00:00 - The following program is sponsored in part by customers

00:04 - bank.

00:15 - Welcome to the Journalists Roundtable.

00:17 - I'm Corey Clarke.

00:18 - Joining us this week are Kristen Smith

00:22 - from Center Square.

00:24 - Charles McElwee from Real Clear PR.

00:27 - And Sam Janisse from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

00:31 - Thanks for joining us.

00:34 - Great to be here.

00:37 - Sam, let's start with you.

00:39 - We, we sit only a few days from the primary.

00:43 - And, you recently broke down sort of a comparative profile of the two top.

00:48 - Top, two of the top candidates in the,

00:51 - third congressional race.

00:55 - The two state legislature leaders.

00:57 - Can you tell us about that district and, how you compared

01:01 - and contrasted those candidates, and who are some of the other ones,

01:06 - that we should be aware of?

01:09 - Yeah.

01:09 - The third, Congressional District, Dwight Evans C who's retiring this year?

01:15 - So we have,

01:16 - a few, state legislators, as you mentioned.

01:18 - State senator, Sheriff Street and,

01:22 - state rep Chris Rabb and then,

01:25 - doctor, Alice Stanford.

01:28 - Physician who's well known in the city for her work during Covid and,

01:34 - yeah, I mean, it's been a very interesting, dynamic race,

01:37 - kind of coming down to the wire, very competitive here on Tuesday.

01:41 - And, yeah, I just wrote a story about, Center Street and,

01:46 - Rep Rabb, who entered Harrisburg at the same time in 2017,

01:51 - you know, with very different, political,

01:55 - or, you know, career backgrounds.

01:58 - Center Street,

02:00 - a lawyer who,

02:02 - you know, comes from a very connected Philadelphia political family.

02:06 - And Rep Rabb, who, you know, kind of took on the Philadelphia,

02:11 - Democratic machine to get there in the first place.

02:13 - And, yeah,

02:14 - they they've kind of become very different legislators had very different styles.

02:20 - Representative Rabb, very progressive,

02:23 - you know, kind of coming in hot in Harrisburg and introducing

02:26 - a whole bunch of bills about progressive tax policy.

02:30 - And, you know, eventually a bill about reparations and,

02:35 - you know, criminal justice reform, Center Street

02:38 - also tackling issues like criminal justice reform,

02:41 - but kind of attacking, you know, looking for some consensus building.

02:45 - Some folks, you know, their colleagues and some outsiders

02:48 - described them, you know, very stylistically different.

02:52 - Chris Rabb is kind of pitching himself as a member of the squad, you know,

02:55 - a potential member of the squad

02:56 - with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and some folks like that in DC.

03:00 - If he makes it.

03:01 - And, Center Street, you know, a little bit

03:05 - more of a kind of looking for compromise.

03:09 - And then we have, Alice Stanford,

03:12 - who has gotten a lot of outside support.

03:15 - You know, especially early on, in the last few months

03:18 - from some, outside interests.

03:21 - And, you know, we've had some reporting in the last couple days that

03:25 - some of that has trailed off as she's had a few missteps in the last few weeks.

03:29 - But, it's really going to come down to the wire. We think.

03:35 - And, you also wrote about Rabb.

03:36 - He's he's sort of tapping into some of the younger fan base,

03:40 - some of these young progressives.

03:43 - How's he doing when it comes to,

03:46 - fundraising and things like that?

03:49 - You know, like I mentioned, his he kind of,

03:52 - pitches himself as a, you know, quote unquote radical and,

03:56 - you know, outside, progressive. And,

04:01 - he's really mobilized.

04:02 - He's trying to mobilize a lot of, younger support.

04:04 - He did a,

04:06 - a three hour livestream with, popular,

04:11 - streamer, Hassan Piker a few weeks ago who came in

04:14 - and who's been active in some Democratic politics this year.

04:20 - And, you know, kind of mobilized these rallies.

04:23 - He has a rally coming up, later this week with,

04:28 - representative Ocasio-Cortez in Philly,

04:31 - who obviously is pretty popular among, kind of younger progressives. And,

04:37 - yeah, I mean, I was I was with him at a rally,

04:40 - where, you know, he was kind of with a couple hundred

04:44 - younger supporters, and he was saying, you know, the

04:47 - the Democratic establishment has kind of failed you. And,

04:51 - you know, they're not you know, I get it.

04:53 - Why you maybe not getting out there to vote.

