Republicans on Wednesday said the declaration of victory was premature. They are pinning their hopes on a handful of close races in suburban Philadelphia, where candidates are separated by hundreds — or in some cases just dozens — of votes. Even if Republicans held on to control, the surprise showing by Democrats still showed that strong wins in state races for governor and the U.S. Senate may have helped carry the party into downstate races. Democrats in other swing states beat expectations, including Michigan, where the party won control of the legislature for the first time in decades. Democrats said it showed a favorable redistricting process in Pennsylvania gave them a fighting chance and that swing voters were swayed by Harrisburg’s now absolute control over Pennsylvania’s abortion policy. Democratic control of the House would have major implications for Governor-elect Josh Shapiro’s ability to implement policy in Harrisburg next year. Republicans would retain control of the state Senate, but a House controlled by Shapiro’s party would strengthen his hand in negotiations with the legislature. And it would guarantee that Pennsylvania’s abortion laws would remain unchanged. The GOP has pushed legislation that would amend the state constitution to say there is no right to an abortion, but the legislation would require a majority vote of both members. State Rep. Leanne Krueger (D., Delaware), who chairs the party’s state House arm of the campaign, Democrats are estimated to win at least 102 seats out of the 203-seat House. She based her prediction on the number of ballots left to be counted in close races. Mail-in ballots have generally leaned Democratic. » READ MORE: Watch live election updates As of Wednesday afternoon, the Associated Press had called for 195 seats, and Democrats held a slight advantage. Eight remain uninvited, and members on both sides of the aisle have said scrutiny will likely come down to five or fewer games. Jason Gottesman, the House GOP spokesman, said Democrats claim Wednesday’s majority was premature and that House Republicans are still watching a number of races. In Montgomery County’s 151st District, incumbent Republican Rep. The county had about 4,300 mail-in ballots to count and the provisional ballots had not yet been processed. In Bucks County’s 144th District, Republican incumbent Todd Polinchok trailed Democratic challenger Brian Munroe by less than 500 votes. And in the 142nd, Democrat Mark Moffa and Republican Rep. Joseph Hogan were virtually tied – separated by just two votes. Patricia Poprik, chairwoman of the Bucks County GOP, said provisional, military and overseas ballots have yet to be counted and that hundreds or thousands of mail-in ballots may still be outstanding. “For anyone on either side to jump up and say they’ve won is premature,” he said. But more than a dozen Democrats felt confident enough in their prediction that they stood in the shadow of Independence Hall Wednesday afternoon and laid out their policy agenda while referring to Rep. Joanna McClinton, the House Minority Leader, as speaker of the House. If Democrats take control of the chamber, McClinton would be the first woman to serve as speaker of the House in state history. Pennsylvania has had only one other black speaker – K. Leroy Irvis, of Allegheny County, was the first black speaker and served in the role for eight years in the 1970s and ’80s. McClinton, who represents parts of West Philadelphia, said the victories represented a rebuke of the Republican party, saying that “Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly rejected fear, Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly rejected hate, Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly rejected division”. Democrats needed to win twelve seats to take control. The party targeted 14 constituencies across the state that it considered key, almost all of them in suburban areas. Three of those districts — two in Allegheny County and one in the State College area — were recently drawn, so there was no one in charge to defend them. Democrats Arvind Venkat and Mandy Steele held significant leads Wednesday morning in Allegheny, as did Democrat Paul Takac in State College. Kruger said Democrats expected to flip some seats due to favorable redistricting, but they appear to have held seats in districts held by former President Donald Trump that Democrats expected to lose. “It shows that talking to people face to face and providing good service and working hard and knocking on doors can get us over the finish line,” he said. “Voters are tired of lies, they want to defend democracy. And women came out to vote out loud. When you put all of these together, you can get to 102.” Democrats saw this year as their best chance in a decade to take control of the lower house, as it was the first general election since the state adopted new legislative maps through redistricting. And while the new state House map slightly favors Republicans, it is much more politically competitive than the old one, according to a detailed analysis of data conducted for The Inquirer by the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project. Redistribution takes place every 10 years and is linked to population changes recorded by the census. The new Senate charter largely protected incumbents in both parties. So the upper house, which Republicans have controlled since 1994, was least likely to see major changes, and only half of the 50 seats were on the ballot. State Rep. Jordan Harris (D., Philadelphia) said the new maps were the difference maker. “When you have fair maps, Democrats win,” he said. “And that’s what you saw on election day.”
