Salena Zito: Pennsylvania Democrats Upended as House Speaker Flips to Independent

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — Come January in Harrisburg, there are two constants: The annual Farm Show will be better than it was the year before — it always is — and swearing-in for the new two-year legislative session is guaranteed to be packed with drama.

Tuesday was no exception. The state House, which was to vote at noon for the new speaker, was stopped by the chief clerk. It was left to members, their families, as well as the press, to wonder how this divided body would fulfill its obligation of electing a speaker to preside over their chamber.

G. Terry Madonna is a Millersville University political science professor. He said that the drama centers around two things: “The November elections were really close with the Democrats flipping 12 seats to take over the majority; however, that became complicated because one of the Democrats who won, Rep. Tony DeLuca, died a few weeks before the election, and two of the other Democrats who won, Summer Lee and Austin Davis, resigned, with Lee heading off to Congress and Davis winning as lieutenant governor,” He explained.

Lee and Davis both sought their state House seats and won them. The margin is now 101 to 99 for the Republicans. Once the special elections for the DeLuca and Lee seats are held, all three seats were overwhelmingly Democratic, the Democrats would have the majority. This situation won’t likely happen until May.

At the moment, the majority of Pennsylvania’s state House is held by Republicans. It is likely that it will swing back to Democratic control in six months. This is why the drama.

There was drama at the start of the last session. This time it was in Senate. GOP lawmakers passed a resolution to have the former-Lt. Gov. removed from the Senate chamber. John Fetterman (D), is the president of this chamber.

Madonna stated that he was not surprised by Tuesday’s drama. “No one really expected the Democrats to win the majority in the state House including Democrats, but the redistricting that occurred after the 2020 census gave them more opportunity to win more seats. We have an almost unprecedented number of newly elected members, 50, who won their seats because of Republican members who decided not to run after their seats became much more Democratic,” He said.

Surprised everyone, state Rep. Jim Gregory (R), of Blair County, nominated state Rep. Mark Rozzi of Berks County as the speaker. Tim O’Neal, a Republican from Washington County, supported the move. “We need an independent voice and an independent mind.”

Joanna McClinton (D), State House Majority Leader, offered to support Rozzi and, within a matter of minutes, Rozzi was elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania State House.

Rozzi changed from Democrat into Independent in his acceptance speech. “I am sure a lot of you didn’t see this coming today,” He then spoke about the importance and importance of the independent voter for American politics, owing to their putting “their fellow man first,” He said.

Rozzi made the announcement that he was not going to be a Democrat and that he would not co-chair with any party. He would also have staff members from both parties.

Rep. State House Rob Mercuri, a Republican from Allegheny County, was there when it happened and said that it was something no one expected. “It was a surprise result to be sure, but if Mr. Rozzi holds to his newly claimed independent status, this could be both an historic and welcome development for both my constituents in District 28 as well as citizens across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania who are looking for a bipartisan approach to our most pressing issues,” He said.

“Now it’s time to get to work on solving these issues together,” He said.

Devlin Robinson (R), a state senator said that the partisan count after special elections will be 101-101-1. This reflects how divided the state. He laughed at all the drama. “Just when you thought you’ve seen it all.”

Salena Zito, a CNN political analyst and staff reporter and columnist for The Washington Examiner, is Salena Zito. She travels from Main Street all the way to the Beltway and every place in between, using shoe-leather journalism. You can learn more about Salena or read her past columns at the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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