State House leadership elections bring change to Harrisburg

HARRISBURG >> Republicans in the state House elevated Rep. Bryan Cutler to be floor leader Tuesday and made Rep. Kerry Benninghoff whip, while Democrats re-elected Minority Leader Frank Dermody and voted for Rep. Jordan Harris as whip.

The biggest surprise among the top jobs was Harris, a 34-year-old Philadelphian whose selection reflects the increasing numbers and growing influence of Democrats from the southeast within their caucus.

“Let’s be clear, the gains in our caucus were in the southeast,” Harris said after the vote, referring to last week’s election that gave his party a pickup of about 11 House seats. “Our caucus has to represent the membership.”

Cutler, a six-term member from southern Lancaster County, had served as whip under current Majority Leader Dave Reed. Reed opted not to seek re-election this year and planned to run for Congress, but ended up redistricted into an incumbent Republican’s territory. Reed announced recently he is taking an executive job at a bank in his Indiana County district.

Cutler said Tuesday he was working on plans for the two-year session that begins in January, saying a natural place to begin will be legislation that made headway in the 2017-18 session but did not become law. He listed education bills and regulatory reform among the prime candidates for action early next year.

Republicans also elevated Benninghoff, of Centre County, to the vote-gathering position of whip, and returned Rep. Stan Saylor of York County to chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

The chamber’s presiding officer, speaker of the House, will be elected in January, when Allegheny County Republican Rep. Mike Turzai is expected to retain that position.

Legislative Democrats entered last week’s election badly outnumbered in both chambers, but along with about 11 seats in the House, they also picked up about five in the Senate, with a handful of races still too close to call.