04:55 - I'm here to kind of be your voice and and go to Washington

04:59 - and be that progressive voice for you. And,

05:03 - and at the same time, he's been able to raise a lot of money.

05:06 - He's actually come back.

05:07 - Center Street has kind of took

05:10 - an early lead and raised the most money overall.

05:13 - But, Rep Rabb has,

05:16 - raised the most money in the last few months

05:17 - from both small dollar and big dollar donors.

05:20 - So he's had the money to kind of get his message out and get some outside

05:24 - support as well from some progressive national groups. And,

05:29 - yeah, he's kind of had,

05:30 - kind of a bit of a momentum in the last few weeks here.

05:35 - So he's trying to sort of

05:37 - contrast himself as he's trying to portray Street

05:40 - as more of your traditional party man, because, you know, of, of, of, of the,

05:46 - party affiliations and leadership roles

05:49 - that he's had.

05:52 - Yeah, yeah.

05:52 - And just kind of the way that they've carried themselves

05:54 - differently in Harrisburg, you know, Center Street.

05:58 - One of his main priorities has been,

06:01 - a, legalizing recreational cannabis, which,

06:06 - you know, people wouldn't argue necessarily as a, as a moderate position,

06:10 - per se, but he's worked with a Republican in the Senate to get that through.

06:16 - Hitting a wall in the Republican controlled state Senate year after year.

06:20 - But, you know, Center Street pitches himself

06:23 - as someone who kind of looks

06:24 - for those ways to work across the aisle and, you know, kind of really focus

06:28 - on constituent services and bringing money back into the district. And,

06:34 - and representative Rabb,

06:35 - you know, says he's there to kind of push, push the needle and,

06:40 - you know, argue for some policies that might not get

06:43 - initial support, that might get some support down the line.

06:46 - And, you know, some of his detractors say that he's,

06:50 - you know, hasn't worked as well with, you know, his colleagues in Harrisburg.

06:54 - And there was a moment during the debate, a debate a few weeks ago,

06:59 - we debate where,

07:01 - he was asked, I was asked, you know, why he hasn't assumed any leadership positions

07:06 - or been, named any any kind of chairman position in Harrisburg after ten years.

07:10 - And he said that he turned it down because he didn't want to participate

07:15 - in fundraising policies that would come along with that position.

07:20 - So he's

07:21 - still trying to really position himself as kind of an outsider,

07:25 - you know, anti-establishment, candidate

07:28 - here.

07:31 - Charles McElwee.

07:33 - Another race,

07:35 - not not a contested primary, but in a northeast Pennsylvania

07:39 - congressional race.

07:41 - Congressman Bresnahan, versus Scranton Mayor Continetti,

07:46 - you guys reported that she's outraised all candidates in the state.

07:50 - So what can you tell us about that?

07:52 - The race for that congressional seat?

07:55 - Yeah. Northeastern Pennsylvania.

07:56 - I mean, that continues to be the battleground

07:58 - when it comes to understanding

07:59 - the modern dynamics of Pennsylvania electoral politics.

08:02 - And with Rob Bresnahan, you have a first termer, but also a 50 percenter.

08:07 - It's important to remember that so many of the victors

08:11 - in the midterms and 24, they barely won their districts.

08:15 - And that was also the case with Bresnahan that despite the right word

08:19 - shift of that district, there certainly is realignment for the GOP.

08:23 - Page Conaty easily won reelection as Scranton mayor last November.

08:28 - And really, this battle, she has a fun

08:31 - fundraising prowess, no doubt,

08:34 - but it's a battle of the acceleration us versus a conservationists

08:38 - in this district.

08:39 - The biggest issue in northeastern Pennsylvania

08:41 - right now, data centers and this district's

08:45 - increasingly Republican at a time when places like south

08:49 - central Pennsylvania are making Democratic gains and voter registration numbers,

08:53 - northeast PA continues to make gains on the GOP ends.

08:57 - But the GOP, or at least even MAGA, they're with conservation.

09:02 - They are not for these data centers.

09:04 - And there's a rare bipartisan consensus that

09:07 - if you talk to any voter in northeastern Pennsylvania,

09:10 - they're opposed to any of the data centers proposed.

09:13 - And at the same time, you have places like Archibald

09:17 - in Lackawanna County, where woodlands are getting cleared

09:19 - for speculative development, and really, where last year,

09:23 - in the past two years, Governor Shapiro really made the push initially

09:27 - for data centers, especially as they were going to be

09:31 - proposed, centered around the Hazleton area.

