seat in a special election. democrat jon ossoff got more votes than any of the other 18 candidates, but he needed more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. he fell short with 48%. now, instead of taking the seat outright, which is what democrats had hoped for, he's forced to go head to head with his republican challenger. in kansas, republicans held the seat vacated by mike pompeo, the new cia director, with 52% of the vote, but it was a good showing for the democrats, who had 45% in a strong gop district. the libertarian candidate was just shy of 2%. and with me now, democratic analyst eleanor dezzi, she had a long history of working in pennsylvania democratic politics, and is the founder of the dezzi group. eleanor has been a delegate to multiple democratic conventions. and charlie gerow, charlie is the ceo of quantum communications. he advises business, government leaders, and politicians. harrisburg magazine calls him the city's most politically well-connected conservative. thank you both for being here today. eleanor dezzi: thanks for having us. lauren: eleanor, let me start with you, what's the takeaway from this georgia contest? was this good news or bad news for democrats? eleanor: well, i think that it was truly striking high to try and make 50%, but i think 48% was really good, and i think that jon has a very good chance of beating karen handel. she has a--she has a long history, but some of it is not very positive. and jon is young, he's energetic, he's got top secret service clearance, he's worked on national security issues in washington. and i think he's a young, bright star, has a master's degree from the london school of economics, he's lived in that district for a long time. i think he did a very good showing, and i think it's going to be a very interesting race because karen has that history with the susan g. komen foundation. and when she was secretary of state for the state of georgia, she got into some very negative voting rights issues. so, she has a lot of baggage, and i think jon's a bright, rising star. it's going to be a very tough race, and there's going to be a lot of outside money there. lauren: there already is a lot of outside money. eleanor: yes, a lot of outside money. lauren: and charlie, let me ask you, both for republicans and democrats, is there some sort of danger of focusing so much on a race right now when 2018 is just around the corner? charlie gerow: well, the resources will always be there, lauren, 2018 is going to bring out-- lauren: it will always be there? charlie: it's going to bring out money that you and i have never seen before in congressional races. you saw ossoff spend $10 million, almost all of it, almost all of it from outside the district. and ultimately, politics is local. he did the very best that he could on tuesday night. he got some temporary bragging rights, but that braggadocio's going to be very short-lived because i think most of the experts, both in georgia and nationally agreed that if you didn't get to the 50% mark, that when the june 20th runoff system came in this very bizarre way that georgia elects its folks, that he was going to fall short. this is a district that has historically been very republican. it's been in republican hands since jimmy carter. lauren: and, you know, you mentioned, all politics is local. my parents actually happen to live in this district, so i-- charlie: well, then you know it well. lauren: i was looking for some information from them about what they were seeing, expecting that maybe it would be a lot of sort of trump themed ads. and actually, they saw a lot of things that were more local focused about the actual candidates. so, when you look at these local races, how much of it becomes this national narrative about whether or not you support donald trump, and how much of it is really local? charlie: i think the national media wants to make it all a plebiscite on the new administration. these special elections tend to be used by the media as bellwethers for how the new team is doing. but ultimately, i think you're correct, it does boil down to local issues. one of the big issues in this particular race is the fact that jon ossoff doesn't even live in the district. so, i think you're going to hear a lot of that sloganeering, you're going to hear about the records of both of them. you're going to talk about what they've done for the people of the sixth district of georgia much more than what donald trump and his team is doing in washington. eleanor: the problem is, too, in these special elections, you don't have the turnout that you get in a general election because people are engaged in other things around. you know, i was talking about the date of june 20. you have graduations, you have father's day, you have all kinds of things that people were focused on. they're not thinking election. so, you actually have an extra little charge in here to try and get focus of the people on this. i mean, is it going to be an insider election, or will all this money bring out the people? we're not quite sure. lauren: let me bring things now back to our area. come from georgia, come back to this area. what have you learned from this that will come to play in 2018 in races in this area? we've got a lot of swing districts here. eleanor: we have a lot of swing districts, not so much in philadelphia, but in the counties and what have you. we have a united states senate race in '18 in pennsylvania. the senior senator, bob casey, is raising a lot of money, and he has a very stellar reputation here in pennsylvania. but i think that in the suburbs and in some of the rural areas, you're right, we have a lot. but remember, the democratic party is looking that if they can swing 24 seats, they will have control of the house. i think there will be an emphasis on the congressional seats, and a lot of outside money in a lot of these districts that you've never seen before. charlie: now, i was just going to jump in and say before we get to 2018, there may actually be a special election here in pennsylvania because it's widely rumored that tom marino, congressman from the tenth