Pennsylvania democrats are counting on the midterm momentum they garnered last year as they gear up for the 2020 presidential race. Donald Trump's victory in Pennsylvania in 2016 came as a surprise to many democrats, including Nancy Patton Mills, who now serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
"Whenever I went to sleep, I knew we had a lot of work to do," Patton Mills says. Now she's responsible for strategizing how to get those outside her party to vote for democratic candidates.
She says the 2018 election, which resulted in a 9-9 split in Pennylvania's Congressional delegation, make her optimistic about her party's chances, but democrats will need more than the "same old playbook" courting Pennsylvania's largest cities to take the commonwealth.
Later in the program:
The Gateway Medical Society is an association of doctors, nurses and non-medical professionals committed to eliminating health disparities among people of color. At the Gateway to Wellness symposium this Saturday, they will also offer free screenings and counseling. 90.5 WESA’s Elaine Effort spoke with Steven Evans, the group's vice president and surgical oncologist, about the need for this type of community outreach.
Drop-in medical centers allow people with mental health diagnoses to help one another and serve as alternative to going to an emergency room. The centers are not available in many Pennsylvania counties, and some have limited hours and resources. WITF reporter Brett Sholtis looked at the effect one drop-in center in Blair County has on a community. The report was part of an ongoing series "Through the Cracks."
And Quantum Theatre, known in part for their site-specific performances, is mixing Shakespeare with Pittsburgh’s steel heritage in a new production of King Lear at the Carrie Blast Furnaces in Swissvale. 90.5 WESA’s Bill O’Driscoll says that director Risher Reddick found similarities between Pittsburgh’s loss of identity with the collapse of big steel and Lear’s own deterioration. The Carrie Furnaces are what's left of the Homestead Steel Works and sat empty for decades before being revived as an art space and a National Historic Landmark.
90.5 WESA's Julia Zenkevich contributed to this program.
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