The PoliticsPA Podcast PoliticsPA

With Pennsylvania's primary behind us, who are the big winners and big losers? What does it all mean? And what happens next? 

Host Tom McGrath is joined by PoliticsPA managing editor Steve Ulrich and Keegan Gibson of Ceisler Media and Issue Advocacy in Pittsburgh. The three cover a range of topics, from the power of the Republican and Democratic bases in the primary to the rough night for incumbents to who exactly are the happiest—and most distraught—people in Pennsylvania politics in the wake of the election.

With 10 days to go until the primary, Franklin & Marshall's Berwood Yost goes deep on what the most recent polling says. Among the topics: the bump that Mehmet Oz hasn't gotten from Donald Trump's endorsement; Doug Mastriano's staying power in the governor's race; and John Fetterman's commanding lead in the Democratic Senate primary.  Yost also discusses what polling says about Pennsylvanians' views on abortion.

With less than a month to go until the May primary, who’s rising, who’s falling, and how will things shake out? 

Host Tom McGrath talks with Justin Sweitzer of City & State Pennsylvania and Steve Ulrich of PoliticsPA.  The three discuss various races, including the Republican and Democratic primary battles for U.S. Senate and the tight GOP race for the gubernatorial nomination. Among the topics: what impact Donald Trump, the Big Lie and Trumpism in general will have on primary day ; John Fetterman’s underwhelming debate performance; and Congressional races in Pittsburgh and the Lehigh Valley.

Dave McCormick, one of the two frontrunners in Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary, talks about his campaign. McCormick, former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, discusses growing up in Bloomsburg as the son of a university president; why he's concerned about income inequality in Pennsylvania and across America; and why he opposes a raise in the minimum wage and the Biden Administration's newly proposed billionaire tax. McCormick also shares his thoughts on the 2020 election and the January 6th assault on the Capitol -- while refusing to say if he would have voted to certify the election results.

Republican Kathy Barnette, a Montgomery County resident, talks about her candidacy in this spring’s U.S. Senate primary and why she felt compelled to run. Barnette, who’s Black, talks about why she believes Democratic policies have been bad for African Americans, her losing run for Congress in 2020, and why, despite no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud, she’s distrustful of the 2020 election results. Barnette also weighs in on January 6th,  Supreme Court nominee Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson, and the culture-war issues that divide the country. 

Recent polls show a sharp shift in how voters in Pennsylvania identify when it comes to political party, with those who lean Republican now topping those who lean Democratic.
In this episode, host Tom McGrath and PoliticsPA managing editor Steve Ulrich talk with Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall. Yost discusses those voter trends, as well as what polls say about the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania and the issues that are most animating voters in 2022. (Warning: This episode also contains also a brief digression on pickup basketball.)