In an interview Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey talked about the 2018 elections, what he thinks they mean for the country, and which policies he will pursue in a divided Congress.

Some — such as President Donald Trump — chide him as “Sleeping” Bob Casey for his traditionally reserved style. Others — namely, progressive Millennials — prefer “Woke” Bob Casey, for his bucking that reputation to vocally upbraid the president on social issues during the past two years.

But whatever your take on his state of consciousness, he’ll be U.S. Sen. Bob Casey for six more years, after winning his third term in a rout of challenger and Congressman Lou Barletta, R-Luzerne County, in the Nov. 6 election. Casey’s re-election was the first time in Pennsylvania history that a Democratic senator won a third term, and his 56-to-43 percent margin over Barletta marked the biggest margin of victory for a Democratic senator in a state Trump won in 2016.

In a 30-minute interview at his Philadelphia offices Tuesday, Casey, of Scranton, showed both sides of the coin, diving into the weeds on his policy priorities heading into a new term while also offering his view that the 2018 elections were a rebuke on Trump.

“Pennsylvania is a pretty good barometer when you have the president winning by 0.7 percent (in 2016), then having two (Democratic) statewide candidates win by 13 (percent), and Governor Wolf (by) 16,” he said. “I think the president would have to be very concerned about that, because of the intensity that was demonstrated in the vote to our benefit, and to his party’s detriment.”

Asked if believes the 2018 elections were a political bill finally coming due for Trump’s personal style, Casey transitioned to something Democrats nationwide have tried to push the conversation on: policy issues, in particular health care.

“It’s difficult I think to dissect how much is opposition to policy and how much is opposition to style or demeanor,” Casey said. “I’m certain that on the policy side of it, his approach to leading the effort or going along with the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and all those protections, there was a resounding rejection of that.”

Casey said he also believes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which overhauled the nation’s tax code and lowered personal and corporate tax rates, did not land the way Republicans expected.

“The idea that a first major tax reform in 30 years was weighted toward big corporations and the top 1 percent, I don’t think people were happy with the way that turned out,” Casey said. “Corporate profits are up but wages haven’t grown all that much when you factor inflation and other indicators.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in September that year-over-year wage growth was up 2.9 percent, the highest rate since 2009. After adjusting for inflation that figure becomes 1 percent, according to Forbes.

Casey believes his victory was a mix of several demographic groups going his way, including high turnout among the Democratic base, suburban voters trending away from Republicans, and women voters supporting Democrats. But it’s perhaps the latter category that had the most impact for Casey: Exit polls from NBC News showed Casey and Barletta were tied among male voters, but that women supported Casey by a 63-to-35 percent margin.

“I think that when you look at the Women’s March forward, you can see the intensity sustained itself over a long period of time and it played out on Election Day,” Casey said.

But what now that the elections are over and a divided Congress has emerged? A Politico/Morning Consult poll released Monday showed that 33 percent of American voters want Democrats to start impeachment proceedings against Trump when they take the House next year, far less than the 51 percent who do not. Trump threatened last week that increased oversight and investigation from Democrats could result in a stalled legislative agenda.

But 61 percent of Democratic voters do want to pursue impeachment, setting up a conundrum for the party as it plots its strategy over the next two years. Should it extend an olive branch and focus on bipartisan policies, or risk spending political capital on oversight of the administration?

Casey demurred on making any predictions. But he said he “hopes” that the two parties can find areas of common ground such as infrastructure. He noted that Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and likely Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California, all used the word “infrastructure” in post-election comments.

“I hope the president would, if not lead or try to lead, but at least go along with what I think is a great consensus to rebuild and repair America,” Casey said. “We can disagree on a hell of a lot of other things. We should all agree that we should repair roads and bridges and water systems.”

But when talking about his personal policy priorities, the number of potential “easies,” if there are such things, ends about there. Next on his list was a dive back into tax policy, where he believes middle-class Americans should be given additional tax relief while placing more tax burden back on higher earners, which he defines as the “top 1 percent.”

“I hope we can agree that it’s better to cut taxes substantially, robustly for the middle class, as opposed to the top 1 percent,” Casey said. “That would lift people’s wages or take home pay. And when you do that, you automatically are reducing somewhat, the big costs in their lives.”

Reducing the common household costs of child care, prescription drugs and health care are also high on the priority list, Casey said. He supports legislation that would create federal subsidies for the cost of child care on a sliding scale. For households within 150 percent of the median state income, or about $80,000 and below in Pennsylvania, daycare expenditures would be capped at 7 percent of income, Casey said.

He added that in Pennsylvania, the average two-parent family spends about 13 percent of income on child care, and a single mom paying to send an infant to a child care center uses an average of 49 percent of her income.

“That is completely unsustainable,” Casey said. “She will never be able to work, that child will never get the child care that they need.”

Such a policy would also benefit the child through early education, Casey said, before applying a slick tagline.

“Kids learn more now, and earn more later,” Casey said. “It’s nice to have a rhyme but it’s more than a rhyme. All the data show it.”

One problem: While 33 Democratic senators have co-sponsored the bill, the Child Care for Working Families Act, since it was introduced in 2017, no Republican counterparts have joined them. In the House, it’s 139 to 0.

Another issue: how the federal government is going to pay to subsidize child care and health care when its deficit is already ballooning to a six-year high and the national debt sits about equal with gross domestic product. Casey acknowledges it’s an issue.

“We are reaching a point where debt levels, they’re approaching unsustainable levels,” he said.

Asked how to solve the problem, Casey again pointed first to increasing taxes on top earners, saying he believes the country is not getting “much bang for the buck” on lowering rates. Casey added he believes it’s important to continue growing the economy to bring in new government revenues. He said he does believe there are “certainly places” where expenditures could be examined for cut backs, but did not offer specifics.

There’s also the overarching problem of how to get anything done in the current political environment. Asked about how best to pass bipartisan legislation in the next two years, Casey said he believes the Senate is already in relatively good position. He points toward bipartisan agreement over the past two years on issues such as the budget, where Democrats gave in on more spending for defense and Republicans gave ground for spending on non-defense.

He added the chamber was also able to pass out the so-called “Farm Bill,” the nation’s primary legislation setting agricultural policy. The bill passed the Senate 86-11 in June but failed in the House.

“There are some templates that are in place for bipartisan investment in ways to make our economy stronger, and ways to lift the middle class and help the vulnerable,” Casey said.