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 at the state level 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?

“I do oppose the recent cuts to Medicaid that were enacted last year. The benefit of those cuts and the policy I would enact to substantiate or try to offset those cuts, I would meet with stakeholders, I would meet with the Medicaid state officials and with my state legislators, to see how we could impose or how we could augment some of those cuts. I’m not sure what the state Senate’s position is. However, when I go in, day one I will find out what is the consensus and what bipartisan legislation could we come up with to help combat that.

As it relates to people with debilitating illnesses and Medicaid requirements in January 2027, I’m not fully aware of what the requirements are for people who have debilitating illnesses, but just speaking from what I know from past experience and dealing with neighbors who have debilitating illnesses, I would take a strong look at what the policies are, what the requirements are for 2027, and then I would see how, as a state legislator, we could help pass legislation that would help those perhaps who might even fall through the cracks, who may have debilitating illnesses, but are not qualified based on what the current situation is.

Having said that, I am one who believes that Medicaid and Medicare are important. I have several neighbors who are affected by these policies, and so I would also bring them to the table and invite them to come up to Harrisburg to meet with the state legislators and healthcare providers, so that we all can have consensus.”

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

“What can be done at the state level to lower costs of not just landlords but utilities at large? Where we’re standing, underneath our feet, Pennsylvania has been called the Saudi Arabia of gas. We have enough natural gas underneath our feet that if we run a pipeline, it would lower all of our utilities. Thus, that enacted lowering of costs would affect not only the tenants, but it would give landlords more wiggle room to be able to make adjustments to the prices that they have enacted for the annual or local or monthly rent.

Having said that, I do know of people who live in apartment housing where the living conditions have become unsafe, and I think it’s the state legislature’s job to step in and to augment that by finding out what can be done not only from a landlord’s perspective, but what can be done to help those tenants who perhaps find themselves unemployed or find themselves, because of a recent illness, not able to to work.

So again, state legislators can step in and find out what can we do to help mitigate or serve as a referee, both between the tenant and the landlord. So every state legislator has that responsibility, so as a state legislator going to Harrisburg, I hope to be able to meet with tenants’ associations, as well as meet with landlords, especially those who have violated or have abuses that they’ve committed against their their tenants, and I know that’s widespread, especially in a big city like Philadelphia. So when I go to Harrisburg, I’ll be looking to meet with those particular groups and stakeholders who are affected by this.”

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?

“I would ensure stable funding in the sense that I would find out currently what level of spending we have for green space and what community access, nature walks do we have and what green spaces do we have in the Northwest Philadelphia region. Having done that, I would also have an oversight committee that will help give insight and input. So it wouldn’t be from the top down, telling people what we’re going to do, but from the bottom up, having those people who are directly affected — our children, grandparents, people who own lots that they may want to turn into a nature lot — we would have them come to Harrisburg and meet with the state legislators and and let us know what it is they want, and what it is they need, and how we can help best meet those needs.

So the funding, the spending, and having community access to that is important because I do believe our children, especially in our inner cities, need to have green space and need to have opportunities to see nature and to walk and to touch nature. Whether that includes greenhouses, whether that includes nature walks in areas that underserved communities where we have a lot of empty lots and so forth — clean those lots up, clean those areas up, and have the stakeholders come in and do what we can to make sure that we have that space and that we have that community access to allow children and those who want to sit and walk and enjoy the parks.

Also, having said that, we need to increase our funding for our parks in Philadelphia. We have several community centers, several parks in the area, and I would look at that to see how it’s presently being funded and how we can expand those funds. So, having said that, I look forward to going to [Harrisburg] and being the person who is a spokesperson for those who want to seek nature.”

Question 4 - Germantown United CDC: What state-level policies and investments would you advance to help neighborhoods like Germantown retain affordable housing, support locally owned small businesses, and improve the neighborhood’s infrastructure while ensuring longtime residents have a meaningful role in the process?