09:33 - So when it comes to Bresnahan and Continetti,

09:36 - it certainly the national issues, the economy,

09:40 - demographics too.

09:41 - It's a really the most Latino districts in the state besides the Lehigh Valley.

09:47 - Will the Latino vote turn out or the swing vote

09:50 - that will turn against the Republican Party, as opposed to what happened to 24

09:54 - and really a referendum, even at the federal level

09:57 - and the congressional race on the data centers?

09:59 - Bresnahan is for leave, leaving that to the local leaders

10:03 - to decide that with the support of labor,

10:06 - collinearity is saying, hey, we need to

10:10 - devolve data centers and brownfields industrial sites.

10:13 - So I think when it comes to this district, the biggest issue and November will be

10:18 - who has the most clear message and alignment

10:21 - with the voters on the issue of data centers.

10:25 - Another really interesting piece of that race

10:27 - is the union endorsement involvement.

10:31 - I think the Bresnahan versus Cog 90 really encapsulates,

10:35 - a change that we've seen a sea change, quite frankly, in

10:39 - how union endorsement is playing into the Republican, Democrat, divide.

10:43 - And in this particular race, the unions are split.

10:47 - Bresnahan has stacked up a lot of union support,

10:50 - which traditionally is not something that Republicans have been able to do

10:53 - prior to Trump, really.

10:55 - But in this particular race, it is something

10:57 - that is not only weighing in, but it's a little bit of a controversy.

11:01 - The Teamsters met for their statewide convention a few weeks ago,

11:05 - and although they on the floor voiced support,

11:07 - for an endorsement for Connolly, they reached out to the center square

11:11 - about a week later to say that that wasn't accurate,

11:13 - that they had withdrawn that support.

11:14 - So there seems to be a lot of disagreement among, you know, even the smallest,

11:20 - I shouldn't say smallest, but even among the most local

11:23 - union members about where they're going in this race.

11:28 - Where does that come from, Kirsten?

11:30 - Because traditionally the unions have been

11:33 - so, supportive of, Democratic candidates.

11:36 - But is that different for that area?

11:39 - It that area is

11:41 - really becoming a strong bellwether of how elections will go in Pennsylvania.

11:45 - But again, I the union support for Republicans really started

11:49 - shifting back in Trump's first election and now certainly again in 2024.

11:56 - And that has a lot to do

11:57 - with the building trades and our economy surrounding energy development.

12:01 - Now, these data centers, there is a a shift in priorities.

12:06 - Whereas the Democrats historically were a party of the working man.

12:10 - Over the decades, union members have expressed

12:13 - the feeling that the party has left them and that that platform behind,

12:17 - and that that's something that's really been adopted under the Republican.

12:20 - Republican platform in the last several election cycles.

12:26 - Well, Kristen,

12:27 - let's we'll get back to the congressional races in a second.

12:30 - But, since we have you here talking about data centers and energy,

12:36 - talk about the piece you wrote about the

12:38 - the ongoing, Reggie controversy.

12:43 - The, you guys reported that

12:45 - there's a lot of money on the table that Pennsylvania, isn't getting,

12:50 - talk about that and how it relates to things like data centers.

12:54 - It's actually a really interesting perspective

12:57 - on how our six year back and forth, debate

13:01 - about joining the regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative hurt Pennsylvania.

13:05 - A quick overview of that program

13:07 - is that energy producers would be taxed for the amount of carbon emissions

13:10 - that they created, with the goal of eventually

13:15 - lowering that amount of emissions to zero by 2040.

13:19 - Now, of course, in Pennsylvania, unlike all of the other states

13:22 - in this pact, we are an energy producer.

13:25 - We're the top energy producer in the nation.

13:27 - And in our 13 state power grid, we provide 25% of the power.

13:32 - So something like this would impact our economy incredibly differently than, say,

13:37 - other members of the pack, such as new Jersey or Maryland,

13:40 - who in our power grid rely heavily on Pennsylvania natural gas

13:45 - and much to a lesser extent, coal,

13:47 - but also nuclear power to support their renewable energy projects

13:51 - and their own much more aggressive renewable energy goals.

13:55 - So how does so we ultimately decided we're not going to join that program.

13:59 - So how does that how does that still continue

14:02 - to impact us even though we've backed away from it?

