HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Democrats won control of the Pennsylvania House in a special election Tuesday, wresting partial power from Republicans for the first time in a dozen years in the competitive swing state.
Democrats won all three vacant Pittsburgh-area House seats to claim a slim edge over Republicans, finally securing the majority they first appeared to have won in the General Election last November. Republicans still hold the Senate, creating political divisions that could make it difficult for lawmakers to pass priority bills to new Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The special election capped months of electoral drama.
Republicans held a comfortable 113-90 House majority last year. But once-a-decade redistricting and strong performance in statewide races helped Democrats flip just enough seats in the fall election to win a 102-101 majority in the House. Or something like that. Three of those Democratic seats quickly became vacant, leading to uncertainty about who actually controls the chamber.
Rep. Tony DeLuca died of cancer in October, shortly before winning reelection, Rep. Summer Lee resigned after also winning congressional elections and Rep. Austin Davis quit before being sworn in as lieutenant governor.
That leaves Republicans with more people in the House than Democrats and causes political problems. The House elected Democratic Rep. Mark Rozzi as speaker as the new session begins on Jan. 3, but only after Republican leaders and several other GOP members joined all Democrats in the vote.
House has been frozen since Rozzi took over and did not pass internal operating rules, assigned members to committees or approved any rules. Rozzi said last week he wanted to retain the speaker while Democrats met with newly elected members.
At a news conference in Pittsburgh late Tuesday, Democratic floor leader Rep. Joanna McClinton said three Democratic candidates had been “thrown into the mixer very quickly” to compete in the special election.
He noted Democrats have been in the House minority for the past 24 years.
McClinton wanted to be the speaker but said he did not want to “move forward in the coming days” because the election results had been tabulated in full and certified, asking people to “please stay tuned to see what the will of this body is” when the House returns to voting session.
Minutes after McClinton finished speaking, the clerk’s office sent an email with news of a House floor session to continue in two weeks.
Democrats are expected to win Tuesday’s special election, because they easily won the seats they fell last fall.
DeLuca’s former seat was won by Democrat Joe McAndrew, 32, a business owner who is a former state House Democratic staffer and former executive director of the Allegheny County Democratic committee. Lee’s former seat was won by Abigail Salisbury, 40, a lawyer and Democratic member of the Swissvale Borough Council. Matthew Gergely, a Democrat who works in McKeesport city government, was elected to replace Davis.
The special election came only after a court rejected an attempt by House Republican floor leader Rep. Bryan Cutler to prevent both contests from being decided on Tuesday.
When a newly elected member of parliament takes office, the House of Representatives may be less full of members. That’s because Republican Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver won a special election Jan. 31 to fill a vacant state Senate seat.