district, is going to take the position nationally as the drugs czar, which would set up a special election right here on our own turf. so, that's going to be a lot of fun to watch. and eleanor's right, the race for the democrats in 2018 will be on house side because there are a lot of seats, 25 to be precise, where republicans are sitting in districts carried by hilary clinton. those tend to be very marginal seats, and they only need, as she correctly pointed out, 25 to take control. but on the other side of the building, the senate is going to be a tremendous problem for the democrats because there, they've got to defend 25 of the 33 seats that are up, and almost half of those seats are in districts that donald trump carried by huge margins, not just by significant margins, but by overwhelming numbers. and so, i think that you're going to see the republicans add to their lead in the senate, while they're going to have to defend their turf on the house side. lauren: how do you expect the president to be used or sort of played in these house races especially? do you expect he's going to be making visits? charlie: oh, absolutely. he'll be used judiciously. he'll be used where he's able to be used to good effect and where he's got strong support within certain districts or certain areas, and he'll be less well-used in other districts. he'll be made an issue in every one of them. that's why these special elections are getting so much attention and why they're being nationalized to the extent that they can. but ultimately, i think you're right, lauren, all politics becomes local. lauren: if donald trump were to come to some of the districts in the philadelphia suburbs, for example, what would the democrats response be? try to use that against the candidate? eleanor: oh, absolutely. you know, it's really interesting because each candidate is going to have their poster, their own fundraiser, they're all going to look at it, and they'll determine whether they invite him in or not. i mean, and by the way, we have to look at what the issues are in those districts right now. i mean, what--if you have a district with a lot of people who are focused on national security, cyber security, things like that, or if you have a district where you have a large immigrant population, do you really think that you want to bring donald trump in right now? i don't think so. lauren: and, you know, there has been some talk nationally about whether or not donald trump is getting any legislative winds, you know, whether he's accomplishing anything. and, you know, you think about maybe a negative for the white house. but i was wondering, for republican members of congress, is that really a negative? because when healthcare doesn't come up for a vote, they don't have to have a vote on record as having voted yes or no. charlie: i think it's much more of a problem for republicans, quite frankly, lauren, among their base than in general elections. there are a lot of folks that voted for the republicans, sending them to washington to do specific jobs that haven't yet been accomplished, and some of those folks are a little restive at this point. so, i think you're going to see an increased surge of activity and effort to get some legislation passed because much of what donald trump has done to good effect thus far has been either through appointments, or by wielding the--either the executive action or executive order penned that barack obama so famously did and messed things up so badly. he's had to undo a lot of that. but now, it's time to get down to working with congress to get the legislative agenda accomplished. lauren: so, do you think that our voters will hold it against them if they haven't voted on anything? charlie: i do, and i mean, i think that you're already seeing a little bit of that. the fact that the house chose to go out on a lengthy recess right now is a small issue, but those small issues combine to become big issues. eleanor: if you notice when a lot of the legislators are coming back to their districts, they're trying to hold town meetings. and these town meetings are turning into fiascos because the people are speaking, and they're saying, "we sent you there to address this, that, and the other thing," according to the district. they have--their issues have not been addressed. you know, talking to voters, they still feel that there is gridlock in washington. they do not feel that any legislative agenda has been passed. they don't feel that healthcare has been solved, not that it's going to be solved anytime soon, but they don't feel there's any change. and people are looking for change. donald trump used his term make america great again, and i've heard a lot of people say, "i haven't seen any greatness." so, we are not a very patient voter base. you know, i always say it's instant pudding and instant jell-o. everybody wants everything instantly, and we haven't seen any change. lauren: yeah, you know, we started off this morning talking about a lot of that energy that democrats had. right after the election, we saw protests, we saw people joining local groups, a lot of energy, a lot of people wanting to get involved. do you expect something like that is going to carry on up until 2018, or are you seeing a dip? charlie: i think there's going to be a real problem for the democratic party in that regard, and it is this. the so-called resistance movement didn't do the democratic party much good because what they're doing is they're dragging a party that was already mired in some real difficulty further and further and further to the left. and what eleanor was suggesting a minute ago, i think, is that both parties need to find a little bit more common ground in the center. and what had been mentioned by the media as going to be a big problem for the republicans had donald trump not won the presidency, has now become, in my judgment, a significant problem for the democrats. eleanor: one of the things we have to do as a party and the democratic party is bring the party together. and we, you know, we've had some factions here, you know, with senator sanders and what have you. i think he's