14:05 - So during that six year time period, a lot of energy development

14:09 - as far as natural gas stopped,

14:12 - we lost, comparative to Ohio, where there's also a strong energy economy.

14:18 - We lost,

14:21 - I want to say, in the range

14:23 - of 80%, only 9% of our projects converted from proposals

14:28 - to actual implementation, whereas in,

14:32 - Ohio, they only saw a slight drop down from 62 down to 43%,

14:37 - which was in a large part due to declining natural gas prices.

14:40 - So we lost $5 billion in investment.

14:43 - Now, how does that tie into data centers

14:46 - considering this conversation about data centers truly didn't exist

14:50 - even three years ago, but of course has exploded

14:53 - not only in terms of the industry, but even down to the basic level, too.

14:57 - The amount of

14:58 - people who are seeing encroachments on their own land for these data centers.

15:01 - So because we weren't thinking about this

15:04 - even a few years ago, but we were already in a position

15:08 - where our renewable development goals across the power grid were,

15:13 - aggressive and putting a strain

15:16 - and indicating that we were not going to have enough capacity to meet

15:19 - those needs, which would in turn raise electricity prices.

15:23 - And, you know, at worst case scenario, caused

15:26 - blackouts and power rationing and things like that.

15:29 - Although, to be clear, the power grid operator, PJM never said that we would

15:35 - they never believed we would get to that point.

15:36 - But still, it pushed us

15:38 - into a much more uncomfortable position than we're used to being.

15:40 - And now that we have data centers, that problem is tenfold.

15:44 - Again, the demand on energy, the demand on land and resources, the demand on water.

15:49 - It is something that we did not conceive of, but now is a very pressing issue.

15:54 - Pennsylvania has become one of the targets for data center development.

15:59 - I think we're probably only second to a place like Virginia.

16:02 - So all of these things have coalesced.

16:04 - And the big question is, how much could Pennsylvania have solved that problem?

16:11 - And we just we don't know.

16:13 - We don't know how that six year period of uncertainty really, impacted things.

16:18 - Governor Josh Shapiro hasn't,

16:20 - he has not abandoned the idea of the Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

16:23 - He still wants to limit emissions in Pennsylvania.

16:26 - He just has a state version of the program,

16:29 - which critics say would have the same problems effectively.

16:33 - So it's not that those programs

16:35 - have gone anywhere because the Republican controlled Senate does not support that,

16:41 - and has been instrumental in preventing Reggie from happening in the first place.

16:44 - So it stands to reason

16:46 - we don't know where we're going from here, but the data center conversation

16:49 - is certainly a new factor that makes

16:52 - all of this more uncertain.

16:55 - Speaking of,

16:57 - Governor Shapiro, Sam, you wrote about how he's getting involved,

17:02 - switching back to these congressional races.

17:04 - The the Bucks County seat,

17:07 - the competitive Democratic primary,

17:10 - to see who will run against Congressman Fitzpatrick.

17:14 - Governor Shapiro got involved in that race.

17:19 - Yeah. He did.

17:20 - Yeah.

17:20 - He's, really gotten involved

17:22 - in all of the competitive congressional races at this point.

17:26 - And there's four of them.

17:28 - Across the state and the one that, you know, Democrats are questioning

17:32 - maybe the most is this, Fitzpatrick seat

17:35 - in Bucks County outside Philadelphia.

17:39 - Because Fitzpatrick has been, you know, kind of a,

17:42 - a moderate Republican who's been able to kind of have a specific

17:46 - brand there and have some staying power in the last decade.

17:50 - And, Shapiro,

17:53 - and him appear to have an okay relationship.

17:56 - Fitzpatrick talked about that recently on a podcast, but,

18:00 - Shapiro came out and supported, his opponent's, potential opponent

18:04 - in the primary.

18:08 - Bucks County Commissioner.

18:09 - Bob Harvey, who is the the first, challenger

18:13 - to Fitzpatrick, who's actually won in the county statewide. And,

18:20 - you know, the party there thinks that he has the best shot maybe to

18:22 - to get, Fitzpatrick, and unseat him this year.

18:26 - So Shapiro's, throwing his political weight behind him, which,

18:31 - you know, every Democrat in the state, kind of wants. And,

18:37 - you know, we'll see, how much he kind of comes in

18:40 - and is in the district campaigning for him after the primary.

