Youtube link On December 9, 2025, Trump kicked off his nationwide affordability tour in Mount Airy, PA. I, as well as many others, were looking forward to hearing his plans to curtail the escalating costs of groceries, gas, rent, utilities, child care, and healthcare. Instead he downright lied, claiming the failing economic numbers as a hoax.  Is it?   Let’s present facts as a counter to Trump’s Big Lie, or in this case, his avoidance of affordability.  Do you really feel like prices are going down?  Maybe you think that nobody really believed they would go down on day one of his presidency as he promised; because really, how is that ever feasible?  But we’re now more than 11 months into his administration and prices continue to go up. I know I feel it significantly, and to say it’s concerning would be an understatement.    So, let me provide some sad truths to my fellow Pennsylvanians.  A recent analysis done this year by Consumer Affairs has concluded that grocery prices increased 5.3% year over year.  However, grocery inflation has varied from state to state.  And, Pennsylvania has taken first place.  In PA, prices taken in 15 grocery categories in the study have gone up 8.2% in the last 12 months.   The analysis also pointed out that grocery prices for rural areas were up 7.6% in the past 12 months, compared to only 5.7% for residents of large cities.  This is most likely due to lack of competition in rural areas, but creates more of a hardship because household income is usually lower in rural areas.  The study found that the biggest rise in grocery prices came in zip codes where the average income is $35,000 to $50,000 (which is the lowest income range that was tracked).   So if you’re feeling that prices are high, I want to confirm that it’s not just a feeling, but a fact!  Source: Consumer Affairs: Journal of Consumer Research

On Dec 17, 2025, the PA House of Representatives passed a bill that would put a referendum before voters on adding specific abortion rights language to the state constitution that could protect abortion rights that were overturned in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization which overturned abortion rights found in Roe V. Wade. However, the measure will not be taken up to the Republican-majority Senate. The bill would give voters the option to enshrine their pre-Dobbs rights into the state constitution. The proposed constitutional language that would go before voters states that "every individual has the fundamental right to exercise personal reproductive liberty, including the chance to end a pregnancy, use contraceptives, or receive fertility care and that the commonwealth "may not deny, burden, infringe upon... this right..." It further states that "... in no circumstance shall the commonwealth prohibit an abortion, that in the professional judgment of an attending health care professional, is medically indicated to protec the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual." This is a referendum worth following for those interested in protecting women's rights and women's health and who should be making these decisions. Constitutional amendments must be passed by both chambers of legislature before it is put to the voters on the next ballot. Sessions are two years between legislative elections. It is critical that Democrats win a majority in both chambers in 2026 so that abortion rights language could be passed in the 2027-28 session. Source: PennLive, PA House caps 2025 with passage of a proposed abortion-rights referendum , Dec 18, 2025.

The Keystone : Pennsylvania News You Can Use

AP news

Youtube video For the Lancaster County, PA Dems, using paid, local Spanish speaking canvassers boosted turnout by up to 11 percent -- far higher than traditional postcard, letter writing or phone banks. Lancaster County Vice Chair Stella Sexton describes how this helped result in a "Yes" vote Nov. 4 to retain the Democratic 5-2 majority on the PA Supreme Court even though Lancaster is, for now, a red county. Learn more about the Lancaster County Dems at lancasterdems.com .

Looking for ways to explain the ultra-right-wing Project 2025 plan for a second Trump administration in a way everyday voters can understand? Check out this two-page data sheet from the Center for American Progress that lays out real-world impacts for Pennsylvania. Some high- (or low-) lights: • Under the Project 2025 plan, the typical family of four in Pennsylvania would see a tax increase of $3,167 per year. • Project 2025 proposes imposing “limits or lifetime caps on [Medicaid] benefits.” In Pennsylvania, 373,100 Medicaid enrollees would be at risk of losing coverage because they are low income and lack access to alternative, affordable coverage. • Project 2025 eliminates some emergency contraception medications from free preventive care requirements, meaning 1,890,000 women in Pennsylvania would lose guaranteed access to free emergency contraception. • Project 2025 eliminates Head Start, which provides access to no-cost child care—among other services—for 34,080 low-income children in Pennsylvania. Eliminating Head Start would wipe out a critical supply of childcare in rural and other underserved communities that already face a lack of child care slots. This background is great fodder for social media, ads, and conversations with voters who  distrust both parties or who feel voting doesn’t make a difference.

