HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House is kicking off the new legislative session with an incomplete chamber after a representative unexpectedly died and left Democrats without their one-seat majority.
Last session, a tied chamber repeatedly ground operations in Harrisburg to a halt as Democratic leaders declined to bring bills up for a vote. They would not say whether they will do the same thing ahead of a March election to fill the vacancy.
A spokesperson for state House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) said only that the legislature will “continue to work in a bipartisan manner.”
The lower chamber is expected to stay tied until March 25, the date Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) chose for a special election to fill the now-vacant 35th District outside Pittsburgh.
Democratic state Rep. Matt Gergely held the seat before dying this month at 45, which a state House spokesperson attributed to a medical emergency. His funeral was last week, and the caucus released a statement remembering him as having “devoted his life to fighting for children and working families of Allegheny County.”
The district is heavily Democratic and not expected to see a competitive special election. But with the seat vacant for the next two months, House Democrats will need to present a united front and persuade at least one Republican to vote with them if they want to pass any of their priorities on the floor.
Democrats also had a one-seat edge in the state House last session, and when one of their members left the chamber and had to be replaced in a special election, floor votes typically stopped until the party was back at full strength.
This included a nearly three-month period during which Democratic leaders stopped all floor operations because they said a leaky roof needed to be fixed. Republicans criticized the long recess because the construction coincided with a period in which the Democrats had several missing members.
All told, the state House had 11 special elections last session for seats controlled by both parties.
Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of good-government group Common Cause Pennsylvania, said he’s hoping state House leaders choose to keep things moving this session. He thinks partisan considerations got in the way of legislating last time.
“We can’t allow the lack of a working majority to be a complete legislative logjam,” Hensley-Robin said.
He proposed mandating that bills with significant bipartisan support receive consideration.
Gergley’s death won’t be the last time a vacancy opens up in the House this session.
At least three other lawmakers in the lower chamber are running for different positions and will need their seats filled if they win.
State Rep. Torren Ecker (R., Adams) announced last week that he intends to run for a judgeship on the Adams County Court of Common Pleas; Rep. Dan Miller (D., Allegheny) is running for a judgeship on the Allegheny County of Common Pleas; and Rep. Josh Siegel (D., Lehigh) is running for Lehigh County executive.
All three races will have primaries in May, and the general election is in November 2025. If elected, the representatives will not need to resign until the new year, and the earliest special elections to fill their seats wouldn’t be scheduled until early 2026.
Ecker and Miller have said they will not resign while campaigning. Seigel has not confirmed his plans, but has made no move to resign.
It’s considered unlikely that any of these seats will flip.
Ecker and Seigel were uncontested in their most recent elections, which typically means a district is not competitive, and Miller won his most recent election by 33 percentage points. However, the turnover could create more gridlock in the state House.
In the Pennsylvania Senate, Ryan Aument (R., Lancaster) resigned from his seat at the end of 2024 to work as state director for U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.). The special election to fill his seat is scheduled for the same day as the House special election, March 25. However, his vacancy does not threaten the Republican majority in the upper chamber.
