and deliver of health care.

08:07 - So we're excited to continue Abigail's legacy

08:11 - for 100 another 110 years, and beyond.

08:14 - That's fantastic.

08:15 - Thank you so much.

08:16 - Alex Zimmerman, the CEO of Geisinger Central Region.

08:19 - Thanks so much for being on the program. Thanks for the opportunity.

08:24 - Ron Lesher, you are

08:25 - the AVP here at Geisinger overseeing the project.

08:28 - It's wonderful to be with you. Thank you so much.

08:30 - Thank you. It's an honor to be here.

08:32 - Well, you must be tremendously excited about what's going on here.

08:36 - I'm really excited.

08:37 - We've been working on this for many years now, and to see something coming in

08:40 - out of the ground to get to this point has been quite the adventure.

08:43 - That's fantastic.

08:44 - Tell us about, you know, the scale of the project, but also the work

08:48 - that's been done leading up to, you know, commencing with the final build.

08:53 - This project is is quite the project.

08:55 - It's ironic.

08:57 - We actually have two projects like this going on at the same time.

08:59 - Oh, really?

09:00 - Now? So, actually, a GWB is another $880 million project.

09:06 - This is an $880 million project for both of our markets.

09:09 - A very similar design and build.

09:12 - This project in itself is is quite an anomaly.

09:15 - So we started here.

09:16 - We really believe in working with clinicians

09:20 - and working with their staff and working with the public

09:22 - to try to get the best building we can get to service them over many years to come.

09:27 - Since we've been here since 1915,

09:30 - many,

09:31 - many different renditions of how health care is provided

09:34 - and how health care is provided in buildings. Right?

09:36 - So we've noticed that, you know, our infrastructure is getting a little old.

09:40 - We got to do things like modernize beds,

09:43 - modernize oers, bring those things up to today's standards.

09:47 - I just love the way that, that you have war

09:51 - gamed out everything by having all of the stakeholders

09:55 - involved, seeing the models and then having people work with them,

09:59 - testing them out and finding, you know, all the different ways

10:04 - that they can be subtly, even profoundly improved.

10:08 - And to have all of that information have the designs amended to incorporate

10:13 - all of that knowledge and all that practical, you know, hands on use

10:17 - and to have that ready and all of it will be incorporated

10:21 - in the build so that the final project is fully optimized.

10:25 - I think that's very exciting.

10:27 - One of the real neat things about that is we actually started that process

10:30 - in the beginning.

10:31 - Everybody only sees this.

10:33 - Yeah, but it actually started out as a verbal representation of the project.

10:37 - We start these things off by articulating the needs onto a piece of paper.

10:42 - Okay.

10:43 - So really a word document is how this all started.

10:46 - All right.

10:46 - And we got with many people and quantified what their idea of the perfect state is.

10:51 - Yeah.

10:52 - And then you build from the idea of the perfect state

10:55 - all the way to what you see here today.

10:58 - And wargame all the way through it to find many, many opportunities

11:02 - to make it better.

11:03 - Probably the first one that really was engaging for the clinical team was

11:07 - we had a gaming session, okay, so we cut all of these little blocks out

11:11 - and we showed them square footprint of what their EAD was going to look like.

11:14 - And I said, okay, if you had to build this in here, take these pieces

11:19 - and show us what you would do.

11:20 - So they started placing things that were based on their workflows.

11:24 - And then you built the physical property or the physical building

11:29 - out of the workflows that they need to help service the patients.

11:32 - So it started there and it just progressed into the model

11:36 - we have here today of an actual built out facility

11:40 - that we were able to test to find items that we have to change,

11:44 - and we had over 260 or 70 unique

11:47 - items that we changed because of this mockup.

11:50 - That's amazing.

11:51 - It speaks really, really well of Geisinger commitment

11:54 - to excellence of care that, for this next build that,

11:59 - you know, to be patient focused, to be mission focused and to

12:03 - to do literally everything within your power to, to get it right.

