HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania lawmakers elected state Rep. Joanna McClinton as the first woman to become House speaker Tuesday, ending months of turmoil in the chamber after state Rep. Mark Rozzi resigned from the top job.
McClinton, an eight-year Democratic member from Philadelphia, got 102 votes for speaker. The only other lawmaker nominated for the job, state Rep. Carl Metzgar, a Somerset Republican, got 99 votes.
An ordained minister and lawyer who was raised by a single parent, McClinton is the second Black lawmaker to lead the chamber, following K. Leroy Irvis, who was first elected speaker in 1977 and served almost eight years over two stints in the job.
Accepting the gavel from Rozzi, McClinton said she was “so very grateful for all who have come before me.” She mentioned Irvis and Rosita Youngblood, another Philadelphia Democrat who was the first Black woman to hold a House leadership post.
Acknowledging the political tumult that has dominated the chamber since the November midterm elections, McClinton called her elevation a fresh start.
“I am confident that we can collaborate,” she said in remarks on the House floor. “We don’t have to criticize. I am confident that we can debate. We don’t have to disparage each other. I am confident that we can replace our short-sighted political games with sincere and productive cooperation. This body can and will do better.”
The change in leadership capped a chaotic few months in Harrisburg. Democrats won 102 House seats in November, a bare one-seat majority. But because of three Democratic vacancies, Republicans had more members when the House first reconvened this year. Rozzi became speaker with Republican support instead of McClinton, the House Democratic leader.
A clean sweep of three Feb. 7 special elections in Allegheny County to fill the vacancies gave Democrats the majority that led to Tuesday’s leadership change. It’s the party’s first time controlling the chamber in more than a decade. Republicans still control the state Senate.
State Rep. Bryan Cutler, a Lancaster Republican who was speaker in the previous two-year session, was one of the 16 Republicans who had joined Democrats in the surprise Jan. 3 vote that made Rozzi a compromise speaker. Cutler, the Republican leader, congratulated McClinton on Tuesday.
“After several months of gridlock and a state House of Representatives that has not been working for the people, we are in dire need of a reset,” Cutler said.
Rozzi, a 10-year Democratic member from Berks County and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, gained statewide prominence as an outspoken advocate for other victims. Referring to the political bitterness of the last few months, Rozzi had harsh words for some of the Republicans who had helped elevate him — though he didn’t name them.
“They attempted to hoodwink the House and elect a member of the other party to do their bidding for them,” Rozzi said. “What they didn’t count on, however, is that there are good people here in Harrisburg who won’t put self-interest over what is right. I was used as a child and it has tormented me my entire life. I will never allow myself to be used again.”
The high point of Rozzi’s 57-day speakership came Friday, when the House gave final passage to two bills that would open a window for lawsuits by victims of childhood sex abuse whose claims would otherwise be outside the statute of limitations.
But the future of that legislation remains unclear, with Democrats at odds with Republicans who control the Senate. The Senate last month already passed a different version of that legislation but bundled it with other measures that are nonstarters for Democrats, including one that would enact stricter voter ID requirements in the state.
One of the statute of limitations bills passed under Rozzi was sponsored by state Rep. Jim Gregory, a Blair Republican, who also has spoken publicly about being abused as a child. Gregory, who nominated Rozzi for speaker on Jan. 3, said he would dwell on last week’s legislative accomplishment, and not on Rozzi’s comments Tuesday.
“What was said today is not important to me,” Gregory said in an interview.
In his resignation speech, Rozzi said he wasn’t elected by voters for the speaker’s office, and that he wouldn’t stand in the way of the woman who effectively was when voters gave Democrats control of the House. He said he believes in McClinton.
“I and all Pennsylvanians are counting on you,” he said.
State Rep. Jared Solomon, a Philadelphia Democrat, said McClinton’s swearing-in marked a “new day” for the state, and that her leadership would help make state government “relevant to people.”
“She will make an exemplary speaker,” Solomon said in an interview.
The nomination of McClinton, made by state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Philadelphia Democrat, was seconded by state Rep. Dan Frankel, an Allegheny Democrat. He said McClinton's ascent in the chamber was the fastest he had ever seen, and that she “blew the doors off” in every job she held.
“She reached people in a way that they have never been reached before,” Frankel said. “Her confidence, her work ethic, her charisma, her creativity, her persistence, they thrust her forward and upward.”
McClinton is a graduate of LaSalle University and got a law degree from Villanova University in 2006. She reflected Tuesday on how, in 2002, she thought long and hard as she wrote her personal statement for her law school application, because she never knew if her childhood dreams would materialize.
“From second grade I wanted to be a lawyer, a preacher, an actress, and a hairdresser,” McClinton said. “I can specifically remember working on my personal statement for a couple of months trying to compel these admissions folks that I needed an opportunity because I had already been blessed by the grace of God to overcome the statistic for my life.”
McClinton pledged that the new Democratic majority would not silence the Republican minority. She said she would work hard off the floor to make sure active session time is productive.
“Give me the chance. Give me the opportunity to show you what I can do for this chamber,” McClinton said.
She vowed that under her leadership, the House would “stand up against every form of discrimination.”
McClinton’s elevation also led to an immediate reshuffling of leadership in the House Democratic caucus, with state Rep. Matt Bradford, a Montgomery Democrat, becoming majority leader.