going to be a real force in the '18 elections, and we need to see-- charlie: he's still telling people he's not a democrat, though. just the other day, he was asked point-blank, "are you a democrat?" "no, i'm not." and i think therein lies the problem. most americans are not socialist, bernie sanders is. and that element of the democrat party right now is the controlling element. it hasn't been historically, but i think they've got a real problem if they allow it to continue to be. eleanor: and not--and most americans are not far, far to the right. so, that's the republican issue, where they have to come and become more of arlen specter type republicans. and so, i think we both have a lot of work to do. lauren: lot to watch heading to 2018. thank you so much, both of you, eleanor dezzi and charlie gerow. charlie: great to be with you. eleanor: thanks, lauren. lauren: next on nbc10 @issue, a new program uses technology to help homeless teens. we'll tell you why its creator thinks it could benefit a lot of people in our area. plus, attorney general jeff sessions raises eyebrows after calling marijuana only slightly less awful than heroin. we'll tell you what scientists think. and later, a ranking of the best suburbs in pennsylvania. find out if your neighborhood made the list. the number one spot is right here in our area. lauren: many teens and other young people who are homeless cling to their cellphones. it's often their only connection to a stable lifestyle. now those phones could be used to help them find a healthy meal in a way that's dignified and compassionate. with me now to discuss the program is mick ebeling. mick is the founder and ceo of not impossible labs. the mission of not impossible labs is to use technology in a way that solves problems for people in difficult situations. thanks for being here, mick. tell us what this program is. mick ebeling: so, hunger not impossible is about recognizing the absurdity of hunger in our country. statistically, there's 42 million people in this country who live in a food scarce environment. and i think people can talk about food scarcity or people being hungry, and it's like, "yeah, yeah," and they kind of forget about it; but try explaining it to a child, my 6-year-old. if i was to say to trace, "there is 42 million people in this country that go hungry every day, but there's plenty of food to feed them," he would say, "daddy, that doesn't make sense," right? so, what not impossible does is we look at these things that are absurd, and we say, "okay, that doesn't make sense just from a logical standpoint; how do we fix it?" so, what hunger not impossible is doing is using the one thing that unifies us pretty much as a species right now, which is funny to say, but it's a cellphone, you know? lauren: and so, how does it work? mick: very simply, a person who is in a food scarce environment, ranging from any age, will get a text message from the ngo they're affiliated with saying, "would you like to get fed today?" and they respond simply with a one or a two. one for yes, two for no. then they're giving menu options to choose from. those menu options are healthy, very nutritionally curated food. they choose one of those menus, and then they go to a restaurant, a quick serve restaurant, a fast-food restaurant, or a grocery store to pick up the food. they pick it up on a to go order, so they pick it up and they leave. and the process of picking it up is just as if you and i were to go in and pick it up. we have a redemption code, we have our name, and we leave, and we have our food. lauren: so, how do you find the people who need this? mick: we don't, the local ngos do. lauren: and here's some jargon there for me, what's an ngo? mick: oh, an ngo is a non-government--it's like charities, people who are already passionate about working with the homeless or working with the people-- lauren: so these are people who are already familiar with the-- mick: so, let's say there's lauren's, you know, children's charity that handles feeding kids who can't eat every day. you have the 100, 200, 300 kids that you already know, you know their families, you know the situation. you would be in charge of making sure that those are the kids that you would help. that way, we're not in the role of finding those people and curating those people. that's your role, and that's your job to do that. lauren: so, you already did a pilot of this in california, right? and now, you're going to be rolling it out a number of places, including philly. so, what'd you learn during that pilot that you're now going to be applying here? mick: here's the main is the thing is that the face of homelessness, the face of people who live in a food scarce environment, don't look like what you think it looks like, right? it's not the person sitting on the side of the street with a bag that says, you know, "throw a couple dimes in." these are people who work, that they still can't make ends meet. these are people who go or kids who go to school. so this is about helping people deal with this basic need of just being fed, just being hungry so they can go to school and they can work. so, that's one of the main things that we learned when we were doing the pilot in venice beach. so many of the people were appreciative of just being able to take care of that fundamental need so they can go about their lives and try to get ahead. lauren: how many people do you think that you'll actually be able to help in this area with that? mick: i mean, statistically, this area is rife with homeless situation and with kids who come from an environment where they're not sure where their next meal is coming from. so, i think when you look at school systems, you look at churches, you look at the local charities or ngos, i mean, the population, i don't have the exact number for you, but this is one of the reasons we came here. this city, not only is this a city that you can feel the community in this city, but it's a city of innovation. it's a city, i mean, look, ben franklin, look at the people who have come from this place. this is a place that is just, it's perfect for this type of a