“Madam chief clerk, I rise to withdraw my name from consideration and move to immediate vote for speaker,”

Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford), the House Republican Leader, clicked off his microphone after saying the words this afternoon in the House Chamber. There was a pause of silence, then resounding applause— followed by a standing ovation from many Democrats.

In one sentence, a process that took months to complete at the start of the 2023 session, was decided in less than ten minutes.

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives was tied at 101 Democrats and 101 Republicans for today’s swearing in ceremony and other critical votes.

Officially, Democrats won 102 seats in the recent election. But a Democrat representative from the Pittsburgh area had a medical emergency around New Years, and could not come to the capitol today. He is expected to be absent for some time.

“As a caucus, our thoughts and prayers are with Representative Matt Gergely and his family,” Topper said during remarks today.

After the 202 representatives were sworn into office, they had to elect a Speaker of the House and adopt new house rules for the new session.

Stuck with a tie, neither political party had the votes to elect a Speaker— the highest position in the chamber, who has immense power over what bills do and do not get voted on.

Both Republican leader Rep. Jesse Topper and former Speaker Democrat Rep. Joanna McClinton were nominated for this session’s speaker position.

They got tied votes.

Then, Topper removed himself from the race… paving the way for McClinton to be elected Speaker of the House for a second session.

“Our chamber today proved that it can cooperate and it can operate,” Rep. Matt Bradford said, the House Democrat Leader. "And that is our bipartisan achievement that many did not think we could achieve."

When faced with a similar predicament in 2023, the parties spent 2 months fighting on how to lead the chamber.

Wanting to avoid a repeat, House party leaders negotiated a deal ahead of Tuesday’s vote.This afternoon put good faith to the test. With Topper’s resignation from the race, Republicans accepted their role as the minority party.

In return, Democrats made a number of concessions in the house rules— also voted on today— that increase the GOP’s power in the chamber.

"We are at 101, 101. And that reality will be reflected in the way we legislate for some period of time,” Bradford said. "We need to be humble and we need to be wise."



The Senate was also sworn in today. They elected Sen. Kim Ward (R) to be President Pro Tempore and lead their chamber.