In the November midterm elections, Democrats celebrated taking back the Pennsylvania state house for the first time in 12 years with the slimmest one-seat majority, but even then, the majority wasn’t real, and the majority quickly disappeared.  Well, depending who you ask.

The final tally of the 2022 midterms showed Democrats won 102 seats in the 203-seat lower chamber of the state legislature.  But one of the Democratic incumbents reelected on Election Night had actually died a month before the election.  Another member of the chamber was elected to Congress, and a third Democrat was elected Lt. Governor as Josh Shapiro’s running mate.

So while Democrats technically hold the majority of seats, they don’t have the majority of legislatures in the chamber, and Republicans are attempting to jump on that gap and exploit it:  Republican Valerie Gaydos announced a bid to be the state house speaker, which would allow Republicans to set the rules for the upcoming session, handcuffing Democrats.  The problem:  Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton has already been sworn in to the position, much to the consternation of Republicans.

As they sit on a 101-99 temporary majority, Republicans are attempting all kinds of fuckery to exploit this political oddity.  While McClinton set the date for the elections to fill the vacant seats for February 7th, the earliest possible date, Republicans are taking to the courts to push the special election date for two of the seats to May 16th, the last possible day allowable by state law, and not coincidentally a date that would give Republicans a majority for more than three months.

Democrats are highly favored to win the elections for the open seats, so as soon as the elections are held, the Democratic majority can elect its new Speaker.  However, when the legislature goes back into session January 3rd, Chief Clerk Brooke Wheeler will preside over the chamber until a Speaker can be elected, which should be the second most dramatic speaker election that day.