Democrats in Pennsylvania fuming after tense swearing-in day

(The Center Square) – Legislative Democrats minced few words over the “dangerous” precedent they say their Republican colleagues in the Senate set Tuesday after they refused to seat Sen. Jim Brewster.

Brewster, a Democrat, won reelection on Nov. 3 in the 45th district by just 69 votes. His Republican challenger, Nicole Ziccarelli, asked Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, to delay seating him until a federal court decided whether 311 unsigned mail-in ballots from Allegheny County should remain apart of the certified vote total. Without those ballots, Ziccarelli said she would win.

Corman obliged the 550-page last minute request, angering the minority party and flaring tensions that devolved into a shouting match Tuesday when the chamber skipped Brewster’s swearing-in to instead handle other legislative business. Republicans then voted to remove Lt. Gov. John Fetterman for the day after he tried to intervene.

Democrats fired back, bucking two decades of tradition by voting against Corman’s nomination as president pro tem, setting aside the show of unity to admonish the chamber’s highest ranking Republican for what they described as placing partisanship above duty.

“This has become the mantra of US Republican politics,” said Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, via Twitter on Tuesday. “If you don’t like the results purge as many votes as you can.”

“What happened in Harrisburg today doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” he continued. “The votes were counted, the election was certified, the people & courts have spoken.”

Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Pittsburgh, aired his frustrations on the Rick Smith Show on Tuesday evening, telling the host “we’ve become Washington, D.C. in the Pennsylvania Senate.”

“It’s frightening, it’s frustrating and it’s wrong,” he said. “I believe what the Republicans did was not lawful, based on the rules in place. We offered many compromises to get to the point where Sen. Brewster could be seated but Republicans refused.”

He doubled down on his position Wednesday on Twitter, saying “despite its recent behavior, the @PASenateGOP is not and cannot become dictators in this state.”

“The people of Pennsylvania elected public servants, not petty tyrants and Senate Republicans should remember that before their next coup,” he said.

Gov. Tom Wolf likewise scolded Senate Republicans, calling it “a disgrace to democracy.”

During a news conference Wednesday, the governor further rebuked Republicans at both the state and congressional level for refuting the results and continuing to peddle “disinformation” about election integrity.

“This is a shameful lie,” Wolf said. “The very democracy these lawmakers are sworn to uphold is at risk here.”

Corman said Tuesday the ire should be directed at the state Supreme Court for issuing confusing guidance that directed counties to tabulate undated ballots in violation of Act 77, the state’s election law. He said the Department of State’s decision to certify the results presented from each of the state’s 67 counties on Nov. 24 was “premature.”

“What we are facing is a Senate district that encompasses parts of two counties and each of those counties tabulated the votes differently,” he said. “With a razor-thin difference in the vote totals, the results hang in the balance.”

Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar told reporters Wednesday her department’s role is “very simple” and noted that the state’s certified results are based on the information provided by each county.

“Everyone deserves due process and we owe it to the residents of the 45th district to fully explore the petition that has been filed before us,” Corman said. “This is what is right.”

It’s unclear how long the Senate will keep Brewster’s seat vacant, though the balance of power in the Senate — 28 Republicans, 21 Democrats and 1 Independent — will remain unchanged.

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