Before Tuesday, no woman ever had been speaker of the state House in Pennsylvania. Whether dating to William Penn presiding over the first colonial assembly in 1682, or to the creation of Pennsylvania’s bicameral General Assembly in 1790, women have been excluded from the speakership for centuries.

House Democrats, who secured a one-seat House majority with three special election wins in Allegheny County on Feb. 7, voted Tuesday to make Rep. Joanna McClinton, 40, of Philadelphia, the first woman speaker of the House. She is a former public defender and state Senate staff attorney.

She replaced fellow Democratic Rep. Mark Rozzi, of Berks County, who was elected in a compromise in January. He deeply disappointed Republicans who agreed to his ascension by holding off their effort to railroad to passage constitutional amendments to diminish voting rights and the executive branch’s regulatory power.

McClinton adds to a year of firsts in Pennsylvania politics and governance. She is the second Black speaker of the House, following K. Leroy Irvis of Pittsburgh who presided in the 1970s and 1980s. But her election means that, for the first time, two Black elected officials will preside over both legislative chambers. Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, the state’s first Black lieutenant governor, is president of the Senate.

Also this year, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee of Allegheny County became the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress.

The question now is whether the change inherent in McClinton’s rise will produce better governance. She has the narrowest possible majority, 102-101. The vote to elect her speaker was 102-99, with all Democrats voting for her and all Republicans, except for two who were absent, voting for their own nominee.

And the acrimony-rich chamber likely will be even more so given that Republicans played every card they had in January, before the special elections sealed the Democratic majority, to prevent McClinton’s ascension from Democratic leader to speaker.

Now, two months into the new session, the House still has not adopted its operating rules, which will be the first of many withering battles.

So Pennsylvanians who expect historic change to produce better governance might avoid disappointment by simply enjoying the moment.

— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre via TNS