18:44 - It seems like the the primary is going to go,

18:47 - to Bob Harvey, Bob Harvey's way, but,

18:50 - he does have a challenger on Tuesday, so,

18:54 - yeah, I think we're waiting to see how much, you know,

18:56 - Shapiro gets involved there versus going up to the Lehigh Valley district

18:59 - and then to the Harrisburg District and, and, you know, the Scranton one.

19:04 - And you know, how we kind of divvy up this time and resources.

19:10 - Charles, that first district has been,

19:13 - a very, very much of a battleground,

19:18 - for both for Fitzpatrick's who've held that seat.

19:23 - Can you talk about,

19:25 - the composition of that, that, area?

19:30 - Well, look at the Bucks County.

19:31 - It it has long been considered a bellwether

19:34 - in terms of its importance, electoral, statewide politics

19:38 - perhaps more diminished compared to, let's say, 20 years ago.

19:42 - It certainly was 20 years ago in the oh six where this was the district

19:46 - that really showed where voters stood on foreign policy.

19:52 - So that year it was a referendum on the Iraq war.

19:55 - And that hurt the late Mike Fitzpatrick, which led to the election of Pat Murphy,

20:01 - a military vet,

20:03 - and based on his opposition to the war and really a referendum on the Bush era.

20:08 - Fast forward 20 years.

20:10 - Brian Fitzpatrick is running at a time

20:13 - when all polling indicates that Americans, and including.

20:17 - Pennsylvania voters, are deeply opposed to the around war.

20:21 - And how will that play out at the local level?

20:23 - Those dynamics, the national issues at the congressional level,

20:27 - and certainly the districts, you have the lower end of the county,

20:32 - lower bucks,

20:33 - which is kind of like sticking Luzerne County in a small geographical area,

20:38 - historically ethnic, Catholic, blue collar, Democrat, conservative

20:42 - that has shifted Republican and turn fueled the gains,

20:46 - including the Republican voter registration advantage and the fact

20:50 - that Trump won the county in 24.

20:54 - But how does that all play out this year?

20:56 - It's county broke into really three areas upper box, which Quakertown continues,

21:02 - experienced growth and driven in part by the Lehigh Valley Central Bucks,

21:06 - which is always up for grabs, but certainly, trending blue with places

21:11 - like Newtown, Middletown Township and then the Lower Bucks.

21:15 - Where will that with the voters there hold a referendum on Trump

21:19 - and therefore punish Fitzpatrick, that

21:22 - with inflation, the economy, foreign entanglements,

21:26 - they will shift against the Republican Party.

21:29 - And we'll show that in spite of the realignment of the past decade

21:33 - or so, the support for the GOP is in the short.

21:40 - And, Sam, you mentioned

21:41 - the Lehigh Valley seat and,

21:44 - Governor Shapiro getting involved in that one.

21:47 - Talk about that primary, matchup.

21:49 - And then, also what we can look forward to in the fall.

21:55 - I've been really interested in this, in this seat.

21:58 - So Governor Shapiro and, most of the Democratic, quote unquote

22:02 - establishment has come out for Bob Brooks, the statewide,

22:08 - firefighter union president and retired firefighter in Bethlehem.

22:13 - They're really leaning into his, you know, working

22:15 - class background and kind of persona.

22:19 - But it's a very it's turned out to be a competitive primary with,

22:23 - three other candidates, a former federal prosecutor,

22:27 - Ryan Crosswell,

22:29 - former staffer for Senator Bob.

22:31 - Casey, Carol Abundant Gerstein, and a twice

22:35 - elected Northampton County executive, Lamont four.

22:39 - And, Bob Brooks has gotten a lot of,

22:44 - institutional support and, you know, about $1 million in

22:48 - and, outside spending from,

22:51 - a PAC that's backed by a lot of the unions that he's aligned with.

22:55 - But there's been some,

22:58 - late spending here by, a group that some folks think

23:02 - is a Republican operation that's trying to lift up, Mr.

23:07 - McClure,

23:09 - to prevent Bob Brooks and, Mr.

23:12 - Crosswell from getting into the getting into the general election.

23:15 - So there's some interesting, twists here at the end of this race.

23:19 - And, Governor Shapiro,

23:22 - helped recruit Bob Brooks and,

23:25 - has has supported him.

23:28 - And this district,

23:31 - representative McKenzie, Brian McKenzie is a representative

23:34 - since 2024.

23:37 - Winning only very narrowly against former, Democrat, Susan Wilde.

23:42 - And it's considered one of the most competitive districts

23:44 - in the entire country.

