On Wednesday, the state Senate returned to Harrisburg for the last scheduled day of the legislative session. Republicans and Democrats also met in their caucuses to elect their leaders for the next two years.
While Republicans made gains in national elections, the partisan makeup of both the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives will remain unchanged. Republicans in the Senate maintain a 28-22 majority, while Democrats in the House of Representatives maintained a single-seat majority.
“We in the Senate, as a majority in the Senate, will continue to stand firm on the outrageous spending that House Democrats consistently send us,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), who was re-elected as her Senate president. role on Wednesday. “We will continue to hold the line and protect taxpayers’ wallets. That’s why they put us here.
All members of the Republican Senate leadership were re-elected to their party positions. Kate Flessner, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (D-Ind.), said there were no challenges.
As majority leader, Pittman will effectively have the final say in setting the majority party’s legislative agenda and will play a major role in developing policies to implement them. He is also expected to play a leading role in negotiations with House Majority Leaders, Gov. Josh Shapiro and others.
Ward was elected by the full chamber to serve as interim Senate President Pro Tempore from December 1 to January 6. That’s when lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene at the beginning of the next session and another vote will be taken to elect a full-term President Pro Tempore. session. Ward presides over the Senate in the absence of Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and would take over in the event of a vacancy.
“When I nominated her last year, I thought many of the comments were worth repeating,” Pittman said on the Senate floor. “She has nerves of steel, ice flows in her veins, but this time it should be emphasized more that she has a heart of gold.”
Sen. Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster) was re-elected majority whip and will aid build support for bills and policies within the party.
Senator Scott Martin was re-elected as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful in the Legislature. Typically, the appropriations chairman plays a vast role in negotiating budget issues and holding hearings on proposed budgets.
Sen. Kristen Phillips-Hill (R-York) was re-elected as majority caucus chairwoman, who leads Republican caucus meetings.
Senator Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington) was re-elected as majority caucus secretary.
House Democrats hope for better cooperation with Senate Republicans in the fresh session
There were no changes in the top positions in the Democratic caucus in the Senate. Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) will remain minority leader. Sen. Vincent Hughes (Philadelphia) was elected minority appropriations chair, and Sen. Christine Tartaglione (Philadelphia) was re-elected minority whip.
“I am honored and humbled to announce that I will serve as chairman of the AP Senate Democratic Caucus for the next two years,” Costa said in a press release. “I would like to thank my fellow Democratic senators for entrusting me with this responsibility. I’m looking forward to the upcoming fight.”
Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks) was also re-elected as caucus administrator. But there have been challenges and changes in the lower-ranking Democratic leadership elections.
Backroom deals have hindered progress in Harrisburg for decades
– Sen. Katie Muth (D-Montgomery)
Senator Wayne Fontana (D-Allegheny) will be replaced as Democratic Caucus Chair by Senator Maria Collett (D-Montgomery), who previously served as Caucus Secretary.
Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) was elected to replace Collett as the fresh secretary.
Senator Katie Muth (D-Montgomery), who served as chair of the Democratic Policy Committee, was challenged and defeated in the caucus election by Senator Nick Miller (D-Lehigh).
The Chairman of the Political Committee sets the agenda and manages the Minority Policy Committee. In reality, it’s a tool for Democrats to hold hearings and raise awareness about issues they consider a priority but may not be addressed by Republican-controlled committees.
Muth, one of the more progressive members of the Senate Democratic caucus, hit social media after his failed re-election bid. “Backroom deals have hindered progress in Harrisburg for decades,” she wrote. “…when taxpayer-funded positions are awarded based on backroom political deals rather than merit, it is disturbing.”
In an interview Wednesday, Muth said she thought her re-election bid had failed because “I’m not a corporate democrat.”
“It seems like dollars raised by members equates to leadership,” Muth said. “I didn’t run a traditional campaign, raising bazillions of dollars from for-profit corporate donors,” she said.
Costa’s spokesman did not comment on her public statements.
Neither seat resulted in a change in party control in the House, but two Senate seats resulted in a change in party control, one from Democrats to Republicans and one vice versa.
In Dauphin County, Republican Patty Kim won election to the 15th Senate District seat after Republican Sen. John DiSanto decided not to seek re-election. In Northeast Philadelphia, 29-year-old Republican Joe Picozzi unseated incumbent Democrat Sen. Jimmy Dillon. Picozzi will be the first Republican to represent the district since 2001.
Departing members point to cross-party work
Senators whose terms end this year also said goodbye to their colleagues. These include sense. Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny), DiSanto (R-Perry) and Mike Regan (R-York), who did not seek re-election, as well as Dillon. DiSanto was absent.
A theme of the outgoing senators’ speeches was recognizing the importance of bipartisan efforts.
“We work together a lot more than people realize,” said Brewster, who has served since 2010. “We spend 95% of our time debating 5% of our problems.”
Brewster also acknowledged the unique challenges of the last few years, citing Covid-19 and the fallout from the 2020 election.
“No matter how bad our day is, the people you support and serve care about them, but it’s not their problem,” Brewster said. “I have always believed that our job as elected officials is to give people hope that tomorrow will be better than yesterday.”
Regan also acknowledged the particular difficulties of the last few years, citing Covid-19 and the “controversial” presidential election.
“You know, we have served members of the entire body through quite a difficult time,” said Regan, elected in 2016. “But even with all that’s going on around the world and us here in this House, we’ve managed to do a lot of really good things, including some bipartisan budgets where we’ve worked together to make sure that Pennsylvanians do the right thing in this way. many different things.”
Dillon touted his successes in passing bills to aid recruit Philadelphia police officers, limit so-called SLAPP lawsuits and regulate sexually explicit images of real people created using artificial intelligence. Dillon also acknowledged that some of his priorities, such as some worker protection bills and absentee landlord penalties, never became law.
“As a coach, I tried to teach my players that even the best effort sometimes doesn’t guarantee victory,” said Dillon, who runs basketball academies throughout Philadelphia. “But I always believed that fighting mattered.”
The Senate will be in recess until its next session is scheduled to begin in the fresh year.
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