By staff and wire reports
Democrats who barely won back a majority of seats in the Pennsylvania House in November moved to take control of the chamber Wednesday.
And shortly after Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia was quietly sworn in as a state representative on the House floor, she scheduled special elections for Feb. 7 for the seats that — up until Wednesday — were held by two lawmakers from the Mon Valley.
McClinton also scheduled a third special election for Feb. 7 to fill the 32nd District House seat that would have been held by the late state Rep. Tony DeLuca, a Democrat from Verona who died of cancer about a month before he was re-elected in November.
In addition to the special election for DeLuca’s seat, voters in the 35th Legislative District would be asked to vote Feb. 7 for a replacement for Democratic Rep. Austin Davis of McKeesport, and voters in the 34th District would be voting for a replacement for state Rep. Summer Lee, a Democrat from North Braddock.
Davis and Lee both resigned from the House Wednesday as they prepared to be sworn in next month as lieutenant governor and to Congress, respectively.
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