President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate

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The President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate (also known more commonly as the "President pro-tem") is a constitutionally-created office in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The incumbent holder of the office is Republican Kim Ward.

Contents

Overview

The position of President pro tempore replaced the abolished position of Speaker of the Senate in the Constitution of 1874. [1]

The office is filled through election by the full Senate membership, though its holder typically comes from the majority party. The President pro tempore is designated as second in the gubernatorial succession, behind the Lieutenant Governor. [1] [2] [3]

Duties

The President pro tempore presides over the Senate in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor and appoints committee chairpersons, votes on all bills, and is the leader of the Senate. In issues involving both chambers of the General Assembly, the President pro tempore confers with the Speaker of the House. [1]

List of speakers of the Pennsylvania Senate

NamePolitical partyCountyDates served
Samuel Powell Federalist Delaware, Philadelphia County 1792-1793
Anthony Morris Federalist Philadelphia County 1793-1794
William Bingham Federalist Delaware, Philadelphia County 1794-1795
Robert Hare Sr. Federalist Delaware, Philadelphia County 1795-1799
John Woods Federalist Allegheny, Washington County 1799-1801
Samuel Maclay Democratic Republican Northumberland County 1801-1802
John Pearson Democratic Republican Lancaster County 1802-1803
Robert Whitehill Democratic Republican Cumberland County 1803-1805
James Young Brady Constitutionalist [a] Armstrong, Indiana, Jefferson, Westmoreland County 1805-1806
John Francis Steele Democratic Republican Lancaster County 1805-1806
Presely Carr Lane Sr. Democratic Republican Fayette, Greene, Westmoreland County 1806-1814
Walter Lowrie Democratic Republican Allegheny, Beaver, Butler County 1813-1814
John Tod Democratic Republican Bedford, Cambria, Somerset County 1814-1816
Isaac Weaver Jr. Democratic Republican Greene, Washington County 1817-1820
William Marks Democratic Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler County 1820-1825
Philip Swenk Markley Democratic Montgomery County 1821-1822
Thomas Burnside Sr. Democratic Centre, Clearfield, McKean, Potter, Tioga County 1825-1826
Alexander Mahon Sr. Democratic Cumberland, Perry County 1825-1828
William George Hawkins Sr. Democratic Fayette, Greene, Washington County 1831-1832
Thomas Ringland Democratic Greene, Washington County 1833-1834
Jesse Reading Burden Democratic Philadelphia County 1833-1834
Thomas Scott Cunningham Democratic Crawford, Erie, Mercer County 1835-1836
Jesse Reading Burden Whig Philadelphia County 1837-1838
Charles Bingham Penrose Whig Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, Perry, Philadelphia County 1838-1839
William Tennet Rogers Democratic Bucks County 1839
Ebeneezer Kingsbury Jr. Democratic Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Wayne County 1841
John Strohm Anti-Masonic Lancaster, York County 1841
Charles Bingham Penrose Whig Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, Perry, Philadelphia County 1841
John Hoge Ewing Whig Washington County 1842
William Hiester Jr. Whig Lancaster, York County 1842
Benjamin Crispin Democratic Philadelphia County 1843
William Bigler Democratic Armstrong, Camrbia, Clarion, Clearfield, Indiana County 1844-1845
John Benton Sterigere Democratic Chester, Delaware, Montgomery County 1845
William Pendleton Wilcox Democratic Jefferson, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Venango, Warren County 1845
Daniel Lee Sherwood Jr. Democratic Tioga, Bradford County 1846
Charles L. Gibbons Sr. Whig Philadelphia County 1847
William Sterling Ross Improvement Democrat [b] Columbia, Luzerne County 1847
William Williamson Jr. Whig Chester, Delaware County 1847
William Freame Johnston Whig Chester, Cambria, Clearfield, Indiana County 1848
George Darsie Whig Allegheny, Butler County 1848-1849
Valentine Best Democratic Columbia, Luzerne County 1849
Benjamin Matthias Whig Philadelphia County 1851
Christan Myers Whig Armstrong, Clarion, Indiana County 1852
John Hoge Walker Whig Crawford, Erie County 1852
Thomas Erskin Carson Whig Adams, Franklin County 1853
John Christian Kunkel Whig Dauphin, Northumberland County 1853
Byron Delano Hamlin Democrat Clearfield, Elk, Forest, McKean,Potter, Tioga County 1855
William Muhlenberg Hiester Democrat Berks County 1855
William McKinney Piatt Democrat Bradford, Susquehanna, Wyoming County 1855-1856
Nathaniel Borrodaille Browne Democrat Philadelphia County 1856
Darwin Abel Finney Whig Crawford, Erie County 1857
David Taggart Whig Dauphin, Northumberland County 1857
John M. Cresswell Jr. Democratic Blair, Cambria, Clearfield, Huntingdon County 1858
William Henry Welsh Democratic York County 1858
Jacob Turney Democratic Fayette, Westmoreland County 1859
William Miller Francis Republican Lawrence, Mercer, Venango County 1860
Robert Moffett Palmer Republican Schuylkill County 1860-1861
Louis Williams Hall Sr. Republican Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry County 1861-1862
George van Eman Lawrence Republican Beaver, Greene, Washington County 1863
John P. Penny Sr. Republican Allegheny County 1863-1864
Louis Williams Hall Sr. Republican Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry County 1864
William J. Turrell Republican Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wyoming County 1865
David Fleming Republican Dauphin, Lebanon County 1866
Louis Williams Hall Sr. Republican Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry County 1866-1867
James Leonard Graham Republican Allegheny County 1868
Wilmer Worthington Republican Chester, Delaware, Montgomery County 1869
Charles Henderson Stinson Republican Chester, Delaware, Montgomery County 1869-1870
Albert Gallatin Brodhead Democratic Carbon, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Wayne County 1871
William Andrew Wallace Democratic Blair, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk County 1871
James Smith Rutan Republican Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington County 1872
George Holmes Anderson Republican Allegheny County 1873
George H. Cutler Republican Erie, Warren County 1874
Butler B. Strang Republican Cameron, McKean, Potter, Tioga County 1874
Henry Lloyd White Republican Armstorong, Cambria, Indiana, Jefferson, Westmoreland County 1874
Elisha W. Davis Republican Philadelphia County 1875-1876

