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

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.

After a false start in November when Democrats prematurely held a news conference declaring they had a majority — and anointed McClinton their pick for speaker — the House elected her to the position Tuesday.

The party-line vote came moments after Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) resigned the position and backed McClinton.

“I’m grateful for all who fought before me … so that this day was possible,” McClinton said after taking the oath of office. “It is only on their shoulders that I stand here today.”

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.

“As a former Speaker of the House, I offer my congratulations to Speaker McClinton and wish her well on this tremendous responsibility,” State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R., Lancaster) said. ”After several months of gridlock and a state House of Representatives that has not been working for the people, we are in dire need of a reset. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle join us in working to move ahead.”

McClinton is used to making history. In 2018 she became the first woman and first African American elected to House Democratic Caucus chair. In 2020 she was the first woman elected Democratic leader, and in February she became the first female majority leader.

She won her seat in the House in a 2015 special election, beating the current Philadelphia register of wills, Tracey Gordon, to fill the vacancy of former State Rep. Ronald Waters, who resigned after pleading guilty to accepting bribes.

She became a member of the Legislative Black Caucus, LGBTQ Equality Caucus, and Women’s Health Caucus, and was appointed in 2017 to the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing.

When longtime Democratic Leader Frank Dermody lost reelection in 2020, she was seen by many as a good candidate to replace him based on her leadership abilities and the opportunity Dermody’s departure presented to elevate a woman to the role.

“Our entire leadership slate, I think, has put a premium on lifting up the diversity of our caucus and giving folks an opportunity to lead,” said State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who nominated McClinton for speaker Tuesday. “Joanna’s spent time understanding the substantive concerns people have and trying to work with people on those things.”

McClinton’s district includes parts of Delaware County and West Philadelphia, including the part of Southwest Philadelphia where she grew up and attended Greater Hope Christian Academy.

She often talks about her upbringing, raised by a single mom who worked at a local college and also ran a catering business. Upon accepting the gavel Tuesday, she thanked her high school principal at Greater Hope, Marilynn Miles. McClinton grew up in the Pentecostal church and is now an ordained minister who has worked on youth programs at Open Door Mission True Light Church in West Philadelphia.

“She is somebody who reflects this commonwealth, somebody who has not been born on third base but had to run and slide into every base she’s ever had,” Kenyatta said.

McClinton has prioritized women’s health, as well as prison and criminal justice reform. She delivered a fiery abortion-rights speech that went viral in July, after the Republican-led House passed a bill asking voters to amend the state constitution to declare that there is no right to abortion.

“We’re talking about women dying,” she said in the address. “We’re talking about more than half the population not being able to make decisions — when not even half of this body has a uterus.” That speech earned millions of views on social media and attracted national attention.

“When she speaks, it all kind of comes up why she’s supposed to be here,” Williams said. “You can understand why it all came together because she is a person that is able to articulate what people are actually feeling.”

Based on her voting record, McClinton is likely to bring a more liberal bent to leadership than Rozzi, who became a short-term speaker as part of a compromise between Democrats and Republicans.

“Democrats, as people will tell us, we’re stray cats,” Williams said. “But Jo traditionally doesn’t lead with her agenda, she traditionally tries to listen to other people, and I imagine that will be the case as speaker.”

While McClinton has been a vocal supporter of Democratic policies, she’s also signaled she wants to work across the aisle.

“For those who might be disappointed or frustrated or even skeptical … give me the chance and the opportunity to do the work on the floor, to get to know you, to find out what your priorities are, to get to know what you’re passionate about, and whatever brought you … into this chamber in the first place,” she said Tuesday.

“I am prepared. My sleeves are rolled up to do the work.”

Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.