The midterm elections are over, and the Democrats have won. Now their voters are going to demand that the elected officials keep their promises. We noted on Wednesday how one partisan wants money spent on trains, trains, trains, but he’s just a nobody like me. But Thursday morning found The Philadelphia Inquirer looking at reality, and the fact that the money isn’t there.

Pa.’s Democratic trifecta could mean more funding for schools and SEPTA — if Harrisburg can find the money

For the city’s leaders, the most transformative change could be what Gov. Josh Shapiro has said will be his No. 1 priority: raising the state minimum wage for the first time since 2009.

by Anna Orso | Wednesday, November 4, 2026 | 3:16 PM EST

Philadelphia Democrats woke up to a new political reality on Wednesday, and they are brushing off their wishlists.

Elated with their party’s commanding performance in elections across the country, Philly lawmakers said this week that full Democratic control in Harrisburg for the first time in more than 30 years will be felt acutely in the city, where core institutions are facing compounding funding crises.

Come January, Democrats will have a trifecta in Harrisburg, controlling the state House, state Senate, and the governorship, meaning the party can advance its priorities with little to no Republican backing.

In Philadelphia, where Democrats hold a supermajority of local elected offices, that could mean more funding for the city’s financially strapped public school system and a lifeline for SEPTA as the mass transit system stares down a coming fiscal cliff.

It was Republican control of the state Senate which prevented the Commonwealth from lavishing money, money it did not have, on SEPTA and the School District of Philadelphia. As we noted previously, it was only through some fiscal and accounting trickery that the state budget was balanced for the current fiscal year, pushing off a $5.56 billion deficit into two future budget cycles. There’s already a $2.64 billion expense shoved off until FY2027 in the current budget, and that won’t just disappear.

Reporter Anna Orso then spent several paragraphs detailing all of the things the Democrats want to do, before she got down to the important part:

Finding the money to fund Democratic priorities will likely be the hard part as the state expects to spend more than it makes in revenue this fiscal year.

Some progressives want the state to jack up taxes on the rich. Democrats have for years floated the idea of legalizing recreational cannabis so it can be regulated and taxed.

Nothing says responsibility quite like legalizing another intoxicant!

And Shapiro has advocated for a steep tax on unlicensed “skill games” — the slot-like machines in gas stations and convenience stores — to raise money for transit. With his party in firm control of Harrisburg, his plan seems possible.

Can we tell the truth here? “Unlicensed ‘skill games'” are machine games which are prevalent in the poorer areas of the City of Brotherly Love. Machine owners and the bodegas which house them make money off of poorer Philadelphians, so this is a tax on the poorer people in town.

As Democrats craft next year’s budget, they are likely to face tremendous pressure from transit advocates and local elected officials to rush money to the chronically underfunded SEPTA.

There actually is a way to get more money for SEPTA, but it’s one that seemingly nobody wants to hear: SEPTA should raise fares, and let the people who use SEPTA pay for SEPTA! Miss Orso included the fact that SEPTA faces a $192 million “structural operating deficit” in the 2027 fiscal year, but the system itself reported an average daily ridership of over 822,000 in September. That works out to 330,030,000 trips per year, and a fare increase of 59¢ per ride would completely cover the operating deficit.

Couple that with the Transportation Authority’s attempt to crack down on fare evasion, and more taxpayer dollars are not required.

But, of course, the Democrats always want more taxpayer dollars! The public voted for this, and now they’re going to get it, good and hard.