For the 15th episode of the Progress Pondcast, Brendan and I reached a new milestone, which is our first interview with an elected official. Our guest is Pennsylvania State Representative Joe Hohenstein who became the first Democrat to represent the River Wards of Philadelphia in decades when he won election in 2018. His district, the 177th, is Democratic by registration, but obviously open to moderate Republican representation. It’s interesting to hear Rep. Hohenstein explain his approach to serving his somewhat unique constituency. One advantage of having a very large Pennsylvania House of Representatives is that he represents many fewer voters than a typical congressional district at the federal level. His district is smaller even than those represented on the city council. It creates an intimate environment where he can really get to know the people because he lives among them.
Hohenstein discusses a wide range of issues, including his work as an advocate for the disabled and the LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans kids. We talk about sensationalism in media, the importance of Narcan education, pet adoption, and his plan to get out the vote in his district for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Maybe the most fascinating part of our conversation is Hohenstein’s thoughts on Gus Walz which really made me think about advocacy of the disabled in an entirely new way.
Actually, “fascinating” is a good word to describe Hohenstein. He’s not what I expected when Brendan suggested we interview him. He’s just a really thoughtful and decent guy, and I think the kind of politician more likely to be found in an Aaron Sorkin fantasy than in real life. And that’s probably the pitch for me to make about why you should listen in even if you live far away from Philadelphia and its idiosyncratic problems.
It’s available on Apple and Spotify, and we’d love it if you would like and subscribe. But we’d also love it if you join us on Patreon and help us keep this Pondcast going. We’re going to be looking to have more interesting guests and get some real momentum going, but it’s costs a bit of money to do these jawns, and we could use your help.
Thanks for giving a listen.
