Pennsylvania GOP Senators Remove Lt. Gov., Refuse to Seat Dem Senator

Republican state senators in Pennsylvania removed the Democratic lieutenant governor from presiding over the chamber’s proceedings Tuesday and refused to allow a newly and fairly elected Democratic state senator to sit for the session. The Republicans voted to pull Lt. Gov. John Fetterman from the rostrum at the head of the state Senate chamber after he declined to recognize a motion to block Sen. Jim Brewster from taking the oath of office, an allowable if uncommon move under the state’s constitution. The Republican lawmakers say lawsuits over Allegheny County’s elections must run their course before Brewster can be sworn in, but the state has already certified his victory. The GOP were successful in their motion after they ousted Fetterman, who said the senators “subverted the democratic will of voters.” Democrats retaliated by refusing to vote for state Sen. Jake Corman, a Republican, in his bid to take the chamber’s highest leadership position, usually an uncontested bipartisan vote. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, called the Republican maneuvers “simply unethical and undemocratic” in a statement: “Republicans in Pennsylvania and nationally have spread disinformation and used it to subvert the democratic process.”