Shapiro Plans to Hit the Ground Running with Democratic Trifecta in Pennsylvania

Following Tuesday’s midterm election, Democrats in Pennsylvania will control both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office for the first time in three decades, unofficial results show. And newly reelected Gov. Josh Shapiro does not plan to waste any time finally getting his agenda passed. 

“Here's what I can guarantee you we will get done,” Shapiro said at a press conference Wednesday outside the governor’s residence in Harrisburg. “We will fund mass transit. We will raise the minimum wage. We will make sure that women have a right to reproductive freedom here in this Commonwealth. We will build more housing. We will allow survivors of abuse the ability to confront their abusers in court.”

Shapiro said the initiatives were “all things that have been inexplicably blocked by Republicans who have led the Senate, even though broad bipartisan majorities support these items. We will move swiftly to put them in place and deliver for the good people of Pennsylvania.”

Pennsylvania Democrats expanded their slim lead in the House to a 111-88 majority. Their advantage in the Senate is even smaller, with 26 Democrats to 24 Republicans. 

But J.J. Abbott, a Democratic strategist in Harrisburg, pointed out that Democrats already have a blueprint for how to work with a small majority to get legislation passed. They’ve held a single-digit majority — at times as small as one seat — since regaining control of the House in 2022.

“House Democrats have really shown the model here,” Abbott said. “Even with a small, diverse caucus, you can pass a lot of things, get bipartisan votes for them, and move a heavy volume of legislation. I think that's a huge advantage for everyone is that you have such a strong existing House majority that's going to grow but also has a leadership team and a staff that has done this.”

The last time a Democratic trifecta was elected in Pennsylvania was in 1978, a year before current Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia was born, she noted Wednesday. Many critics had predicted that with a one-vote majority Democrats would not be able to get much done, she said, which was not the case. 

“We cut taxes 10 times. We were able to deliver wins for our wisest neighbors, our senior citizens. We were able to turn around public school systems in this Commonwealth that had been unconstitutionally, unfairly funded for generations since I was a kid in the '80s,” she said. “We were able to do some tremendous things.” 

Voters, she added, liked a lot of what Democrats had been able to achieve and wanted to see more of it. “They said not only did that team get a lot of stuff done, why don't we recognize the

fact that every one of those bills that good Speaker sent over to that Senate that never saw the

light of day: Why don't we change the players?”

Longtime Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa of Allegheny County, expected to become Senate President Pro Tempore in January, said Shapiro “stuck his neck out,” not only campaigning with Democratic candidates for the legislature, but donating millions to both the Senate and House campaign committees to ensure the trifecta would come to pass, despite outside spending from wealthy Republican donors. 

Costa said Wednesday that there were some 200 bills that the House had passed that were sitting dormant in Senate committees. Many of them had bipartisan support, he added. 

“But our obstructionist Senate Republican colleagues do not want to see any action on them, and we didn't move those bills forward,” he said.  “We know going forward, there's a lot of opportunities for us all to work together, and we will. And that's what we want to stress to folks: we've got a clear mandate.”

Abbott noted that over the past 50 years, Democrats have only held a trifecta in Pennsylvania for two brief periods: in 1978, when they had control for two years before the wave of Ronald Reagan Republicans swept in, and in 1993, when Republican Frank Pecora switched his party affiliation to Democrat. That gave the Senate a 25-25 tie and allowed Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Singel to cast tie breaking votes. 

“But in 1978 they passed the property tax rent rebate which is the biggest program for seniors and people with disabilities,” he said. “And in 1993, they only held it for 14 months, but they passed CHIP, which then became the national model for children’s health insurance. I think those two examples to me really highlight the impact that Democrats can have in the majority in Pennsylvania.”