12:07 - Where do things stand now in terms of, in terms of the timetable, in terms of,

12:13 - you know, having the, you know, the vendors and contractors in place?

12:18 - How is all of this going to play out?

12:20 - It's really wrapping up now.

12:21 - So the majority of our planning pieces are complete.

12:24 - So we're really in the execution phase.

12:27 - So at the end of our planning phase, we go through

12:30 - a pretty extensive bid process where we define our partners.

12:34 - While doing so, we're

12:35 - often inviting as many people as we can to participate from the local areas

12:39 - so that we do our best to keep as much here we can local.

12:42 - These buildings are super complex, so some of those companies, you know, may

12:47 - come from a little further than normal, but almost all are from Pennsylvania.

12:51 - We're starting on board now.

12:52 - We're in the foundations.

12:54 - Our goal is to start standing steel here in beginning of January.

12:59 - Time frame.

13:00 - How about that?

13:00 - With completion in fall of 28, what will the biggest changes

13:05 - be in the life of Geisinger once the tower is up or operational?

13:09 - I would say some of the biggest change that will be come to this campus

13:12 - is the physical modernization of most of these areas.

13:16 - We're going to go from a 1960s older platform

13:20 - to 2025, where platforms the efficiencies go up significantly

13:25 - because there's enough space to be able to do things with today's standards.

13:29 - We've been working in smaller than normal units,

13:33 - where the optimum size is a 30 bed unit.

13:36 - We have 15 bed units, so you're not able to,

13:39 - take advantage of some of the things all being together.

13:42 - I think economies of scale, modernization technology is another one.

13:48 - It's hard to get the new technology into these, some of these older buildings.

13:51 - Right.

13:52 - So the idea here is bringing the high level of acuity towards this new tower.

13:57 - And then

13:58 - those other parts of the buildings can be used for clinics and office space.

14:02 - And of course, when it comes to everything that will go into that tower,

14:06 - the making of it, of course, all of those inputs,

14:10 - all of the technology and all of the equipment that's necessary

14:13 - for providing, you know, life saving care that the, you know, the multiplier effect

14:18 - of that kind of of of not just the purchase,

14:21 - but then thinking about the value that the manufacturers, the makers

14:25 - put in each one of those things.

14:27 - You know, that's a really powerful, economic driver.

14:30 - Can you speak to to any of that, the relationships that the Geisinger has with

14:35 - the the suppliers and the manufacturers who deliver those things here?

14:39 - I sure can.

14:40 - I mean, a building of this size isn't 2 or 3 things put together.

14:44 - It's millions and millions of pieces.

14:47 - And those millions of pieces come from many, many places.

14:51 - We're actually doing a lot of pre manufacturing ourselves locally.

14:53 - Oh really? Yeah.

14:54 - So a lot of those pieces may be sourced and then they'll be pre manufactured.

15:00 - One of the important parts were pre manufacturing on here is our bathroom

15:04 - pods.

15:04 - It's actually right down outside of Lancaster area.

15:07 - We're getting everything in there.

15:08 - And we'll actually building them to a complete bathroom

15:11 - that's being delivered to this site being set.

15:14 - Not only is it, you know helping the manufacturing process, there,

15:17 - they're collecting those materials, they're manufacturing.

15:20 - It gets shipped here.

15:22 - It reduces some of that overarching,

15:25 - on site labor that you have to deal with, say,

15:29 - working in the weather or working in harder conditions.

15:32 - Right.

15:33 - We can take something that is more uniform and be able to put it

15:37 - into the facility to have consistencies and things like that.

15:41 - So, I mean, that's just one little piece.

15:43 - We're doing a bunch of things in today's building components.

15:46 - They do a lot of modeling.

15:48 - So this whole building is a 3D model now with every little piece.

15:53 - So you're able to component ties

15:56 - and build more things that can come here that are pre manufactured.

16:01 - They get delivered in units.

16:03 - So you'll have one electrical unit for this whole room.

16:07 - And then that'll be delivered to the tradesmen that can also install.

