In a very explosive Debate, the Pennsylvania state Senate has refused to swear in a Democratic senator.
Dem Senator in the Middle
In a very unique scenario, GOP leaders in the battleground state of Pennsylvania have taken control of the traditional proceedings from Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. This was after Fetterman attempted to seat Sen. Jim Brewster for a new term.
Republicans hold the majority in the state Senate where they voted to remove the Lt. Gov. From presiding after he tried to take control over the chamber while fellow Democrats joined in.
Liberals Freak Out
A Democrat senator from Philadelphia, Anthony Williams, made a scene as the clerk was reading the names of confirmed senators.
“We will not participate in this farce,” Williams told Republican members.
The race Brewster was involved in has been highly contested.
The Maine Public reports:
Brewster’s race has been the most intensely contested of all the commonwealth’s 2020 down-ballot races.
The Department of State has confirmed that Brewster, the incumbent Democrat, won another term by 67 votes over Republican Nicole Ziccarelli — a verdict only reached after the state confirmed that certain mail ballots on which voters had failed to mark dates properly could still be counted.
Ziccarelli has challenged the results in federal court, and her case is still pending with no deadline for action. It asks for 311 mail ballots that arrived at election offices on time, but were missing handwritten dates, to be thrown out.
What Will Happen Still TBD
The problem then lies in that the state Supreme Court previously ruled that the ballots could be counted.
Republican leaders say they want to keep the seat unfilled until the election outcome is reviewed.
Democrats are furious at this and are throwing a fit.
“Any delay is inappropriate, simply because Sen. Brewster is the winner of this race, but further because the residents of the 45th will have no voice in the Senate,” said Brittany Crampsie, a spokeswoman for Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa. “As the body votes on critical issues of election reform, COVID relief, and judicial gerrymandering — they will have no vote, no voice, no say.”