program. lauren: and as people are using this program to get the food they need, is there any other opportunities, since you now have their cellphone number, to connect with them and get them any other services? mick: this program is, it's exactly the case. this program is not about feeding people free meals for the rest of their lives. this is about taking care of that basic need, building some stability in their life so that they can go to school, they can go get a job, they can get some job training. we just got to take care of that need first because if you don't know where your next meal's coming from, if you're hungry, you can't think about going to school, you can't think about getting a job. you've got to think about, "i got to take care of this need right now." so, this is all about basically giving people a little bit of a push and letting people pull up, as opposed to creating a program that keeps them on it forever. lauren: mick, thanks so much. appreciate it. next, on nbc10 @issue, attorney general jeff sessions says marijuana is almost as bad as heroin. but some drug experts disagree. we'll break it down. plus, the best suburb in pennsylvania. find out if it's your neighborhood when we come right back. ♪ we buy any car ♪ any make, any model, any age, any price ♪ ♪ from 50 bucks to 100 grand ♪ we buy any car ♪ any, any, any, any at webuyanycar.com, the gimmicks stop with our ads. trading in our selling your car is hassle-free with just three easy steps. one, get your free online valuation. two, drive to your local car buying centre. and three, walk out with your check in as little as 30 minutes. so don't wait. get your free online valuation now. ♪ find out how much your car's worth ♪ ♪ at webuyanycar.com ♪ find out how much your car's worth ♪ lauren: attorney general jeff sessions recently raised eyebrows by claiming marijuana is only slightly less awful than heroin. now, our partners at factcheck.org take a look at whether experts agree. nbc10's jim rosenfield has the results. jeff sessions: need to confront this heroin and opioid abuse. jim rosenfield: attorney general jeff sessions talking about fighting violent crime in america by taking on the growing problem of opioid addiction. sessions rejects the idea that legalizing marijuana will help. he told a group of law enforcement officers in march, quote, "i am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana, so people can trade one life wrecking dependency for another that's only slightly less awful." vanessa schipani: we at factcheck.org deal with facts, and it's important to mention that that is a subjective statement, but it runs counter to the opinion of experts. jim: factcheck.org says heroin is three times more harmful than marijuana based on a ratings scale put together by experts in the united kingdom and europe that takes into account harm to society and user. vanessa: no one has ever lethally overdosed on marijuana, whereas just in 2015 alone, 13,000 people overdosed on heroin. jim: experts also looked at dependency rates when putting together the ratings scale. vanessa: one in ten people roughly become addicted to marijuana after regular use, whereas heroin is highly, highly addictive. jim: as far as solving the heroin crisis, there is evidence backing the idea that medical marijuana may help curb the opioid epidemic. vanessa: so, one study, for example, found that in states where medical marijuana was legalized, there was a 25% reduction in opioid overdoses. jim: another study found that people with chronic pain reported they reduced the amount of opioids they used. vanessa: marijuana's not harmless, but it's considerably less harmful than heroin. jim: researchers say it's important to point out while these studies look primarily at prescription opioids, their use is linked to the risk of abusing heroin. jim rosenfield for nbc10 @issue. lauren: the centers for disease control tells us the past misuse of prescription opioids is the strongest risk factor for starting and abusing heroin. lauren: a website ranking pennsylvania suburbs by crime rate, schools, and affordability puts a neighborhood in our area at the very top. find out if you live there next. lauren: is your neighborhood the best in pennsylvania? well, if you live in chesterbrook, chester county, the answer is absolutely according to niche.com. and many other local areas ranked highly as well when it comes to crime rate, schools, and affordability. our area has seven of the top ten suburbs, including chesterbrook, penn wynne, devon, ardmore, narberth, and upper uwchlan township. you can check out nbc10.com or our nbc10 app for the complete list of the top 100 suburbs in the state. that's it for this edition of nbc10 @issue, thanks for joining us, have a great sunday. ♪ cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 abercap.com >> announcer: if you're looking to make more money and take control of your personal and financial future, then get ready, because than merrill, the star of a&e's hit tv show "flip this house," one of the most successful real-estate investors in the country and america's number-one real-estate-investing expert, has one heck of an opportunity for you. than is hosting a one-of-a-kind free two-hour real-estate wealth-building workshop where you will learn his three-step system for getting started flipping homes and buying and holding income properties. than and his team are currently looking for a small group of motivated individuals who want to work directly with his team and learn the exact step-by-step system he's used to flip hundreds of properties over the past decade. at this event, you will learn exactly how you can do this without needing money, credit, or any prior experience.

Related Keywords

Ardmore , Pennsylvania , United States , Georgia , Venice Beach , California , London School , Kansas , Philadelphia , Chester County , Washington , Narberth , United Kingdom , Americans , America , Hilary Clinton , Susan G Komen , Jim Rosenfield , Mick Ebeling , Jimmy Carter , Penn Wynne Devon , Barack Obama , Bob Casey , Tom Marino , Karen Handel , Mike Pompeo , Ben Franklin , Bernie Sanders ,