Democrats won all three of the special elections in Allegheny County on Tuesday, giving the party control of the state House of Representatives.
The special elections were needed to fill three vacancies in the state house. Joe McAndrew won the seat formerly occupied by Tony DeLuca. He had won the election despite the fact that he had died before the general election in October. Abigail Salsbury won the seat that had been occupied by Summer Lee, who was elected to the U.S. Congress, and Matthew Gergely will take the seat formerly occupied by Austin Davis, who stepped down to become Pennsylvania’s new Lieutenant Governor.
These victories give Democrats a 102-101 majority in the state house, but the House has not been in session since January. The chamber had elected Democrat Mark Rozzi as speaker but that came after Republican leaders and some GOP members joined all democrats on the vote. As they have not been in session, the house has not passed internal operating rules, assigned members to committees, or approved any legislation.
This marks the first time Democrats control the state house since 2010. Republicans still hold a majority in the PA Senate.
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