The landmark midterm elections of 2022 flipped the PA State House from Republican to Democratic control for the first time in eleven years. It all started with the 2020 decennial census results which caused new state legislative maps to be drawn in 2021 by the bipartisan Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission. 

The new maps had the potential to give the Democrats a near majority in the PA House which had been solidly under Republican control since 2011. The redrawn maps reduced a twelve seat Republican majority to only a few seats and went into effect in time for the 2022 midterm elections. This would still leave Republicans with a slight majority of seats in both the PA State House and Senate. Voters across Pennsylvania had other ideas and Democrats outperformed nearly everyone’s expectations in what was predicted to be a Republican wave election both nationally and across the state. 

Bolstered by popular Governor candidate Josh Shapiro and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman, state Democrats under Minority Leader Joanna McClinton were able to win a slim majority in the PA State House by flipping all 12 seats needed to win, leaving Democrats with 102-101 seat majority in the State House. However, three Democratic seats were left open around Pittsburgh when one representative died and two more changed positions with Summer Lee elected to the U.S. House and Austin Davis elected as PA Lieutenant Governor. This left Republicans with a temporary 101-99 seat majority until special elections could be held to fill the vacant seats.

The first order of business in January’s new House session was to elect a Speaker of the PA State House. The Speaker of the House is tasked with presiding over and leading the State House. The Speaker has the responsibility for setting House rules of operation and appointing all committee chairs and vice chairs. The Speaker is the third in line for the governorship. With a slim House majority, if Republicans could elect the Speaker they could propose rule changes, run committees, and most concerning for Democrats in Harrisburg, pass constitutional amendments. Constitutional amendments passed by the PA House and Senate in two consecutive sessions are placed on the May primary ballot for approval by the voters of the Commonwealth. Although both parties have taken advantage of the constitutional amendment process, Republicans have been successful in putting forward an amendment to limit the governor’s power to respond to state emergencies like COVID-19.  Rather than seek compromise with Democrats, Republicans have used the amendment process in an attempt to pass laws and circumvent a veto threat from a Democratic governor. Most recently, Republicans have sought to add strict voter ID laws as constitutional amendments in an effort to decrease voter turnout among an urban Democratic base.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, Democrats managed to convince 16 Republicans to join them in electing a centrist Democrat Mark Rozzi of Berks County as the new PA Speaker of the House. As a compromise candidate, Rozzi promised to stop caucusing with the Democratic Party and essentially govern as an independent, making him the first non-Democrat or Republican as the PA Speaker of the House since the 1840s. Rozzi worked with a Republican State Representative Jim Gregory of Altoona to secure the nomination and make history. Rozzi and Gregory were both abused as children by clergy within the Catholic Church; in the previous session, they co-sponsored a state constitutional amendment that would allow victims of sexual abuse to sue abusers even after the expiration of current legal statutes, according to the New York Times. Rozzi called a special session of the House to pass the Child Abuse amendment and Republicans added the Voter ID amendment which led to a month long stalemate in the House.

On Feb. 7, Democrats were able to win the three seats needed to form a governing majority in special elections. The House is back in session on Feb. 21 and to see whether Rozzi will continue as speaker or if Rep. McClinton will make history and succeed him as the first woman of color to hold the PA House Speakership.