Pennsylvania Democrats have officially won control of the state House — again, after three special elections held on Tuesday over objections from Republicans all turned out in the party’s favor.
The outcomes weren’t entirely unexpected, since Democrats already won the seats in last year’s midterm elections. One of the Democrats who, on paper, nabbed a post contested again earlier this week passed away, and the other two left for other posts, including the role of lieutenant governor and a Congressional seat. Democrats nabbing control of the state House, with a seat more than Republicans, marks a dramatic turnaround, after Republicans took control of the lower chamber of the state legislature after the 2010 elections and held that control all the way up to this flip. Amid Republicans ending up technically with more active members of the House due to the three vacant Democratic seats, the state House has yet to do much beyond selecting a Speaker after last year’s elections.
State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R), the leader of the chamber’s Republicans, challenged the authority on which the chamber’s Democratic leader issued notices setting some of the specifics for this week’s special elections. The Speaker picked some time after that dispute emerged, state Rep. Mark Rozzi (D), threw his positional weight behind the previous moves in favor of holding the elections this past Tuesday, which were undertaken by state Rep. Joanna McClinton — who might soon be hoping to take the Speaker role once the expanded Democratic bloc is seated in the chamber. Notably, Cutler supported Rozzi ascending to the Speakership.
The unsuccessful GOP challenges to the timing of these elections went to court. Cutler’s ideas for the special elections were just ridiculous. Two would have been held in May under plans that he released — leaving residents of those districts, apparently in the Pittsburgh area, that much longer without representation in the state House and giving state Republicans a longer opening to exert some kind of last-ditch control.
Cutler was predictably outraged after a ruling against him. “Instead of resolving a dispute where the answer was self-evident based on the numbers, the court took the path of least resistance and thereby weakened the foundations of our republic and faith in the rule of law,” he claimed. As reported here, the court cited basic standards for granting a preliminary injunction in its order rejecting Cutler’s push. He can’t pick and choose which legal standards he ostensibly wants to follow and then credibly claim he’s sticking up for what he insists is the rule of law. When McClinton issued her contested documents underlying the elections this week, the House technically didn’t have a Speaker, and she was operating from a claimed position of presiding officer tied to the expected Democratic majority.