16:11 - Yes it actually is creating more than a normal manufacturing

16:16 - and actually creates component sizing of dissimilar materials

16:21 - into a material package and things like that.

16:24 - I think what the local manufacturer, the local workforce helps,

16:29 - you know, make them as successful as we possibly can in this build.

16:33 - That's tremendous.

16:35 - Ron, this has been a wonderful experience learning about everything

16:38 - that's happening here for the viewers at home.

16:40 - If they wanted to, to learn more about the project

16:43 - and the things that are going on here, where could they go to do that?

16:47 - Well, we have a very good website at Geisinger.

16:49 - Lord. I would always start there.

16:51 - And if you can find it there, there's opportunities to even ask

16:55 - questions through that website that maybe can get some additional information.

16:59 - All right.

17:00 - Fantastic.

17:00 - Thank you so much, Ron Lesher, the AVP overseeing the the new project here.

17:05 - Thanks very much. Thank you.

17:08 - And now let's go to PMA perspectives.

17:10 - Interview with Charles McElwee.

17:14 - More than 40% of Pennsylvanians hit the polls

17:18 - on November 4th for an extremely important judicial retention election.

17:22 - And for county, local and municipal offices.

17:25 - We have a top Pennsylvania political expert here with us today

17:30 - to break it all down.

17:30 - And that is Charles McElwee, the founding editor of Real Clear, Pennsylvania.

17:35 - Thank you for joining us for PM perspective. Charles.

17:38 - Hey, Karl. Thanks for having me.

17:39 - Let's start at home.

17:40 - Pennsylvania voters just reaffirmed all three Democratic

17:44 - Supreme Court justices lean blue in in several key local, contests.

17:50 - How do you interpret the results?

17:52 - Is this a temporary setback or a warning signs for Republicans statewide?

17:57 - Oh, I think it's ominous.

17:58 - I think it's, a profound sign that Republicans have a challenge in 26,

18:03 - especially in Pennsylvania, where we really have the most competitive

18:07 - seats among parties in the nation when it comes to this upcoming election.

18:12 - And as far as the midterms go, I mean, the judicial elections,

18:17 - the three state Supreme Court retention races aren't that surprising

18:22 - when you consider that the Democrats outspent Republicans 4 to 1.

18:26 - The Republican Party nationally did

18:28 - not really engage with this race.

18:32 - When you consider the importance of the highest court

18:36 - in Pennsylvania and so many decisions.

18:39 - And so that was not surprising.

18:42 - And I think what was surprising, even for Democrats, were the down

18:45 - ballot results that we saw statewide, whether it was in Luzerne County,

18:50 - the Luzerne County Council going dem after it has flipped

18:54 - Republican and 50 in 2021, after decades of, Democrat control.

19:00 - And, of course, in Cumberland County, where Hampton Township alone,

19:04 - when somebody says Hampton Township, you just immediately

19:07 - have an image of an elephant and went Democrat.

19:10 - So the signs are wide ranging and Republicans will have to take out,

19:15 - could some of it have to do with just the gap

19:17 - from the top of the ticket to the bottom?

19:19 - I mean, the, the average kind of across the judicial retention vote was 61%.

19:25 - And you expect some of the collar counties

19:27 - around the Philadelphia area to to vote yes or be more blue.

19:31 - But I mean, Cumberland County, Center County,

19:34 - Westmoreland County voted yes.

19:38 - And the judicial retention.

19:39 - So we saw an overall margin of 61%.

19:42 - How does that 61% in that gap affect those down ballot races

19:46 - that you're talking about?

19:48 - It is hard to imagine that just a year ago, right, that Trump did so

19:53 - well in Pennsylvania and down ballot Republicans insurance did quite well too.

19:59 - But it was really a difference in the turnout

20:02 - in terms of the electorate that shows up.

20:05 - So in this election, Democrats and independent voters,

20:08 - and to some extent even Trump voters voted blue, putting,

20:13 - let's say, the retention races aside, just in general.