Check out this  Washington Monthly  article, in which academician and former Obama advisor Robert J. Shapiro argues that describing how Donald Trump would cut funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and public education is the best way to win over swing voters in this year’s razor-thin race. The Biden-Harris administration: • Increased access to Medicare • Negotiated lower drug prices • Plans to boost coverage for  dental, vision, and hearing services . In contrast, Trump: • Repeatedly tried to reduce Medicare funding, including an attempt to cut Medicare services by $484 billion over ten years. • The 20.5% cut in Medicaid funding proposed by Trump in his budgets would reduce Medicaid services by  $1,700 per recipient in Pennsylvania . • Plans to wind down federal funds for public schools, which  would take away $1,060 in funding for every Pennsylvania student . • Plans to defund 11  federal education programs  that support rural schools—an important point for those of us talking to voters in red, rural areas.  Assuming five percent of PA Medicare beneficiaries are undecided or persuadable, and that highlighting these numbers could move half of them to Harris, Shapiro suggests that an ad campaign highlighting Trump’s plan to cut healthcare and education funding could mean 73,600 additional votes for the Democratic ticket in Pennsylvania—a number likely large enough to push Democrats over the winning line in this year’s tight election. Help elect Democrats and stop Project 2025. Click here to volunteer!

My anxiety is heightened as we approach January 20, 2025, Inauguration Day.  What does the future hold?  It’s hard to predict.  There is a lot of speculation, but only time will tell.  One thing that is worrisome is that we know the type of president that Trump was, and we know his record and the damage he did to the economy and national debt, national security, and the division he perpetuated, all the while spewing lies and conspiracy theories. His inadequate response to the pandemic demonstrated his inability to lead during the global danger posed by the virus, as we saw thousands of Americans die as he claimed it was under control.   If Trump’s second term is anything like his first, we’ll need all hands on deck to resist and to maintain our democracy.   MAFlipPA is here to provide opportunities for those in Massachusetts to help Pennsylvanians sift through misinformation and take action at a local and national level.   Democrats need wins in the next elections, and we will be looking for and sharing information being disseminated by trusted sources on new strategies and techniques to get us there.   If you have ideas and are looking to express and implement them, this is an opportunity to share and educate. We have revamped our website and will be posting tools, tips, and activities as issues arise.      Check out our website and social media and see where you can help. We are looking for volunteers who have ideas they want to share and implement to help us resist and achieve our goal of turning PA blue.

The second Trump term has begun, and it’s as bad – or worse – than we thought. This is a scary and difficult time, but by relying on each other and working together we can blunt the MAGA agenda and build for electoral victories this year and next. We’re sharing anti-MAGA social media posts and invites to anti-MAGA meet-ups and trainings on our new   Bluesky account . Likes are good, but comments and repostings are even better to spread the word and grow our followers. Other work Ann and I are doing and how you can help: Revitalize the Democratic party.   As you know, we’ve joined more than 50 organizations and more than 700 volunteers urging the Democratic National Committee to make  Ben Wikler  its chair February 1, so he can repeat his grassroots-driven success in Wisconsin nationally. If you haven’t already, please sign the  endorsement letter  (signing link at the bottom) and  ask any voting members of the DNC you or your friends know of to share your support for Ben. Identifying top action areas in Pennsylvania.  Ann and I are surveying our in-state partners about which local elections we should focus on in 2025 to build the voter and volunteer base for legislative and Congressional races next year. Stand by more news about how you can help, and how we’ll help elect Democrats in statewide judicial races later this year. Telling PA voters how Trump is hurting them.  Trump has  frozen hiring at the IRS  (a gift to his billionaire donors) and ended the government’s ability  to negotiate Medicare drug prices . Help us build an infrastructure to find the local impacts of such moves in Pennsylvania so we can tell voters how Trump is hurting, hot helping them. Email  Bob Scheier  to learn more. That’s it for today – many more updates coming as we work with others to stop the MAGA agenda as it unfolds. With so much happening so quickly, remember our  Bluesky accoun t is the best place to stay informed. Onwards! Ann Eldridge and Bob Scheier

Youtube video How the Lancaster County Dems knocked more doors per capital than any other county in Pennsylvania. Knocking 110,000 doors is one reason this Red county voted between 53% and 54% to retain the 5-2 Democratic edge on the state Supreme Court, helping protect the integrity of the mid terms next year. Learn more about the good work the Lancaster Dems are doing at https://www.lancasterdems.com/ . Subscribe to this channel to learn more about how smart, effective local leaders are flippin' PA blue and how you can help.

