Question 1 - PASNAP Union Nurses at Temple Health – Chestnut Hill Hospital: Do you support or oppose the recent cuts to Medicaid enacted last year? If so, what benefit do you see in these cuts? If not, what policy actions can be taken to combat or reverse these effects?

And how is a person with a debilitating illness supposed to fulfill the Medicaid work requirements coming in January 2027?

“This is a great question. Number one, so many folks are working harder and harder every day, and are losing more and more of their benefits. Right now, progress is hurting families. As a member of Congress, I do not support the cuts to Medicaid. I would like to see families, who are suffering, actually be able to keep their benefits as they’re trying to get by.

I was in North Philadelphia just a few days ago, and I was talking to a woman with lupus disease, and she was telling me, “Dennis, I feel like I have a death sentence right now because I’ve lost my insurance, I’ve lost my benefits, and I don’t know how I’m going to survive.” In Philadelphia, where we are one of the poorest large districts in America, people all across the district are suffering from this. Right now, over 300,000 people in the district have lost their healthcare benefits. This is not okay. As your congressman, I would fight to make sure that we keep your benefits and that you do not lose them, and that we expand benefits so that folks are able to get by.”

Question 2 - Alden Park Tenants Union: What can be done at the federal level to lower the cost of housing and enforce laws that hold corporate landlords accountable for unsafe living conditions?

“There are several levers that we have at the federal government to incentivize this. Number one is we can increase supply of housing, which then lowers the cost of housing for individuals. The federal government has that opportunity to increase the supply by incentivizing growth. Second, with corporate landlords who are receiving HUD funding, we can make sure that the actual requirements that they are living by is keeping the housing safe and affordable for folks who are dealing with it.

Making sure that we provide subsidies so that families can actually afford to stay in the neighborhoods that they are from is paramount. It’s important that your congressman focuses on these issues because housing is something that all of us are dealing with, with the high cost of affordability across the region and across the country.”

Question 3 - Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education: How will you ensure stable funding for green space in Philadelphia to increase community access and funding to nature?

“Making sure that we invest in green space in Philadelphia is paramount. Green space does several things that help our city. Number one, it lowers the temperature across our city, which actually is shown to lower violence in our city. Next, it provides places for communities to gather, to celebrate, and to build community. And third, it is a place that mitigates a lot of these natural disasters that we’ve seen across the nation. Having these green spaces that can catch water and catch heat are important for us to actually have a thriving city.

As somebody who’s worked in disaster relief for the last decade, I know how important these green spaces are from a disaster relief perspective, but also as a neighbor, seeing how it makes a difference in the temperature and atmosphere in the community. As your congressman, I will focus on making sure that we have funding and will work with state and local partners to combine that funding to make sure that federal dollars are best used to ensure that people have safe places to play, safe places to gather and places that are green for them to spend their days.

Question 4 - Germantown United CDC: Germantown has struggled with the dual threat of historic commercial disinvestment and rising housing costs. What federal policies, funding programs, or legislative priorities would you support to help community-based organizations and their partners revitalize neighborhood business corridors, preserve affordable housing, and ensure longtime residents and small businesses can benefit from neighborhood investment without being displaced?

“This question is very near and dear to my heart. My family immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to Germantown, and that was where my mother was raised. My grandmother, when she lost her husband when he passed away, raised seven kids in Germantown, and it was because of commercial investments in housing and in businesses that allowed us to build a life there. We need to get back to the times when Germantown was a flourishing and bustling community corridor.

The way that we do this is systematic. We need to invest in businesses that are already existing there and make sure small businesses in those corridors have the support they need. Next, we need to invest in the education around that area so that the youth can stay in the neighborhoods that they grew up in, and don’t have to travel outside of that for their education. And third, and finally, we need to make sure that it is a safe place where people and customers want to come in and do their business there. If we can focus on those things, we can have a thriving area where housing is taken care of, where businesses are taken care of, and where families can flourish and thrive, just like mine did there.

Question 5 - Chestnut Hill Local: Does Congress have the power to combat the spread of misinformation through online bots and intentionally misleading content? Can this be done in a way that does not violate free speech?

“Yes, absolutely. The way that we can make sure that we protect free speech, which is paramount, is making sure that we focus on investing in education, so that our population has savviness to know what is fake, what is real, and has an understanding of what information they’re actually consuming.

Making sure that people are digitally literate and have the resources to understand what’s coming from fake bots versus what is actual real news is important, and that’s where Congress has the lever of investing in education and making sure that our schools are set up with the right tools, and we’re equipping and investing in our teachers so that they would be able to actually make sure that our students are coming out into the world with a good understanding of what is fake and what is real news.”

Closing statement.

“When I think about this campaign, it has been such a joy traveling across the city, spending time in neighborhoods in each and every corner of Philadelphia. And what I’ve walked away with is just an immense appreciation for all of the people, the thousands of people serving in their communities, their churches, their houses of worship, their rec centers, who are making Philadelphia a place where beauty, goodness, and truth is out there in the streets. As we’re coming down into the home stretch of this election, I want you to just remember that the change that we want to see across Philadelphia comes from us, each and every person doing their best and showing up. And when we all do a little, a lot gets done. So please don’t stop doing the good work. The good work doesn’t end on Nov. 3. It starts today. It starts with me. It starts with you. And it starts with all of us coming together.

Also, I just want to say, think about the story that you want to tell as a nation and as a community and as a city. Do you want to be a place where division is rampant, or do you want to finally come together and see our city come together and see our country come together, lower the temperature, and work on the real issues that are affecting real families? Thank you for this opportunity. I’m so excited for the opportunity to potentially represent you. God bless you all, and God bless America.”