Joanna McClinton

Joanna McClinton (Democratic Party) is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing District 191. She assumed office on August 25, 2015. Her current term ends on November 30, 2026.

McClinton was first elected House speaker on February 28, 2023, becoming the first woman to serve in that position. Democrats won a 102-101 majority in the 2022 elections, but vacancies meant they temporarily ceded a 101-99 majority to Republicans. In the interim, all the chamber's Democrats and 16 Republicans elected Mark Rozzi (D) as speaker, who promised not to caucus with Democrats and act as an independent. When those vacancies were filled, Rozzi resigned as speaker and said he wanted to make way for McClinton to become speaker. Click here to learn more.[1] McClinton was re-elected House speaker in 2025.[2] McClinton also served as House Democratic Caucus Chair from 2018 to 2020 and as House Democratic Leader from 2020 to 2023.[3]

McClinton received her B.A. in political science from LaSalle University and her J.D. from the Villanova University School of Law.[4] Her professional experience includes working as an assistant public defender and as chief counsel to state Sen. Anthony Williams (D).[3] McClinton was first elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with 71% of the vote in a 2015 special election following the resignation of Ronald Waters (D).

McClinton told the National Conference of State Legislatures in 2024 that her legislative priorities would be changing the criminal justice system and ending a cycle of underinvestment in communities of color. She said that her experience as a public defender and working in the legislature contributed to her desire to run for public office: "As a public defender, I was a firsthand witness to how underinvestment in my community impacted our neighbors, our outcomes and our opportunities. I was helping them tackle their challenges one case at a time. I went to work for my state senator immediately after leaving the public defender’s office and my perspective broadened in a major way. I also got to see who was making those laws and recognize that many of them, unlike myself, did not have recent courtroom experience in the criminal justice system."[5]

In a December 2023 summary of McClinton's first legislative session as speaker, The Pennsylvania Independent's Anna Gustafson wrote: "Under McClinton’s leadership, the House has passed more progressive bills than it had for the previous decade. The House has greenlit legislation that would address gun violence prevention, protect abortion care, end discrimination based on sexual identity and hair style, increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026, and set minimum staffing levels in hospitals . . . Those bills, among other legislation, were championed by a speaker who has consistently managed to secure not only Democratic backing but GOP votes as well, including on bills that would provide for increased background checks for purchasers of firearms and protect people traveling to Pennsylvania to access abortion care."[6]

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