Breaking: Joanna McClinton elected first female speaker of the Pa. House as Mark Rozzi steps down

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Front page of the Inquirer this morning

The article also mentioned these stats -

-Both PA legislative chambers are now headed up by African American elected officals (Lt. Gov. Austin Davis as President of the Senate and Joanna McClinton as Speaker of the House).

-PA State Supreme Court is Chief Justice is headed up by Justice Debra Todd (D), first female Chief Justice and joining women as heading both the Legislative (to also include loon Kim Ward (R) as state Senate Pro-Tempore) and Judiciary Branches

Pennsylvania Politics
Inside Joanna McClinton’s quick rise to becoming Pennsylvania’s first female speaker of the House

McClinton grew up in Southwest Philadelphia and has been a state representative since 2015. She's now the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the state House.


by Julia Terruso
Updated on Feb 28, 2023, 6:48 p.m. ET

Joanna McClinton became Pennsylvania’s first female speaker of the House on Tuesday, ascending into the leadership role after seven years representing Philadelphia in the state legislature, where she made a name for herself as a relationship-builder and a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform and women’s health issues.

(snip)

McClinton, 40, grew up in Southwest Philadelphia, graduated from LaSalle University and Villanova Law School, and worked as a public defender. Once she entered politics, friends and colleagues say she excelled at networking and navigating Harrisburg. She quickly made a name for herself in Democratic circles by pushing back on Republican policies in passionate, widely viewed floor speeches. Her election makes her the first woman and only the second Black person to be speaker in the state’s history. With Kim Ward serving as president pro tempore of the Republican-controlled Senate and Debra Todd chief justice of the state Supreme Court, it’s also the first time Pennsylvania’s legislative and judicial branches have been led exclusively by women.

Several of McClinton’s colleagues noted her historic election occurred on the last day of Black History Month. “I don’t know that I’ve witnessed anybody moving that quickly in public service to that type of elevated position,” said State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D., Philadelphia), whose office McClinton worked for as a chief legal counsel. “And that’s partly a blessing, but it also has to do with her instincts, her intellect.”

She’ll now preside over a chamber where her party holds a razor-thin majority and has intraparty ideological disagreements. And she will have to make deals with Republicans in the Senate to pass legislation. While not a single Republican voted for her speakership, she takes the gavel after GOP members grew frustrated with Rozzi, who made a deal with them last month to become speaker.

(snip)

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/joanna-mcclinton-speaker-harrisburg-democrats-pennsylvania-20230228.html

Here was her swearing in ceremony yesterday -

And for those reading this thread not familiar with who she is in this context, here she was over the summer (most of the whole speech, not just the 1 minute that went viral) -