I cannot tell you what joy it gives me to be able to finally write this column about one PA State Representative, Joanna McClinton, whom we can now call, Madame Speaker of the House. It took a lot of work, a lot of smarts, a lot of grit, a lot of faith, a lot of support from colleagues, a lot of prayers, and a lot of determination for the Honorable Joanna McClinton to be elected, by her peers, as the first African American woman, and only the second Black, Speaker of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives.
The good news broke on the last day of Black History Month–as we were preparing to walk into Women’s History Month. How poetic, as it should be.
I first met State Rep. Mc Clinton while she was a staffer for PA State Senator Anthony Hardy Williams. I watched her grow. When there became an opening for State Representative in the 191st Legislative District when State Rep. Ron Waters resigned from office, Joanna McClinton was right there, prepared and ready to take on a new role, representing the people of the very area of the city of Philadelphia where she was born and raised, Southwest Philadelphia.
Today she is the Speaker of the House in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives. She’s 40 years old, a graduate of La Salle University for undergrad and Villanova University for Law School.
Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton was first elected in 2015 to serve communities in west and southwest Philadelphia, as well as Yeadon and Darby in Delaware County.
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