In our third episode, we begin a two-part look at the political landscape in the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania, the nation’s fifth largest. The Keystone State is part of the so-called Blue Wall that collapsed in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 race, but swung back to the Democrats in 2020, giving President Joe Biden an 80,000-vote margin of victory there.
This year, Pennsylvania also hosts a US Senate race, with Democratic incumbent Bob Casey’s bid for a fourth term critical to overcoming the tough odds his party faces in holding onto the Senate majority.
In this episode, I’m joined by Adam Barbanel-Fried, director of Changing the Conversation Together, a group already working on the ground in Philadelphia, engaged in door-to-door conversations in neighborhoods where voter turnout falls markedly below the citywide average.
I also talk to Lori Schreiber, an out lesbian who is the elected Clerk of Courts in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s third largest county, just to the northwest of Philadelphia. Lori, who is on the board of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization for Women, talks about how the traditionally high voter turnout in Montgomery County combined with a dramatic shift toward Democrats over the past decade has made it the Key to the Keystone.
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