Philly’s Joanna McClinton elected Pa.’s first female and second Black speaker of the House

In a historic election, Philadelphia’s Joanna McClinton was chosen as speaker of the Pennsylvania House Tuesday, giving her sweeping power over public policy debates as the first woman and second Black person to lead the chamber.

McClinton, a Democrat, ascended to the powerful role after State Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) stepped down earlier in the day. McClinton, a former public defender who was first elected in 2015 to represent parts of West Philly and a sliver of Delaware County, now leads the lower chamber of the country’s oldest and largest full-time legislature.

“We’re going to stand against every form of discrimination. We’re going to have rules that protect women, people of color, LGBTQIA+. Because this is Pennsylvania, where democracy was born,” she said.

Based on her voting record, McClinton is likely to bring a more liberal bent to leadership than Rozzi, who became a short-term speaker as part of a compromise between Democrats and Republicans.

In her first remarks as speaker, she pointed to the shift to Democratic control after more than a decade of Republican leadership in the House.

“While we didn’t have the opportunities to pass those types of reforms before, today’s a fresh start,” McClinton added.

» READ MORE: Inside Joanna McClinton’s quick rise to becoming Pennsylvania’s first female speaker of the House

She is the second Black speaker of the House, after Pittsburgh’s late K. Leroy Irvis, who led the chamber in the 1970s and 1980s. With Austin Davis as lieutenant governor, Black leaders will preside over both chambers of the General Assembly for the first time.

Additionally, with Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward — the top leadership role in the Republican-led state Senate — and Chief Justice Debra Todd — the leading justice on the state Supreme Court — both the judicial and legislative branches are led exclusively by women for the first time.

McClinton, 40, is seen nationally as a rising star by the Democratic Party. The lifelong Philadelphia resident and attorney worked as an assistant public defender before joining State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams’ staff in 2013. McClinton credits Williams for encouraging her to run for office in 2015.

Her national profile grew last summer after a video of her giving a speech about abortion access went viral. Before that, she had moved quickly through the ranks in the House, making history at each step: in 2018 as the first woman and first Black person elected as Democratic Caucus chair, again in 2020 as the minority floor leader, and for a third time Tuesday as House speaker.

State Rep. Donna Bullock (D., Phila.) joined the state House at the same time as McClinton, and from there, the two attorneys became “sister reps.”

She’s seen McClinton grow as a leader — into someone with “the right balance of being personable and compassionate, but also authoritative, in a way that you want to be a part of that team.”

“I told her that I will follow her anywhere,” Bullock said. “I believe in her leadership. I believe she has proven in the last two terms her ability to lead and work from a place of compassion, emotional intelligence, and just fairness.”

Bullock, who chairs the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, said McClinton’s election as speaker means Black lawmakers can finally pass legislation that will help their constituents.

“I’m excited to be able to do more than just defend or protect against bills that I thought were going to be harmful to our communities and to actually work on bills that I believe can uplift our communities,” Bullock said.

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) nominated McClinton. He started by acknowledging McClinton’s expected rise to the speakership was stalled by brief vacancies earlier this year that prevented Democrats from a majority.

“Delay is not denial,” Kenyatta said.

McClinton was elected Tuesday by all 102 Democrats, who took the majority in the House for the first time in more than a dozen years earlier this month, after securing their final seats through special elections.

None of the chamber’s Republicans voted for her, in a break from tradition. Usually, the minority party ultimately joins the majority to unanimously support the majority’s pick for speaker.

Rozzi had taken the reins of the state House on Jan. 3 after making a deal with Republican leadership. Democrats won 102 seats on Election Day but were in the minority when the session started because three vacancies left them with only 99 members to Republicans’ 101.

McClinton was expected to ascend to the speakership at the start of the session, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were surprised by Rozzi’s selection.

Rozzi threw his support behind McClinton during his resignation remarks Tuesday, calling her “one of the most intelligent and compassionate women I have met in politics.”

Rozzi told The Inquirer earlier this month he’d “reassess” his speakership after the House passed two bills to allow survivors of childhood sexual assault to sue their abusers and the institutions that protected them over a two-year period. Those bills passed the House last Friday, and Rozzi announced his resignation at the start of this session week.

“We passed what would be one of the most important pieces of legislation this session,” Rozzi said in his remarks. “We made it clear that no matter who you are ... justice is coming for you.”

Instead of using his first month as speaker to pass legislation, Rozzi decided to keep the doors to the House closed. He conducted a listening tour around the state to change House rules and created a workgroup of three Democrats and three Republicans to spearhead reforms on how the House operates.

What’s core to his rules reforms: A majority of the members of the House “should be able to able to carry the day,” despite what leadership wants.

“Before you is a path to a different Harrisburg, one that could return to our founding principle: A government that is by the people and for the people,” Rozzi said. “But only if you take the next steps to safeguard it.”

Lawmakers will finalize their operating rules Wednesday. These rules are expected to include more evenly split committees, broader sexual harassment provisions, prohibition of bills that combine multiple constitutional amendments, and more.

Rozzi told The Inquirer these operating rules will be the “best and fairest” in House history.

Rozzi wouldn’t disclose whether he expects to be appointed chair of a committee — though he already moved offices to prime real estate in the center of the Capitol usually reserved for committee chairs.

Now, he told The Inquirer, he’s considering a run for auditor general.

“If I had to look ahead at what’s ahead for Mark Rozzi ... maybe there’s a calling for higher office from here,” Rozzi said, noting his passion for reform and his time running a business.

Republican Auditor General Tim DeFoor is up for reelection next year. Kenyatta is the only other Democrat who has floated a possible challenge for the statewide office.

Looking back, Rozzi said he has no regrets from his embattled speakership, which included locking the doors to the House chamber and changing the lock to a conference room that was long used by Republicans.

Rozzi described his two-month tenure as “a true joy.”

“The answer got easier for me [to resign] because I wasn’t going to stand in the way of the first woman speaker, who should’ve been elected in the first place,” he said.