23:45 - And, there's going to be a lot of eyes on it, like there

23:48 - always is and these kind of swing seats in the Lehigh Valley.

23:52 - But, you know, this is one where, you know,

23:55 - people argue the the control of the house could come down to it.

23:59 - So, there's going to be a lot of interest, kind of nationally kind

24:02 - of converging onto this area right after the primary.

24:08 - Kristen, I don't want to run out of time before we,

24:11 - talk about the story you did about the the, paid leave debate.

24:17 - And not only that, paid leave for nurses.

24:20 - And, it feels like we've had a nursing shortage

24:24 - in this state or this country for a very long time.

24:28 - Can you talk about both of those things?

24:30 - Why is there such a big nursing shortage?

24:32 - And how does, paid leave play into that?

24:36 - Pennsylvania actually has the worst nursing shortage

24:39 - of any state in the country.

24:41 - We're down about 20,000 unfilled positions.

24:44 - The SEIU, health care Pennsylvania, they the nurses that participate

24:48 - in that union argue that a common thread would be the state's lack of paid leave.

24:53 - And and their hospital in Pittsburgh, UPMC McGillicuddy Women's Health.

24:58 - They argue that their very,

25:01 - brief paid leave policy of

25:03 - two weeks is certainly not enough and that it doesn't hurt

25:06 - only just the nurses in the union, but also patients, too.

25:10 - And they want to see not just paid leave for them,

25:15 - but for workers and parents and families all across the state

25:19 - and all across the country.

25:20 - Quite frankly, they've gone as far as Fetterman's office in DC to ask for this.

25:25 - Interestingly enough, the Allegheny County Department

25:28 - of Health, again, where UPMC is headquartered,

25:32 - they recently advanced a proposal

25:34 - to mandate 18 paid weeks for leave.

25:38 - And that would apply to anyone, not just county employees.

25:41 - So there's some real momentum, particularly in that region, but

25:43 - statewide, too.

25:44 - We've had state legislation that moved out of the House

25:47 - that would implement paid leave for state workers, partial reimbursement.

25:51 - But there is certainly a bipartisan push in recent years to make this a reality.

25:57 - And again, Pennsylvania is perhaps the only state in the northeast region

26:01 - that doesn't have, state policy on paid leave.

26:06 - And so these nurses truly believe that if that changed,

26:09 - that that would go a long way to addressing that nursing gap.

26:16 - Charles, before we, get out of here,

26:19 - give us, the main thing that you'll be watching on Tuesday night.

26:24 - Looking to see if progressives prevail.

26:27 - Could there be an upset

26:29 - in south central Pennsylvania, for example, that Justin Douglass

26:32 - somehow pulls it out against Janelle Snelson in the fight for Scott Perry seat,

26:37 - and certainly in in Philadelphia for Dwight Evans.

26:40 - See RA pulls it out

26:41 - because this is really long term a test for governor Josh Shapiro.

26:45 - He wants four for four

26:47 - independent of the Philadelphia district among the most Democratic in the nation.

26:51 - But he wants four to for four seats in the midterms to tell that story.

26:55 - And as we all know, likely run for president in 28.

26:58 - And what is a modern Democratic

27:01 - party is that does it look like what Shapiro wants it to be,

27:04 - which is more of a throwback to the aughts when he first prevailed?

27:09 - Or is it the left or term, the generational gap that the Zoomers

27:13 - are not down with the the party as viewed by Josh Shapiro?

27:17 - And that could be a challenge for him with these congressional races.

27:22 - Sam, real

27:23 - quick, where will you be on Tuesday?

27:27 - I'll be at one of the, the parties in Philly for,

27:30 - one of the three candidates that we're watching and I think,

27:34 - yeah, we're, unsure how it it'll go, but we're,

27:38 - you know, kind of along the same lines, Charles, we're talking about,

27:40 - you know, we have the progressive dynamics versus maybe the more consensus

27:45 - building, you know, quote unquote moderate,

27:48 - and then a kind of an outsider candidate.

27:50 - And I think it'll tell a lot about where, the party and the city wants

27:54 - the direction of, this to go.

27:58 - All right.

27:58 - We're going to end it right there.

27:59 - Thanks to our guests, Kristen Smith, Charles.

28:03 - McElwee, and Sam Jansch

28:06 - and thank you for watching journalist roundtable.

28:10 - Don't forget our primary night coverage.

28:14 - Tuesday night right here on.

28:17 - I'm Corey Clark. Good night.