PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Northeast Philadelphia Democratic state Senator Jimmy Dillon has conceded his race to Republican Joe Picozzi. While Republicans picked up a Senate seat in Philadelphia for the first time in years, the party breakdown of each chamber in the General Assembly will remain the same.
With all the races called, but votes still to be counted, Republicans maintain a 28 to 22 majority in the Pennsylvania Senate, while Democrats hang on to their one-seat majority in the state House.
House Democratic leaders say their continued majority is an affirmation of their agenda, and in their words, “a credit to the pragmatic and moderate stewardship of House Democrats and Gov. Josh Shapiro.”
But Republican strategist Aaron Cohen says Democrats need to figure out how to work with the one-seat majority to avoid the stops and starts of last session.
“A lot of people in their hearts, both Republicans and Democrats, would have loved a slightly more definitive outcome for the state House,” Cohen said. “We've lived through two years of a one-seat majority for either party.”
Senate majority leader Republican Joe Pittman says they can continue to demonstrate that a divided government is not a dysfunctional government, and they’ll work to compromise where they see fit, but they’re not going to compromise their principles in what he calls “the electoral mandate we’ve been given.”