20:17 - Everything is nationalized now.

20:19 - And to some extent, Republicans, when it came to those retention races

20:22 - for the judicial race, they ran on the past, they ran on.

20:27 - Remember, Covid, do not forget Covid.

20:29 - And I think at this point, very few election cycles.

20:32 - And I think people embrace amnesia when it comes to that period.

20:36 - And it is not a compelling way to run.

20:39 - Republicans were kind of misaligned

20:42 - with the period, just as Democrats were last year.

20:45 - There is acute discontent out there, and

20:49 - in the party in control in Washington, of course, the Republican Party,

20:54 - the Republicans, Republicans, in turn, punished

20:56 - whether it was in Pennsylvania, new Jersey or Virginia.

20:58 - It looks like it's around 40% of Pennsylvania's,

21:02 - electorate showed up to vote, which is pretty high

21:06 - for a judicial election or for for municipal local elections.

21:10 - What do you think these numbers reveal about motivation?

21:12 - Do you think it's issue

21:13 - based, Partizan based, anger based, maybe a little bit of all of the above,

21:17 - perhaps a little bit of the above, but I think it's really anger.

21:21 - We're clearly in an unhappy period.

21:23 - You can feel it.

21:25 - It's really palpable.

21:26 - The level of discontent is really manifesting itself

21:30 - in these election results, and people are more engaged

21:33 - because they are feeling the problems and their pocketbook.

21:38 - Of course, with rising grocery prices, everything else,

21:40 - everything that Republicans ran on last year,

21:43 - the problems have not necessarily gone away and in some sense

21:46 - have intensified for certain members of the electorate.

21:51 - So that's the the the problem

21:54 - for the GOP that this level discontent and really

21:59 - let's say the 2016 mood is over.

22:03 - That was it really a different electorate. It was a different period.

22:06 - Republicans have a clarity of message then based on issues

22:10 - that happened up until that point.

22:12 - Older voters, especially including places like northeastern Pennsylvania, responded

22:15 - by voting Trump and voting and switching their party affiliation Republican

22:20 - in the span of nine years at this point.

22:22 - And the 26 election will be ten years since Trump's victory in Pennsylvania

22:27 - and 16 Pennsylvania in that ten year span has changed so dramatically

22:32 - just from demographics.

22:33 - The problems

22:34 - now are quite different from then, and I think that the level of unhappiness

22:38 - now is actually even more intense in this period than it was then.

22:43 - So let's widen the lens a little bit and look to Virginia.

22:46 - So in Virginia, Democrats swept the governor's

22:48 - race and their House of delegates went from 5149,

22:52 - favoring Democrats to 6436 favoring Democrats.

22:57 - Given that Pennsylvania's House of Representatives is currently

23:00 - at 102 101, in favor of Democrats, what can and should Republicans

23:04 - be concerned about headed into the 2026 elections?

23:08 - They need to talk about the problems.

23:10 - And really, that was the mistake the Republicans made this year.

23:13 - They did not talk about the problems, and the problems are wide range.

23:16 - And, of course, the economics concern about health care and really understanding

23:21 - social and economic dynamics of the state, for example,

23:25 - the life sciences industry in Greater Philadelphia is underrated.

23:29 - For how big of this?

23:32 - I think people outside the region don't understand the role

23:35 - that that sector alone plays as an employer among white collar

23:39 - professionals and the suburbs.

23:40 - And of course, those suburbs shifted blue and are entirely blue.

23:44 - But there are still competitive

23:46 - places like Bucks County and even parts of Delaware County.

23:49 - And Republicans need to have clarity of message on health care economics

23:54 - and the possible issues that are now and not in the past.

23:59 - Let's pivot to new Jersey a bit.

24:00 - So in new Jersey, Democrats held the governor's office,

24:05 - but we actually saw Republican gains in

24:07 - some of the suburban areas in new Jersey.

24:11 - Maybe that could be some translation into what we've seen in the recent past

24:15 - in Pennsylvania.

