Facing a dramatically different political landscape than Republicans had expected, with the possibility of Democrats in control of the state House, the incoming Senate president pro tempore, Kim Ward, struck a conciliatory tone on Tuesday shortly after her election as the first woman ever to lead the chamber.
When Ms. Ward, R-Hempfield, moves into her new role on Dec. 1, it will mark the first time in Pennsylvania’s 235-year history that a woman has held a legislative office created by the state constitution. She’ll hold the office on an interim basis until Jan. 2, when senators elect a permanent leader for the next session of the General Assembly.
A second woman could soon make history just steps down the Capitol hallway. Rep. Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, is poised to be elected the first female speaker of the House if Democrats win at least one of the two remaining undecided House races. With Attorney Gen. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, moving into the governor’s mansion next year and a Democratic majority on the state Supreme Court, that would leave Ms. Ward at the helm of the only part of government positioned to put the brakes on Mr. Shapiro’s agenda.
“We think that this is going to be pretty challenging in the next year or two. The landscape has changed a little,” Ms. Ward said Tuesday in the Capitol rotunda during her first appearance after Senate Republicans elected their new leadership team.
Republicans across both Pennsylvania and the nation had expected sweeping wins in the Nov. 8 midterms. But a backlash to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and, in Pennsylvania, a GOP gubernatorial candidate far outside the state’s mainstream led to defeats for Republican candidates up and down the ballot. If Democrats take the House, it will be the first time since 2010 that Republicans didn’t have unified control of the Legislature.
Ms. Ward steered clear of the partisan warfare that defined one of the most fiercely contested midterm elections in generations. Two years after she attended state Sen. Doug Mastriano’s now-infamous Gettysburg hearing, where the future gubernatorial nominee spread false conspiracy theories in service of Donald Trump’s denial of his 2020 election loss, Ms. Ward favored a more civil tone.
“We need to compromise where we can, and I think we have a record of doing that for the past couple of years,” said Ms. Ward, ticking off a list of recent bipartisan accomplishments including “record education funding,” an expansion of the earned income tax credit and a decreased corporate net income tax.
At the same time, she said, the 28-seat GOP majority stood ready to “stop the things that we think are bad for Pennsylvanians.”
Ms. Ward, who survived a breast cancer diagnosis just last year, had also made history almost exactly two years ago when Republicans elected her to be the first Senate majority leader in state history, one step below president pro tem.
When she moves into her new post, she’ll replace Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, who decided not to seek re-election and instead ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor.
Her newly elected replacement as majority leader, Sen. Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, acknowledged the historical marker laid down by her election, but said that wasn’t why she got the job.
“She was elected by our caucus because of her ability to serve as the president pro tem,” Mr. Pittman said.
Pennsylvania state politics has long been criticized as a boys club, and fewer than one in three state lawmakers are women, according to Chatham University’s Center for Women in Politics.
Ms. Ward’s election, however, came the same day Senate Democrats picked Christine Tartaglione, of Philadelphia, to be the first woman to serve as Democratic whip in the chamber — the second-ranking leadership position in the caucus.
“I have seen my fair share of bad bills pass and great bills squandered away into the abyss of parliamentary procedure. Being able to pull upon seven terms’ worth of experience and bipartisan relationships will help our caucus move forward our progressive priorities,” Ms. Tartaglione said in a statement from Democrats.
One of the first potential flashpoints between the Republican-controlled Senate and the next Democratic governor will be Mr. Shapiro’s nominations for top state positions, which the Senate can approve or block.
Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Monongahela, will run point on those nominations for the GOP in her new role as caucus secretary, the position charged with overseeing the vetting process for nominees.
Lancaster Republicans Ryan Aument and Scott Martin were elected majority whip and Appropriations Committee chairman, respectively. Sen. Kristin Philips-Hill, R-York, will be the Majority Caucus chair, running the party’s closed-door strategy sessions.
Democrats re-elected their four top leaders, sending Allegheny County senators Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, and Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, back for another term as minority leader and caucus chair, reinstalling Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, as minority chair of the Appropriations Committee, and making Maria Collett, D-Bucks, caucus secretary.
Mike Wereschagin: mwereschagin@post-gazette.com; Twitter: @wrschgn
First Published: November 15, 2022, 8:20 p.m.
Updated: November 16, 2022, 11:19 a.m.
