District Round-up 09.20.26
Dear Neighbor, Thank you for reading my District Round-up. As your candidate for Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District, it is my honor and pleasure to deliver to you where I’ve been and what issues I’ve tackled in the past week. Criss-crossing the counties of Adams, Franklin, Fulton, Bedford, Cambria, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Cumberland, and Somerset gives me great opportunities to meet with voters, hear what is on your hearts and minds, and the chance to voice my fight for Everyday Americans. If you would like to contribute to my campaign, please donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/beth-farnham-for-congress-1
The Most Terrifying Conversation I’ve Ever Had With Voters
The most terrifying conversation I’ve ever had with voters took place in a charming small town in our beautiful 13th Congressional District with…two seemingly-sweet, older ladies.
As they approached my tent, I held out my card per usual saying, “Hi, I’m Beth Farnham, running for US Congress. Please vote for me on November 3rd.”
They paused and took my literature, murmured a little to each other and looked at me.
So I asked, “What is on your heart and mind at the federal level of government?”
They responded, “Nothing, really.”
I got specific. “How are you doing with the price of gas these days?”
Ladies: Fine
Me: Really? It’s kind of high right now. That can be hard on people, especially those with fixed incomes.
Ladies: That’s okay. We’re willing to pay it.
Me: But it would be less if we pulled out of Iran.
Ladies: But if we pulled out of Iran, Trump would look weak.
Me: Well, he shouldn’t have begun it in the first place.
Ladies: It’s okay he’ll finish it.
Me: Finish it?
Ladies: Yes, he’ll annihilate them.
And then I remembered Trump’s Easter promise that “a whole civilization will die tonight” which is Trump’s codespeak for using a nuclear bomb against them.
These senior citizens, with all of their lived experience, most likely matriarchs in their own families, were absolutely fine blowing up millions of families across the seas because right-wing media had made them feel that that those other people were a threat.
It didn’t matter that Trump had claimed he had ended Iran’s nuclear ability in 2025. It didn’t matter that many Iranians are innocent and at the mercy of their terrible and violent government.
As far as these people were concerned, millions of Iranians – children, mothers, fathers, friends, neighbors, coworkers, caregivers, grocers, doctors, lawyers, and all members of their society deserve to die violent, torturous deaths or suffer severe burns, radiation sickness, malnutrition, and illness.
Nothing I said could sway them to see the humanity of Iranian people. They approved of a cruel and chaotic narcissist pressing the button of the football that is always near for him to use against a country that did not attack us.
The bloodlust of these fellow constituents was just under their thinner skin.
For weeks, I kept turning the conversation over and over in my mind. They spoke about nuking human beings as if it was as normal as switching the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer. Worse, they weren’t the only ones. Recently, I encountered some other voters who started to go down that path, so I called them out on it.
“Do you think nuking millions of people is doing the Lord’s work? DO YOU?”
They backed down and switched tactics, suggesting that Mossad, the Israeli CIA, could simply take out the head of Iranian government. I think if Mossad had that capability, they would have exercised it already. As least these voters began to think beyond deploying a nuclear bomb. Uh, thanks, whoever gave them that fresh idea. It is a bit surreal to be deep in Appalachia, at a county fair no less, squeezed between booths of 3d printed toys and maple candy and casually listen to a fairgoer discuss the assasination strategy of an intelligence agency of a faraway foreign country, by the way.
But I don’t know if everyone who was onboard with Trump at Easter has backed down from it.
So I try and I work and I talk and I offer everything I can to help my fellow Americans recognize that people different from us who aren’t attacking us don’t deserve such contempt and hatred from their hearts, but to see the humanity in one another.
If they can stop hating other people, then maybe, just maybe, they will #ChooseDemocracy.
Sources:
2025/june/trump-says-iran-strikes-set-nuclear-program-back-decades-praises-nato-spending-push
/2026/03/13/why_iranians_cannot_simply_take_over_their_government_
Good Cheer and Conversations in Shippensburg
While our US Representative was silently approving Trump’s trampling of the First Amendment, I was out in our beautiful 13th Congressional District speaking to voters about choosing Democracy on Saturday.
Many thanks to the Shippensburg Area Chamber of Commerce for hosting the Shippensburg Beer and Wine Festival today. It was a lovely afternoon of good cheer and good conversation. Even if fairgoers didn’t engage, they chuckled when I asked, “Mixing alcohol with politics? What could possibly go wrong?”
But seriously, our precious Democracy is under such threat, the circumstances are so dire, that it is important to try to reach voters wherever you are, even if it’s just a casual afternoon with a cover of John Denver’s music in the background.
Many thanks to Campaign Manager Jack Stansbury and Team Members Brian, Claire, Angie, and Chris for setting up, tearing down, and staffing the tent.