Happy (?) spring, as we redouble (retriple?) our work to save our Democracy. You’ll receive some specific calls to action in Pennsylvania from Ann and I in the coming weeks, but first here's what I learned from the  America Votes  state summit in Washington, DC which gathered more than 2,000 activists from around the country to forge a path forward. The Bad News Democrats lost in 2024 because we showed up only to ask for votes, rather than being part of voters’ lives year-round and learning what is important to them.  (Note: We are working with local groups in PA that are doing exactly this type of year-round engagement.) The Democratic party is deeply unpopular and not trusted. We have to prove to voters that we care about and can help with the issues that matter to them.  (See the first point, above, about the need to listen.)  We are more than a decade behind MAGA in building an alternative media ecosystem that reaches the less involved voters who elected Trump. This goes beyond social media to TikTok and even further into podcasts and even online chats about gaming, sports and fashion.  ( If this seems as alien to you as it does to me, that’s part of the problem. We urgently need some younger folks to teach us how to compete in this area.) The Good News Trump’s policies are deeply unpopular and already hurting his poll numbers. We’ve already won legislative races in Iowa and Pennsylvania, and the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, and cut Republican win margins in Florida Congressional special elections. Republican candidates tend to do worse when Trump isn’t on the ticket.  (Good potential news for the midterms!) The 2,000 organizers and funders at the America Votes conference are upbeat but honest, having the tough conversations about what we’ve done wrong and working together about how we can improve both our policies and messaging.  What we will do with your help Pave the way to winning flippable House seats next year in Pennsylvania Congressional Districts 7, 8 and 10 by:  Finding more local examples of how Trump is hurting Pennsylvanians and publicizing them, and how Democrats are helping or will help if elected. Telling our story more effectively in channels such as YouTube and TikTok. Talking to voters about this fall’s PA’s Supreme Court Supreme Court retention races soon via phone banks and other means. Again, we’ll be in touch soon with details of how you can help. But if your hair is on fire now email  Bob Scheier  or  Ann Eldridge  and we can offer ways to join the growing, engaged and determined resistance. The antidote to despair is, now more than ever, action. Ann and Bob

MAFlipPA is an independent, all volunteer group that since 2019 has worked non-stop from our “blue bubble” of Massachusetts to elect Democrats and Progressives up and down the ballot in Pennsylvania. (We are not a “C3, C4, PAC” or other incorporated group and thus are free to coordinate with political campaigns, or anyone else.) We believe the 2024 election, and the fate of our Democracy, could be determined by a mere tens of thousands of votes in a handful of swing states, of which Pennsylvania is the closest. Pennsylvania is also home to a “must defend” Senate seat (Bob Casey,) three “must defend” House seats (Susan Wild, Matt Cartwright and Chris Deluzio), and a legislature we need to flip blue to enact pro-Democracy and pro-freedom policies under Governor Josh Shapiro. Since the start of this year, we have: Distributed more than 15,000 postcards (with more going out every week) to volunteers at in-person “Activist Afternoons” in Cambridge  and Andover . Provided tools, tips and inspiration to leaders of rural Democratic and Progressive groups through our Rural Reporter  email newsletter. Planned canvassing trips to northeast Pennsylvania beginning in April to engage voters early, listening to their concerns instead of just asking them to vote. Distributed “hyper local” news about the benefits of Democratic Presidential administration policies to swing Congressional districts. And provided everything from Spanish-speaking translators to back-end administrative help to groups operating “behind enemy lines” in red, rural Pennsylvania. There’s much more we’re planning to do, and not a minute to waste to protect us, our children and grandchildren from the MAGA threat to our Democracy.   Whoever you are, whatever your skills or energy level, you can make a difference now . You can, for example: Become a local post card host, printing post carding instructions and address lists we provide and collating packets for distribution from your porch. Help research, via Web and phone, news about the local benefits of Democratic Presidential policies to educate and get out the vote in Pennsylvania. Join phone banking and texting events (our sponsors provide training and support.) Do “back office” administrative, database, newsletter writing and other services for us and our partners in Pennsylvania. Canvass with us in Pennsylvania to meet the voters and learn about the communities that will decide the fate of our Democracy. Your first step? Sign up for our email newsletter here  to keep informed about all the ways you can help. And keep reading this blog for the latest news from Pennsylvania as the political winds shift this year.