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Melissa Harris-Perry: Representative Kevin McCarthy woke up on Friday morning, still having failed to secure the speaker's gavel. While the US House was stuck in the mud this week, another legislative body managed to choose a leader and move forward with the people's business, despite the threat of gridlock.

Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives convened in Harrisburg. During the 2022 elections, Democrats won more seats, but because of a death and two other Democrats leaving for higher office, on day one Pennsylvania Republicans had more members.

Now initially, House Majority Leader, Democratic state rep Joanna McClinton, was in line to secure the speakership, but without a clear majority on the floor, her candidacy could have led to the kind of battle that we've seen in DC this week. After a series of closed-door negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, Democratic State representative Mark Rozzi was elected as the speaker. He indicated that he'll be the first-ever independent in this role and promised not to caucus with Democrats or Republicans.

Mark Rozzi: I pledge my allegiance and my loyalty to no interest in this building, to no interest in our politics. I pledge my loyalty to the people of the Commonwealth who are tired of the hyper-partisanship from both parties.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Here with me is Gillian McGoldrick, Harrisburg Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gillian, thanks so much for being with us today.

Gillian McGoldrick: Thank you so much for having me.

Melissa Harris-Perry: All right, so let's just get to the basics here. What do we know about how this particular deal was cut?

Gillian McGoldrick: It seems like the deal was honestly cut really, really quickly on the floor on Tuesday. The House Republican leader Bryan Cutler told me yesterday that it seems that it was within 30 minutes they threw this together. Previously, the Republicans and Democrats had been criss-crossing the state trying to find someone that could maybe flip parties and join their side, but that obviously didn't work, so this last-minute surprise vote for Speaker Rozzi became the one they went with.

Melissa Harris-Perry: There's a part of me that as I hear Speaker Rozzi pledging his loyalty to the people of the Commonwealth, saying that he's pledging his allegiance really to governing, it's like 'Mr. Rozzi goes to Harrisburg' moment. It feels big, especially when the US Congress right now feels so small and petty. Is there something at stake here for having an independent rather than someone caucusing with one of the parties as the speaker?

Gillian McGoldrick: Yes, for sure. We're still unclear whether or not Speaker Rozzi says he's a capital 'I' independent or if he's just planning to govern independently. It's really unclear and he really isn't answering questions, but yes there's a lot at stake here for them. For Democrats especially, they had thought that they had clinched a majority in the House for the first time in 12 years. Otherwise, if he is truly going to change his party registration and perhaps not always vote with Democrats, the House makeup would be 101, 101, 1.

Melissa Harris-Perry: That House makeup would be after these now three vacant seats are filled?

Gillian McGoldrick: Yes, exactly. They're in pretty blue-controlled areas of the state. They're in Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh or in Pittsburgh.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Okay, Gillian, stick with us. We'll be right back, we've got more out of Harrisburg on The Takeaway in just a moment.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: You are listening to The Takeaway, I'm Melissa Harris-Perry. We're talking with Gillian McGoldrick, Harrisburg Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. We're talking about that Pennsylvania House Democrats and Republicans coming together to elect representative Mark Rozzi as their House Speaker. All right, so tell me a little bit about Rozzi. You're saying he's not really answering questions about whether that independent is a capital 'I' or simply being independent. I love that designation. What do we know about him?

Gillian McGoldrick: Yes, he is a moderate Democrat. He has been known to work across the aisle. He came to Harrisburg with one big issue that he wanted to address, and that is widen the statute of limitations for adults who suffered sexual abuse as children, as someone himself who was abused by a Roman Catholic priest. That's his big issue that he really wants to deal with. It seems like part of this deal with Republican leadership is that he'll get to push forward that constitutional amendment he had been working on for the past few years yet again this session and get it before the voters in the next few weeks.

Melissa Harris-Perry: It's interesting that you make that point and clarify that, because that's not a hot button partisan issue. That isn't healthcare, that isn't closing the borders. That isn't a lot of the kinds of things we've been hearing, rhetoric out of Washington DC about this week.

Gillian McGoldrick: For sure, yes. This has been more controversial in Pennsylvania, not for any other reason other than that Senate Republican leadership won't pass it or they don't believe that it's constitutional. We're getting into the nitty-gritty there, but Republicans and Democrats in the House have pretty unanimously supported this in the past. All of this came out of a 2018 grand jury report by Pennsylvania's Governor Elect Josh Shapiro who, as Attorney General, had investigated the Roman Catholic Church and its abuses in Pennsylvania over decades.

Melissa Harris-Perry: All right. I want to talk about the speakers who aren't, who might have been, but did not come to the fore. Tell us about Democratic State rep Joanna McClinton. It's my understanding she would have been a historic speaker had she been elevated to that role.

Gillian McGoldrick: For sure, yes. She had been poised to be the first woman speaker, the first Black woman speaker in Pennsylvania history. She's been known nationally as a Democratic rising star, and she was ready to be this history-making leader, speaker.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Then, what do we expect from her now? She will obviously remain the Democratic leader presumably. Has she been supportive of this deal? Is there a sense that if in fact the current speaker remains as a Democrat, that once these other three seats are filled that they would have another election? What do we know about her leadership goals at this point?

Gillian McGoldrick: Democrats unanimously supported Rozzi to become the next speaker. It seemed like Democrats called Republicans' bluff a little bit by their choice to nominate a Democrat as speaker. Democrats supported this, along with a handful of Republican leaders supported Rozzi. At this point, though, Republicans and Republican leader Bryan Cutler says that he expects it to be a full two-year speakership for Mark Rozzi, seeming that that's part of the deal. Depending on how this all shakes out, it is likely that he could stay speaker or he could step aside and resign and let McClinton take the wheel.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Now, presumably, if they'd wanted to behave a little bit more like their DC colleagues, Republicans in the Pennsylvania House could have pushed for a speaker of their own. My understanding is that would've been representative Bryan Cutler. Tell me a bit about him. Is he being supportive here and what are we expecting for his leadership in the future?

Gillian McGoldrick: Bryan Cutler, because of this weird holdover period until February, he actually had said he didn't want to become speaker again. He had been speaker during the last two legislative sessions, but he wanted to sit in that majority leader position or Republican leader position and direct the legislation rather than that more administrative leadership role as speaker. Otherwise, they had been planning to nominate representative Carl Metzgar, and they did nominate him on the floor, but it was clear that Republicans didn't have any candidate that they all 101 of them supported on the floor for them to clinch that speakership.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Listen, I can't imagine why anyone would want to be speaker of anything right at this moment [laughs] but I absolutely-- it feels like, "Oh, there's a job you don't want." What have you been hearing from the people of Pennsylvania about this? Is there a pride in having reached a compromise and move forward, or is there a sense that something important has been lost?

Gillian McGoldrick: Obviously, people who are pretty politically involved are a bit disappointed on both sides of the aisle, both Republicans and Democrats are upset a bit that their leadership wasn't able to deliver them the majority on Tuesday. Overall, there is some hope, especially among Democrats who know Rozzi or constituents of Rozzi, who say that he's always walked to the beat of his own drum, and that he has an independent streak. It makes them a little bit hopeful for the legislature and that the House will be able to maybe actually work on issues bi-partisanly.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Well, we will definitely be keeping our eyes on Pennsylvania. Gillian McGoldrick is the Harrisburg reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gillian, thanks so much for taking the time with us today.

Gillian McGoldrick: Thank you so much.

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