Congratulations to all our endorsed candidates - Jackie Baker (PA Senate District 20); Jenn Shukaitis (PA Senate District 40); Fern Leard (PA House District 120); Maureen Madden (PA House District 115); Tarah Probst (PA House District 189) and Meg Rosenfeld (PA House District 139) - for running hard fought campaigns and raising the visibility of progressive women candidates in NEPA.
We are especially proud that Maureen Madden (PA House District 115) and Tarah Probst (PA House District 189) were successful in their races contributing to Democrats winning control of the Pennsylvania state House for the first time in more than a decade. The Democratic majority is very slim and is complicated by the possibility of vacancies in seats won by Lieutenant Governor-elect Austin Davis, Congresswoman-elect Summer Lee and Rep. Tony DeLuca who died before being re-elected. But if the Democrats can cobble together a majority at the beginning of the new legislative session in January, they are expected to nominate their floor leader Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) for speaker of the state House. Rep. McClinton would be the first woman to hold the speakership.
Democratic control of the PA House also means the Republicans' proposed state constitutional amendment blocking abortion rights will not make it to the 2023 primary election ballot - another win for Pennsylvania women.
Summer Lee is the first Black woman from Pennsylvania to be elected to the U.S. House. She joins re-elected Congresswomen Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, Susan Wild and Chrissy Houlahan - the most women in history to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. House.