PA House Republicans Hand Speakership to Democrats… Again.

Updated, January 7, 2025

As many Republican constituents suspected, a deal has been cut in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives between Democrats and Republicans. In the deal, in exchange for rules changes, Jesse Topper would drop out of the race, and Republicans would give the speakership to Joanna McClinton (D). After the initial vote deadlocked at 101-101, Jesse Topper (R) dropped out. The resulting uncontested vote was conducted with a voice vote that awarded the gavel to McClinton. SO, as many Republicans feared, there was no roll call.

January 6, 2025:

When the speakership of the PA House comes to a vote on January 7, some people are suggesting that Republicans will effectively, once again, hand the gavel to Democrats. 102 votes are needed to grant the gavel. With Rep. Gergley hospitalized, the vote for speaker would seem to stand at a stalemate of 101-101. However, Republican Rep. Tom Mahaffie has been known to be friendly to Democrats in procedural matters, and could move a tie-breaking vote for Democrats. Instead of delaying the vote, as would be a strategic play for Republicans, it appears that the House will hold a vote. At present, we’ll have a likely face-off between Jesse Topper (R) and Joanna McClinton (D). In addition to the concerns about the direction of Mahaffie’s vote, there are also fears among Republicans that Topper will drop out of contention, resulting in an uncontested voice vote, with no roll call for a record of who voted in which direction. This will undoubtedly have constituents across the state wondering how they are expected to make informed votes if their elected officials refuse to be identified with their votes.

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