Democrats win trifecta control of Pennsylvania Senate, House and governorship for the first time since 1993

Democrats will now control Pennsylvania’s state Senate, House, and governor’s mansion for the first time since 1993 — a trifecta that marks a monumental victory for the party.

The win comes after Democrats did not expect the state Senate to be competitive for at least another six years — and sets them up to pass several long-stalled legislative priorities, including a minimum wage increase.

It also represents a pivotal triumph for Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender and who staked much of his midterm political capital in flipping the state’s government blue for the first time in decades.

Democrats will control the state Senate 26-24. They also expanded their narrow majority in the state House by eight seats for a 111-88 majority, wiping out several of the last remaining Republicans in the Philadelphia collar counties.

“What last night’s election showed is that I have a mandate to continue to lead our commonwealth forward, and now I’ve got a whole lot more partners in progress,” Shapiro said at a news conference Wednesday in Harrisburg outside the state-owned governor’s mansion, flanked by top Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, all of whom were laughing and joking with one another.

» READ MORE: Pa.’s Democratic trifecta could mean more funding for schools and SEPTA — if Harrisburg can find the money

The last trifecta in Harrisburg belonged to Republicans, who won full control in 2010 in a significant red wave in the first midterm following former President Barack Obama’s election. The GOP controlled Harrisburg for four years before Tom Wolf, a Democrat, won the governorship in 2015 and would frequently veto legislation he did not like, leading to a nine-month budget impasse and long legislative standoffs.

Since Democrats flipped the House in 2022, Pennsylvania was one of the only split legislatures in the nation, indicative of the critical swing state’s purple politics.

But a Republican Senate and narrowly Democratic House led to gridlock in Harrisburg on critical issues facing the state. Monthslong budget impasses led schools, counties, and providers to take out loans or cut critical services. The split also blocked top legislative priorities from either party from coming to fruition, like Republicans’ efforts to create new school vouchers or Democrats’ attempts to increase the minimum wage.

House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia), who has managed a slim majority in the state House over the last four years, said she is certain the new trifecta will not face the same gridlock and obstruction as when Democratic leaders were negotiating state budgets with Senate Republicans. Delivering a balanced state budget to the governor’s desk by June 30 each year is one of the lone duties of the legislature.

“We will finally have one on time,” McClinton said with a smile. “Come see us in June of 2027.”

Shapiro, who won reelection by a wide margin Tuesday, wagered his reputation and popularity in Pennsylvania on flipping the state Senate, a major success to add to his resume ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run. He sent $2 million to the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, and $1 million to the House’s campaign arm, as part of his efforts to win a trifecta and finally pass the party’s long-sought legislative priorities.

» READ MORE: Gov. Josh Shapiro cruised to reelection in Pennsylvania. Now the real campaign begins.

Democrats targeted four state Senate seats they believed they could flip, concentrated in the collar counties and Eastern Pennsylvania. Republicans outspent them, as of Monday — with the help of PACs backed by Pennsylvania’s richest man, Jeffrey Yass — in an effort to keep the seats and to flip back Lancaster County’s 36th District back into Republican control.

In the end, Senate Democrats were able to flip their four targeted seats, electing:

Republicans returned the Lancaster County seat to GOP control, electing Rep. Tom Jones to the upper chamber.

Democrats have already begun staking out their priorities for January, when they will be sworn into power in both chambers and Shapiro will be inaugurated again as governor.

First on the list, Shapiro said Wednesday: Raising the minimum wage, finding a new funding stream for mass transit, enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, and allowing childhood sexual abuse victims a window to sue their perpetrators and the institutions that protected them.

The leaders will release their First 100 Day plan soon, as they begin negotiating among one another and get to know the newly elected Democrats.

At a rally Wednesday just down the road on the Capitol steps, Democratic leaders and members were too giddy and adrenalized to follow directions for a group photo.

State Rep. Jordan Harris (D., Philadelphia), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, tempered the mood a bit when he talked about the seriousness of purpose the new Democratic majority will conduct itself. He referenced the Sam Cooke song “A Change Is Gonna Come,” saying, “I say to the people of Pennsylvania: Hold on a while longer, ’cause change is gonna come.

“Now is the time for us to deliver,” Harris added. ”This crew might not be perfect, but we’re gonna work like hell from day one, because we know that it matters.”

Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Philadelphia), who has been the minority chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee since 2010 and chairs the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said in an interview early Wednesday that Senate Democrats held onto hope over the last several years they could one day flip the chamber, despite the legislative maps favoring Republican control.

Groups like the States Project, a deep-pocketed political action committee focused on flipping state legislatures, had a significant impact on their success, Hughes said. And so did Shapiro.

“Josh Shapiro stepped up in a way that really, really, really showed his commitment to getting stuff done and having a trifecta to get it done,” Hughes added. “He showed his political skill and was really, really, really transformative to our future.”

Pennsylvania’s latest legislative maps — set in 2022 by the state’s five-person redistricting commission — made the state House significantly more competitive for Democrats. That year, the party flipped the chamber for the first time in more than a decade.

In the state Senate, the 2022 maps benefited Republicans and were likely to cement GOP control for another decade, according to an analysis conducted for The Inquirer by the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project at the time. But with President Donald Trump’s approval ratings below 40% and a amid national wave of discontent with Republican leaders, Shapiro and Democrats saw this midterm election as a unique opportunity to try and flip it sooner.

The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee noted that while Democrats held a trifecta in 1993 after a member changed party registration, it had been more than 50 years since voters elected a Democratic Senate.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Campaign Committee declined to comment Wednesday.

Greg Rothman, the chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said in a statement Wednesday that his party will soon begin assessing the results and “ensure we are prepared for the challenges ahead,”

“Elections bring both victories and setbacks, but our responsibility to the people of Pennsylvania doesn’t change,” Rothman said. “We have work to do.”

Hughes, for his part, said he celebrated the state Senate Democrats’ historic wins in the early hours Wednesday in a true Philadelphian way: He ran up the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to pose for a selfie with the Rocky Balboa statue.

He said he sent the photo to his wife, Abbott Elementary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who complimented the idea but said the photograph quality was terrible.