Together, with voters who love our country as much as we do, we #ChooseDemocracy !
Enjoyable Interview
Many thanks to Athena Williams of Voices of Change with the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women for having interviewed me on Thursday evening. I appreciated her good questions and support for this campaign. Together, we CHOOSE DEMOCRACY!
Measles Kills 4th Pennsylvanian – from Burnham, Mifflin County in our 13th Congressional District
In 2018, I was expelled from my mommy group.
Why?
Because I had done the unthinkable – I had raised my voice about the importance of vaccines.
In 2017, I had discovered a secret antivaxxer and her friends in our group.
I spent the next year explaining the severity of measles and the lifesaving merits of vaccines that prevent the transmission of childhood diseases, writing letters to the Editor of our local paper, and advising parents, especially those of babies who weren’t fully vaccinated, to check the vaccine philosophies of other parents in order to make decisions about who they would group their children with.
In booting me from the group, I was told, “The antivaxxers feel discriminated against.”
But believing antivaccine rhetoric is not a protected class of people.
It’s just choosing someone’s wrongheaded beliefs (and the snake oils they sell to cure what ails ya) over evidence-based science.
I wasn’t wrong.
On Monday and Wednesday, we learned about the third and fourth measles deaths respectively in Pennsylvania where measles has been diagnosed in 38 counties and is “the largest outbreak of any state.”
We’ve also just learned today, September 20th, that someone with measles visited the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for several hours on September 11th.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t need an antivaxxer in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We need a medical expert as our Secretary of HHS, truly promoting vaccines and their corresponding schedule as advised by the American Association of Pediatrics.
Please vote for me, Beth Farnham, on November 3rd, so I can work with other caring legislators to fix our leadership at the top and keep Americans, especially our most vulnerable ones, thriving. I will also sponsor a national healthcare plan so basic preventative care is accessible to all Americans.
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy and the good health of our people!
Sources:
2026/09/15/well/pennsylvania-measles-death
/2026/09/a-40-year-old-woman-is-the-third-measles-related-death-in-pas-growing-outbreak-
https://www.wgal.com/article/chop-measles-exposure-philadelphia/73794264
Grateful for Local Support
Many thanks to Team Member Robin Deitch and her husband, Ed Deitch, for hosting a meet and greet at their home on Sunday.
It was a fantastic get together as Amblebrook neighbors of all political parties asked me their questions and listened to my answers. Many told me they would vote for me, not just because we agree on so much, but because they know I will continue to show up and be accessible to them.
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy
Food Forum
Many thanks to the Adams County Food Policy Council for their Food Forum, including Katie Kerr who works for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in Harrisburg.
It was an informative evening of personal stories, farmer concerns, and the impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on our community that our own US Representative, multimillionaire John Joyce, voted for.
Mostly, our working neighbors are losing their food assistance known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and going hungry.
This means that as enrollees lose SNAP benefits because they didn’t receive 80 hours a month from their employer, they have to go elsewhere for food. Our local food pantries are seeing an uptick in demand.
From WITF –
Shila Ulich, CEO of Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, said the food banks are there to help food-insecure households, but it isn’t a replacement for SNAP. Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has seen an increase of nearly 5% in non-SNAP visitors.
“For every one meal we deliver in the charitable food network, SNAP delivers nine, so that’s a huge impact,” she said. “It’s the most immediate social service network safety net that we have, where individuals have the ability to go and choose the foods that are right for them and their families.”
But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can overturn the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by voting into Congress me, Beth Farnham, and other caring legislators who will vote for policies that help Everyday Americans, not hinder us.
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy !
Charity of the Week!
Even though charitable donations will not meet the overwhelming need of food assistance and healthcare for lower income Americans, these charities are a stopgap until I am elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and can legislate helpful federal programs as well as prevent a rapacious president from illegally impounding the congressionally-approved funds for those programs.
Please check out the Adams County Food Policy Council page and donate to the charity of your choice or volunteer with them, if you can.
https://www.adamsfoodpolicy.org/take-action
Comparing and Contrasting Votes on Legislation
Check out how Joyce recently voted, how I would have voted in comparison, and why!
FYI – if you’re having trouble seeing this comparison in your email, please click the option for “Read on Blog” and it will load properly for you.
If you’re like me, you love this country as much as I do and work to make a positive difference. In the midst of this Constitutional Crisis, please consider reaching out to your county Democratic committee or Democratic candidates so that we can strengthen our Democracy instead of letting it slide into fascism. We don’t just #ChooseDemocracy, we choose Pennsylvania, we choose The United States of America, we choose Humanity and I am deeply glad to work along side you. Sincerely, Beth