“This has been an ongoing problem in Germantown. As a resident of Germantown, I know firsthand what the state can do and what the state has not done. My opponent, unfortunately, will render off some partisan nonsense, but I am one who believes that the investments and the policies need to be fair and balanced. By that, I mean that in the Germantown area, we have some affordable housing, and we need additional affordable housing. But we don’t want affordable housing in areas where the neighbors don’t want it. So, if the neighbors don’t want it, if the zoning board doesn’t give approval, I don’t believe that the state should have the right or use its muscle to just strong-arm those communities when they don’t want something in their neighborhoods.

But by the same token, by providing those safe spaces for affordable housing, I think that those people who own and who run these facilities need to take even more responsibility to make sure that they keep the areas clean, they keep the areas safe, and that they have a secure space for those tenants who are going to live in this affordable housing, because heretofore in some of the low-income affordable housing, there’s been problems in the neighborhood where the people who are tenants may cause problems as it relates to pollution or noise pollution.

So again, I would constantly work hands-on and have my staff working hands-on to make sure that the neighborhood and the infrastructure of the neighborhoods and the residents of the neighborhood are in sync with those who are going to be bringing low-income affordable housing to the neighborhoods that heretofore have been underserved. So I look forward to going to Harrisburg, and I look forward to you voting on Nov. 3 for Todd Johnson for State Senate.”

Question 5 - Chestnut Hill Local: Where has your political party fallen short in state/local politics? What would you like to see done differently in the coming years?

“As an affiliate and a lifelong member of the Republican Party here in Philadelphia, we have fallen short in politics. Our representation has fallen short, and that’s been seen by the decrease in registrations here in Philadelphia. We’ve become essentially almost a third party. So I would like to see our political party become more active in the neighborhoods that they serve, whether it’s South Philly, West Philly, North Philly, Northwest Philly, where have you, because heretofore, a lot of Republicans have not gone out and knocked on doors, have not interacted with the neighbors and the small local businesses. They need to see our faces in the place because the Democrats try to represent us in a negative light, and our city has been run for the last 70 years by the Democrats. And I ask people all through the campaign, what have you seen improve in all the years we’ve been under Democratic leadership?

So what I would do differently in the coming years, as a party, I would have the party become more centralized in the areas and have them interact with the neighbors and the voters. By that I mean knocking on doors, participating in block parties, participating in cleanups, participating in things where they’re not sitting in an office or ivory tower, but where they’re actually out in the neighborhoods. And so again, that’s what I would hope the party would move to in order to become more centrist in terms of providing constituent services for the communities that we need to serve. Because Philadelphia being the [sixth] largest city in the United States, and so far, my party has done an abysmal job, I think, in reaching the neighborhoods that are so underserved and have been underserved for many years.”

Closing statement.

“I want to thank all the voters who have voted already and those who are yet to vote and I want to say in closing that this is an important election. Now, politicians say that every election cycle is important, but it’s important why? Because we need to hear the voice of the people, and your voice is your vote. So by coming out to vote, you express your voice, your concerns for your community, and we don’t want anybody to infringe on your right to vote. So again, please come out and vote, exercise your voice, whatever the election. Please, always come out and exercise your right to vote. So I’m asking you, I’m beseeching you, to vote for me, Todd Johnson for state Senate, and I’m asking you to vote your conscience — not your party — but your conscience. And when you vote your conscience, then when you walk out of that voting booth, you can feel certain and secure that you cast your vote not for a personality or not for a party, but for the person who best represents and reflects your ideas, your concerns, and the things that you would like to see in your community.

So, please madam, please sir, if you’re 18 or over, please go out and vote. And I pray and hope that all of those who are eligible have registered to vote, because it is important, and every election cycle is important. We participate in a democracy, not only here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, but across this nation. So I’m asking each and every person, man, woman, boy, and girl that’s able to vote of voting age, please go out and vote. Exercise your right to vote. If you know somebody who needs a ride, pick them up and take them to the voting place. So make sure that the elderly and everybody that you come in contact with has the opportunity and accessibility to go out and to vote.”