Mark Rozzi, a Democrat-turned-independent, is now speaker of the Pa. House after a surprise vote

HARRISBURG — Democrats and more than a dozen Republicans threw their support behind a consensus candidate for speaker of the Pennsylvania House on Tuesday, a surprise move some lawmakers said would help bring unity to the state capital.

House lawmakers elected Rep. Mark Rozzi speaker of the House, elevating a veteran Democratic lawmaker from Berks County who said Tuesday he would govern as an independent. Some Republicans backed Rozzi even though the GOP currently holds a slight majority in the House.

“As many of you know, I’ve never been an ideologue,” Rozzi said on the House floor late Tuesday afternoon. He added he would not caucus with either party.

“The commonwealth that is home to independence will now be home to the commonwealth’s first independent speaker,” said Rozzi, who is perhaps best known for his work to change the law to allow survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue.

That sentiment seemed to reflect calls for bipartisanship since the midterm elections from Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a Republican.

The speaker vote, held hours after members were sworn into office, followed weeks of uncertainty regarding which party actually controlled the chamber in Harrisburg.

Democrats won 102 seats in November – giving them an apparent edge in the 203-member House for the first time in more than a decade. But three vacancies in Democratic-held seats left the party with just 99 members to Republicans’ 101.

Even so, Democratic and Republican leaders each claimed to be the rightful presiding officer. State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) was sworn in last month in a private ceremony and scheduled special elections for the three vacant offices on Feb. 7. House Republican leader Bryan Cutler sued, alleging McClinton lacked the authority to do so, and accused her of orchestrating a “paperwork insurrection.”

Cutler was separately sworn in as House GOP leader on Dec. 12 and, claiming the authority of the chamber’s presiding officer, soon after issued what are known as writs of election.

Both parties agreed to hold the election to succeed the late Rep. Tony DeLuca (D., Allegheny) on Feb. 7. DeLuca died shortly before the election but after ballots had been finalized, then won the seat.

Cutler wants the two elections for the remaining vacancies to be held in May, the same day as the next primary election.

Litigation over those special elections is ongoing in Commonwealth Court.

The power struggle was significant in part because House Republicans indicated that with control of the chamber, they might advance constitutional amendments that the GOP-led legislature had already passed in July. The amendments — including one that would impose stricter voter ID requirements and another that would make it easier for lawmakers to reject administrative regulations — need to pass both chambers again in order to make the ballot for voters to render their judgment. The governor isn’t involved in the amendment process.

With Rozzi as speaker, it seems unlikely that any controversial amendment will come up for a vote.

In addition to the existing vacancies, another one is likely in a GOP-held seat in the coming weeks. GOP Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver is running for an open state Senate seat in a Jan. 31 special election. If Culver wins as expected, she would resign her House seat.

Rozzi’s election as speaker was reminiscent of the start of the 2007 legislative session, when Democrats held a 102-seat majority but couldn’t muster enough votes to win the speakership. That year, most Democrats and a half dozen Republicans voted in favor of Denny O’Brien, a moderate Philadelphia Republican. Among the lawmakers who helped broker that power-sharing agreement was Shapiro, then a state representative from Montgomery County.

Republicans had been trying since Christmas to induce at least one Democratic lawmaker to switch parties, according to a source familiar with the matter. And a vote for a Democratic speaker hardly seemed likely heading into Tuesday.

The day began with a traditional swearing-in ceremony during which newly elected members of the House and Senate took the oath of office. About 20 minutes into the proceeding, a GOP lawmaker presented a resolution to accept nominations for speaker. Democrats objected, and the House took an hours-long break.

Senior lawmakers such as Cutler, the GOP leader, and Rep. Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) huddled near the rostrum, apparently aiming to find a way forward.

But there was no immediate breakthrough. When the House reconvened in the late afternoon, the House’s chief clerk moved to adjourn the session. Republicans largely objected, and a procedural vote to overrule the clerk deadlocked at 100-100. That meant lawmakers had to stay put.

The big surprise came around 4 p.m., when State Rep. Jim Gregory (R., Blair) nominated Rozzi.

“Rep. Rozzi has proven himself to be an independent voice,” Gregory said, adding that Rozzi “has a proven history of making tough decisions for people over politics.”

A second Republican backed Rozzi’s nomination, as did McClinton, the Democratic leader who had hoped to claim the speaker’s gavel herself.

But most GOP lawmakers weren’t on board with the deal and made a last-minute push to elect Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar (R., Somerset).

When the clerk held the roll-call vote, Rozzi ended up with 115 votes to Metzgar’s 85.

Among the Republicans voting in favor of Rozzi was Cutler, who was also named House majority leader.

It was not immediately clear whether Democrats or Republicans knew in advance of the leadership vote that Rozzi would decline to caucus with either party.

Rep. Manuel Guzman (D., Berks) said he had an “inkling” that this may happen earlier in the day Tuesday, but didn’t know for sure until it unfolded on the House floor. However, he seemed certain that his Berks County colleague would maintain his Democratic ideals.

“The Speaker Rozzi I know is someone who holds Democratic values, someone who has a track record of voting on Democratic issues,” Guzman said. “So while he may say that he’s an independent — at heart and in mind, I know based off his history and based off of what he’s advocated for in the past, that his heart is with Democratic values. And I anticipate his speakership to reflect those values.”

The day’s proceedings followed a more predictable script in the Senate, where Republicans hold a more substantial majority. Sen. Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland), the former majority leader, was elected president pro tempore, becoming the first woman to hold that position. She was also sworn in as lieutenant governor following the resignation of John Fetterman, a Democrat who’s now in the U.S. Senate.

Ward will hold both positions until former Rep. Austin Davis, Shapiro’s running mate, is sworn in as lieutenant governor later this month.

Ward noted that more women now serve in the Senate — eight Republicans and eight Democrats — than “at any other time in our institution’s history.”

In a speech to colleagues, Ward vowed to work with both parties to “get big things done” and to “fight for the constitutional authority of this Senate.”

In other leadership elections, Sen. Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) was named majority leader and Sen. Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) minority leader.