List of presidents pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate

NamePolitical partyCountyDates elected
George H. Cutler Republican Erie County 1875
Elisha W. Davis Republican Philadelphia County 1875,76
John Christopher Newmyer Republican Allegheny County 1876,77
Thomas Valentine Cooper Republican Delaware County 1877,78
Andrew Jackson Herr Republican Dauphin County 1878,79
John Lamon Republican Philadelphia County 1879
William Imlay Newell Republican Philadelphia County 1881
Hugh McNeil Republican Allegheny County 1881
John Edgar Reyburn Republican Philadelphia County 1883
Amos Herr Mylin Republican Lancaster County 1883,85
George Handy Smith Republican Philadelphia County 1885,87
John C. Grady Republican Philadelphia County 1887,89
Boies Penrose Republican Philadelphia County 1889,91
John Peter Shindel Gobin Republican Lebanon County 1891,93
Charles Wesley Thomas Republican Philadelphia County 1893,95
Samuel John Milton McCarrell Republican Dauphin County 1895,97
Daniel Spindler Walton Republican Greene County 1897
William Preston Snyder Republican Chester County 1899, 1901
John Morin Scott Republican Philadelphia County 1901,03
William Cameron Sproul Republican Delaware County 1903,05
Cyrus E. Woods Republican Westmoreland County 1905,07
Albert Everton Sisson Republican Erie County 1907,09
William E. Crow Republican Fayette County 1911
George M. Wertz Republican Cambria County 1911
Daniel P. Gerberich Republican Lebanon County 1913
Charles H. Kline Republican Allegheny County 1913,15
Edward E. Beidleman Republican Dauphin County 1915,17
Clarence Jay Buckman Republican Bucks County 1917,19
Frank E. Baldwin Republican Potter County 1919,21
Thomas Lawrence Eyre Republican Chester County 1921,23
John G. Homsher Republican Lancaster County 1923,25
Samuel W. Salus Republican Philadelphia County 1923,25
Horace W. Schantz Republican Lehigh County 1927,29
Augustus F. Daix Jr. Republican Philadelphia County 1929,31
James S. Boyd Republican Montgomery County 1931,33
Harry B. Scott Republican Centre County 1933
John G. Homsher Republican Lancaster County 1935
Harvey D. Huffman Democratic Monroe County 1937
John S. Rice Democratic Adams County 1938
Frederick T. Gelder Republican Susquehanna County 1939
Charles H. Ealy Republican Somerset County 1941,43
M. Harvey Taylor Republican Dauphin County 1945,47,49,51,53,55,57,59
Weldon Brinton Heyburn Republican Delaware County 1947
Anthony J. DiSilvestro Democratic Philadelphia County 1961
M. Harvey Taylor Republican Dauphin County 1963
James S. Berger Republican Potter County 1964 (acting), 1965
Stanley G. Stroup Republican Bedford County 1966 (acting)
Robert D. Fleming Republican Allegheny County 1967,69,70
Martin L. Murray Democratic Luzerne County 1971,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80
Henry G. Hager III Republican Lycoming County 1981,82,83,84
Robert C. Jubelirer Republican Blair County 1984,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92
Robert J. Mellow Democratic Lackawanna County 1992,93,94
Robert C. Jubelirer Republican Blair County 1994,95,96,97,97,99; 2000,01,02,03,04,05,06
Joseph B. Scarnati III Republican Jefferson County 2006,07,08,09,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19
Jacob Doyle Corman III Republican Centre County 2020,21
Kim Ward Republican Westmoreland County 2022, 23

See also

Notes

  1. The Constitutionalist Quids, or the "Old Republicans" where a faction within the Democratic Republican Party who where strongly opposed to cooperation with Federalists
  2. The Improvement Democrats, or Pro-Improvement Democrats, where a faction in the early Democratic party that argued for a strong federal government to intervene in the American economy and support infrastructure construction

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Senate of Pennsylvania". Archived from the original on October 4, 2001. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  2. "The Constitution of Pennsylvania: Article IV §13 — When Lieutenant Governor to act as Governor". Pennsylvania General Assembly . Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  3. "The Constitution of Pennsylvania: Article IV §14 — Vacancy in office of Lieutenant Governor". Pennsylvania General Assembly . Retrieved August 23, 2019.