President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate

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.

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

Name	Political party	County	Dates 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

Name	Political party	County	Dates 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

Notes

^ The Constitutionalist Quids, or the "Old Republicans" where a faction within the Democratic Republican Party who were strongly opposed to cooperation with Federalists
^ 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

References

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

External links

Pennsylvania Senate website

[4] The Constitutionalist Quids, or the "Old Republicans" where a faction within the Democratic Republican Party who were strongly opposed to cooperation with Federalists

[5] 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

[Senate-1] "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.

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