The Capitol building in Harrisburg on July 6, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by Ian Karbal)
The state Senate returned to Harrisburg for the last scheduled day of the legislative session on Wednesday. Republicans and Democrats also met within their caucuses to elect their respective leaders for the next two years.
While Republicans made gains in national elections, the partisan makeup of both the Pennsylvania state Senate and House will remain unchanged. Senate Republicans maintain a 28-22 majority, asHouse Democrats held onto a single-seat majority.
“We in the senate, as the Senate majority, will continue to hold the line on the outrageous spending that the House Democrats send us on a regular basis,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), who was reelected to her role Wednesday. “We will continue to hold the line and protect the taxpayers’ wallets. That’s why they put us here.”
All members of the Senate Republican leadership were reelected to their positions within the party. Kate Flessner, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana), said there were no challenges.
As Majority Leader, Pittman will effectively have final say in setting the legislative agenda of the majority party, and play a major role in devising political strategies to accomplish them. He is also expected to take a leading role in negotiations with the House Democrat majority leaders, Gov. Josh Shapiro and others.
Ward was elected by the full chamber as interim Senate President Pro Tempore between Dec. 1 and Jan 6. That’s when lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene at the beginning of the next session and another vote will be held to determine the President Pro Tempore for the entire session. Ward presides over the Senate when Lt. Gov. Austin Davis is absent, and would take his position if there were a vacancy.
“When I nominated her last year, I believe many of the comments are worth repeating,” Pittman said on the Senate floor. “She has nerves of steel, she has ice that runs through her veins, but the thing that needs to be highlighted more so this time around is that she has a heart of gold.”
Sen. Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster) was reelected as the Majority Whip, and will help gather support for bills and policies within the party.
Sen. Scott Martin was reelected as chairperson of the Sen. Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful in the legislature. Typically, the appropriations chairperson plays a large role in negotiating budget issues and holding hearing on proposed budgets.
Sen. Kristen Phillips-Hill (R-York) was re-elected to serve as Majority Caucus Chairperson, who runs Republican caucus meetings.
Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington) was re-elected as Majority Caucus Secretary.
Pa. House Democrats hopeful for greater cooperation with Republican Senate in new session
In the Senate Democratic caucus, there were no changes to the top spots. Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) will continue as Minority Leader. Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) was elected as Minority Appropriations Chairperson, and Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) was re-elected as Minority Whip.
“I am honored and humbled to announce that I will be serving as the Leader of the PA Senate Democratic Caucus for the next two years,” Costa said in a press release. “I’d like to thank my fellow Democratic senators for entrusting me with this responsibility. I look forward to the fight ahead.”
Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks) was also re-elected as Caucus Administrator. But there were challenges and change ups in lower-ranking Democratic leadership elections.
Backroom deals have hindered progress in Harrisburg for decades
– Sen. Katie Muth (D-Montgomery)
Sen. Wayne Fontana (D-Allegheny) will be replaced as Democratic Caucus Chairperson by Sen. Maria Collett (D-Montgomery), who previously served as Caucus Secretary.
Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) was elected to replace Collett as the new Secretary.
Sen. Katie Muth (D-Montgomery), who served as the Democratic Policy Committee Chairperson was challenged and defeated in the caucus election by Sen. Nick Miller (D-Lehigh).
The Policy Committee Chairperson sets the agenda and runs the Minority Policy Committee. It is effectively a vehicle for Democrats to hold hearings and raise awareness around issues they consider a priority, but that may not be taken up in Republican-controlled committees.
Muth, one of the more progressive members of the Senate Democratic caucus, took to social media after her 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 merits it’s troubling.”
In an interview Wednesday, Muth said she believes her re-election bid failed because “I’m not a corporate Democrat.”
“Dollars raised by members seem to equate to leadership,” Muth said. “I did not run a traditional campaign raising bazillions of dollars off of for-profit corporate donors,” she said.
A spokesperson for Costa did not comment when asked about her public statements.
No seat flipped party hands in the House, but two Senate seats flipped party control, one from Democrat to Republican and one vice versa.
In Dauphin County, Rep. Patty Kim won election to the 15th Senate District seat after sitting Republican Sen. John DiSanto decided not to seek reelection. In Northeast Philadelphia, a 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 bipartisan work
The senators whose terms are ending this year also bid farewell to their colleagues. They include Sens. 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 among the speeches of exiting Senators was an acknowledgement of the importance of bipartisan efforts.
“We do work together a lot more than people think,” Brewster, who’s served since 2010, said. “We spend 95% of our time debating 5% of our problems.”
Brewster also acknowledged the unique challenges of the last several years, citing COVID and the fallout of the 2020 election.
“No matter how bad our day goes, the people you support and serve, they care but that’s not their issue,” Brewster said. “I always felt that our job as elected officials was to give people hope that tomorrow will be better than yesterday.”
Regan also acknowledged the specific difficulties of the last several years, citing COVID and “contentious” presidential elections.
“To the members of the whole body, you know, we served at a time that was kind of difficult,” Regan, who was elected in 2016, said. “But even with all that swirling around the world and us here in this chamber, we were able to get a lot of really good things done, including a bunch of bipartisan budgets where we worked together to do the right thing by Pennsylvanians on so many different things.”
Dillon touted his successes in passing bills to help recruit Philadelphia police officers, limiting so-called SLAPP lawsuits, and regulating sexually explicit images of real people made with artificial intelligence. Dillon also acknowledged that some of his priorities, like certain worker protection bills or penalties for absentee landlords, never made it into law.
“As a coach, I tried to teach my players that even your best effort sometimes doesn’t guarantee victory,” Dillon, who runs basketball academies across Philadelphia, said. “But I’ve always believed that the fight matters.”
The Senate will recess until the scheduled start of the next session in the new year.
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