24:16 - That could provide some kind of promise. Definitely.

24:18 - I mean, new Jersey is an example of a state where Republicans can win

24:23 - if they focus on local issues.

24:27 - So really, the Republicans who prevail are those who are not nationalizing

24:31 - their campaigns.

24:32 - I have an acute

24:33 - understanding of the concerns, and they're in their own communities.

24:38 - And to, let's say, take the national perspective.

24:42 - It doesn't necessarily work in the sense

24:46 - Khalil negativity sells.

24:49 - We saw this with Fetterman and his victory.

24:51 - If you understand the problems of your voters,

24:56 - speak to them, acknowledge them, run on them, you prevail.

25:00 - And we saw this across the board, including in New York with mom donning.

25:04 - So are there counties or regions or even demographics in Pennsylvania

25:08 - that that have some untapped potential really for either party?

25:11 - I think the most interesting region

25:12 - to watch for the 26 cycle is, south central Pennsylvania, places

25:16 - like Lancaster County, a Cumberland County, Dauphin County, Hershey alone,

25:20 - the cycle went entirely blue for the first time ever.

25:24 - I mean, it's a Democrat town now, and it's in part driven by the changing

25:27 - demographics, the fact that it has a significant,

25:31 - South Asian population, especially in Cumberland County on the West shore.

25:36 - And you have younger

25:37 - voters who in a sense are up for grabs.

25:41 - I think millennials are shifting

25:44 - blue or are really blue, but Zoomers, I mean,

25:48 - we saw from the election results of 24 that

25:51 - zoomer men, for example, shifted, right, including in places like Center County.

25:54 - There is a profound sense of disillusionment.

25:57 - And I don't think the younger voters are necessarily beholden to either party.

26:02 - So that is certainly an untapped opportunity for either one.

26:06 - If they speak to the concerns of a population that just can't get ahead.

26:12 - The level of discontent transcends party affiliation, and that's what makes

26:16 - Pennsylvania so interesting to follow for 26, that it's an unpredictable state.

26:21 - The margins are close, and demographically, we have just changed

26:26 - so much in the span of 4 to 8 years

26:29 - that any given region is up for grabs.

26:32 - We've seen major swings before from elect.

26:35 - I mean, Pennsylvania went Republican statewide.

26:38 - I mean, every Ro office and then President Trump in 2024,

26:42 - now in 2025, we're seeing it swing the other way.

26:45 - What have past swings like this

26:48 - told us about Pennsylvania's electorate as in in general.

26:53 - And what could that translate then to be a lesson

26:57 - learned or a lesson in history that we can learn for 2026?

27:01 - Even looking at the past, it's tough at this point, Karl,

27:04 - because the voting segments have changed communities that were,

27:09 - let's say, a majority working class white then or Latino majority now.

27:15 - You have younger voters living and mixed use

27:18 - developments in what we're cornfields in 2006.

27:22 - So the transience combined with the transformation of the state

27:26 - since then, it's all about looking forward.

27:30 - In 2026. It's all fascinating stuff.

27:32 - Charles, thank you so much for letting us your expertise.

27:35 - Where can the viewers go to learn more about you and Real Clear Pennsylvania?

27:40 - Yeah, so real Clear pennsylvania.com.

27:42 - Check us out daily for the curation of stories

27:44 - from national local publications, including our own content.

27:49 - Analysis and reporting.

27:50 - And then you can follow me on ZF McCoy.

27:53 - Well, Charles McElwee, founding editor of Real Clear,

27:56 - Pennsylvania, thank you so much for joining us on PM perspective.

27:59 - Hey. Thanks, Karl.

28:01 - Well, that's all the time we have for this week's program.

28:03 - PMA perspective will return next year.

28:06 - So until then, stay current on what's happening

28:08 - in your state government by visiting PA manufacturers.

28:12 - Dot org. From all of us at PMA.

28:14 - Thanks very much for watching and we'll see you in 2026.

28:35 - This program has been paid

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