Hello everyone, it's day three of this ✨️ dual session ✨️ week. The budget is due in 5 days. Follow here for updates: But first, hello from Three Mile Island where Gov. Josh Shapiro is about to speak

Good morning! Day after election day thread starting here: Overnight, state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro (D., Erie) who lost the state treasurer primary to small business owner Erin McClelland issued the below concession w/o naming McClelland. "While the results were not what I expected or hoped for, I respect the voters’ choice."

A voter on his way in at this Harrisburg precinct had one joke for all the assembled last minute canvassers: Are any of the names on his ballot "closet Republicans?" Retiring Dauphin County election director Jerry Feaser, running his last election today, swung by to say hi to the poll workers at this new location. His 25th wedding anniversary is on next year's presidential primary, and he joked it was an easy pick between his job & marriage.

Polls are CLOSED in Pennsylvania. I'll post observations on the results in this thread.⬇️ already a bookmark oh no now I have accountability

Interesting find as the independent expenditures are all reported ahead of primary day: A NoVa based group called Resolute Republic spent $172k on mailers in 13 separate mostly rural counties backing GOP county commissioner candidates. At first blush its hard to tell what the group's goal is. They have a barebones website. But the PAC's C2 shows a single $400k donation from "Keep Country First Policy Action," a group founded by anti-MAGA GOP politician Adam Kinzinger.
politico.com/news/2022/08/0…

NEWS: State Rep. Mike Zabel (D., Delaware) is resigning from office effective March 16 he says in a letter to House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia). Zabel's resignation comes after sitting GOP lawmaker state Rep. Abby Major (R., Armstrong) said she was harassed by Zabel in November 2022. @SpotlightPA spoke to her and independently verified her story through a second lawmaker and text messages.
spotlightpa.org/news/2023/03/p…

New: House Democrats have named majority chairs in the below resolution adopted by the chamber today. legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/P… They are:
Patty Kim -- Aging
Eddie Day Pashinski -- Agriculture
Donna Bullock -- Children and Youth
John Galloway -- Commerce
Rob Matzie -- Consumer Protection
Peter Schweyer -- Education
Greg Vitali -- Environmental Resources & Energy

It's here It's T-Minus one hour until the address starts. Here is @SpotlightPA's preview from yesterday: spotlightpa.org/news/2023/03/p…

Good (almost afternoon) from the state Capitol, where both House and Senate are in. In the House, few committees have formed and only one floor vote is planned right now -- amendments on a regular session statutory civil window bill legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/S…

News: Andi Perez, the lobbyist who said she was sexual harassed, has publicly identified state Rep. Mike Zabel (D., Delaware) as the perpetrator and called for him to resign.
spotlightpa.org/news/2023/03/p… .@SpotlightPA corroborated the 2019 incident through another witness, and through a text message Zabel sent to Perez the next day on which he apologized for his "bad manners."

NEWS: Pennsylvania House Speaker Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) is stepping down as speaker effective immediatley, he told @SpotlightPA this morning. He plans to back Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton to replace him, making her the first woman to lead the 200+ year old chamber. Rozzi is giving his farewell address now, highlighting how his advocacy for survivors of chilhood sexual abuse brought him into public service.

Good morning from the Capitol, where House Democrats are already filing into the majority caucus room in advance of a potential rules vote. Also some winds of change -- Rep. Kathy Rapp's (R., Warren) name was being scratched off her office door.

News: The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee has just scheduled a vote during lameduck session to impeach Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner for tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m.. The House had already scheduled three session days for this week before the election, and some GOP sources had suggested they may move forward with an impeachment resolution this week beforehand. Now, even given the poor results, Pa. Republicans appear to be forging ahead.

Good morning everyone! It's the morning after Election Day in Pennsylvania. The AP has called both the Governor and Senate races for Democrats. But something REALLY interesting is happening in the Legislature -- control of the Pennsylvania House could flip from R to D. Emphasis on could. Ballots are still being counted, AP has made no calls (they have been a little busy!)

Good morning! It is election day. Polls open in Pennsylvania at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.. @SpotlightPA has most of what you need to know here: spotlightpa.org/news/2022/11/p… Have a weirdly specific issues? Your best stop is contacting your local county board of elections. They are the ones who could, for instance, allow you to fix a mistake on your mail-in ballot. Look up contact info here: vote.pa.gov/Resources/Page…

A thread on Election Eve that I have been meaning to pigeonhole into a story but, alas: Look for Pennsylvania Republicans to draw a line between "voter fraud" and "illegal voting." The former is what we heard a lot about in 2020 (and which was all false): The specter of dead people voting, of invented mail-in ballots getting cast in the dead of night by imaginary voters to swing the results against Trump.

The Pa. Department of State has started posting some independent expenditures. These are electioneering efforts (including TV, mailers, and canvassing) spent without the input of the candidates by outside groups. Some highlights:
-Outside groups have spent $973k against Mastriano, most of it ads from the Republican Accountability project
-Another $111k has been spent on pro-Mastriano campaigns, mostly digital ads from no-compromise gun group Gun Owners of America

Inbox: The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court confirms Chief Justice Max Baer's passing. Debra Todd will become the next chief justice, and the first woman to hold the position. Baer was already set to retire next year at age 75, the mandatory retirement age for judges. His replacement will be picked by the governor and must be confirmed by a 2/3 vote of the state Senate.

The coda to the Pitt funding saga? Both it and its three fellow state related schools will recieve a share of $40 million in stimulus money from Gov. Tom Wolf -- effectively giving them all a 5% funding bump in line with his initial budget ask. spotlightpa.org/news/2022/07/p… Anti-abortion GOP lawmakers had tried to block any funding during June and July due to Pitt engaging in fetal tissue research. In the end, a bill that appeared to flat fund Pitt, PSU, Temple and Lincoln passed as part of the budget deal.

The Pa. Senate has preemptively waived a rule banning votes after 11 p.m., and now is holding a committee meeting on an omninus constitional amendment including voter ID and language that "the policy of Pa. is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception to birth." Here is the underlying bill. There's some other provisions in there as well (including having the LG be picked by the governor rather than run in a seprate primary.) legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInf…

Some small things I've noticed in the (still unfinished) state budget.... The proceeds of the sale of the state's closing residential centers for people with intellectual disabilities will go to pay for community based care for those individuals