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Former Pennsylvania state Rep. Matthew Gergely (D-Allegheny) suffered an undisclosed health complication and passed away on Jan. 19.
Credit: Abhiram JuvvadiFormer Pennsylvania state Rep. Matthew Gergely (D-Allegheny) passed away on Jan. 19 after suffering a medical emergency leaving the state House of Representatives in a 101-101 tie between Republicans and Democrats.
Gergely, a Democratic lawmaker from Allegheny County, experienced an undisclosed health complication over the holidays, which prevented him from being sworn in when the legislative session began on Jan. 5. He passed away two weeks later at the age of 45.
Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Gergely was a member of the legislature who “really looked into bills to find out the real motivation behind it.” Another colleague, state Rep. Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery), described Gergely as community-minded.
“He was just a gregarious guy who cared deeply about his local community in the Mon Valley,” Bradford said. “He recognized the community’s identity and was very proud of it.”
After winning a special election in 2023, Gergely entered the House and was re-elected to serve in November. His re-election allowed Democrats to seize a single-seat majority and his passing now leaves the House tied.
While Gergely was hospitalized, an initial vote for House Speaker took place, in which former House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia) tied with Republican state Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Fulton/Bedford). Almost immediately after votes were counted, Topper bowed out, essentially saving the House from entering a gridlock.
“I think the leadership team on both sides have navigated the thicket really well," Pennsylvania state Rep. Jared Solomon (D-Philadelphia) told the DP. "Typically you could have deadlocked the chamber to decide whether there would be a Republican or Democratic Speaker.”
While the selection process for House Speaker was ongoing, it was unclear whether Gergely would return to the chamber after his hospitalization.
Following his death, however, McClinton scheduled a special election for March 25 to fill the seat. Until then, the House will operate with an even division.
“The priorities are going to have to reflect an evenly divided government,” Solomon said. “In many ways, that’s what people wanted. They gave [Democrats] a majority, but it was slim.”
Pennsylvania state Rep. Rick Krajewski (D-188), who represents the district that includes Penn's campus, also emphasized the importance of bipartisan solutions in an interview with the DP.
“We have to do things in a bipartisan manner which feels increasingly difficult in this political climate,” Krajewski said. “But I think here, particularly in Pennsylvania, it’s important for us to figure out how we can work together on issues that impact the working class.”
Although much of the work the House will be doing before March 25 will require bipartisan cooperation, the division won't have large implications according to Penn Political Science professor Marc Meredith.
“The reality is that in Pennsylvania there’s a Democratic governor and the state senate is controlled by Republicans,” Meredith said. “For any legislation to get passed … it’s going to have to be bipartisan anyways.”
This isn’t the first time that the Pennsylvania House has been controlled by such small margins. In the last session, the Democrats controlled the House by a single vote but there were multiple instances throughout the session where Democrats resigned their seats.
The gaps between resignations and special elections led the House to operate under a tie, a situation that is similar to the status quo.
“This is the reality of having 102 versus 101,” Krajewski said. “When someone passes, or runs for higher office, or retires you don’t have the majority so you’re stuck in this in-between area.”
As the special election approaches, the House will be looking to reclaim a majority. Given the demographics of Gergely’s district, Meredith believes that Democrats will be in control of the House again.
“I think the expectation is that given the partisan makeup of the district, the special election will probably elect another Democrat,” Meredith said. “In that case we’ll sort of return back to what everyone was expecting this session to look like.”
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