“We won 102 counties versus 101 for Republicans,” said Joanna McClinton, Democratic leader in the House of Representatives — and, follow her, the majority leader — said in an interview. “It’s an indisputable fact.”
Within hours of two Democrats resigning last week, Ms. McClinton was sworn in in an empty chamber of the House. She then scheduled elections for all three vacant seats for February 7, the earliest date possible under state law, and the acting secretary of state of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, signed off on the plan.
Angry Republicans accused Democrats of orchestrating a “paper uprising”. Within days, Representative Brian Cutler, the Republican leader in the House, sued the secretary of state, arguing that Ms McClinton was not the majority leader in the House and therefore did not have the authority to set up meetings. special election.
On Monday morning, it was Mr. Cutler’s turn to be sworn in in the House of Representatives. In a later interview, he said that because he was the Republican leader in the House and because there were 101 Republicans ready to take office, compared with 99 Democrats, “the math made me become the majority leader.”
Mr. Cutler said he would soon submit his own special election date, but recent moves by the Democratic Party have made it too complicated to determine the date.
What happens now is anyone’s guess.
Adam Bonin, a Philadelphia election attorney who has worked with Democrats for a long time, said the stakes were substantial. “It’s not just a matter of who will be in charge of this room for the first month,” he said. “This is really about all sorts of latent power exercises.”
Among them is a Senate bill that would put several Republican-proposed constitutional amendments on a statewide ballot – including those that would establish voter ID requirements, expand legislative power and asserts that there is no state constitutional right to abortion. If each house passes the bill in the upcoming legislative session, the questions will be put to a statewide vote.
