Left to right: Reps. Andrew Kuzma, La’Tasha Mayes, Mandy Steele and Arvind Venkat. (Photo illustration by Natasha Vicens/PublicSource)
The county’s new representation reflects some of the issues that defined the 2022 elections: abortion access, public health and climate.
by Charlie Wolfson, PublicSource
2022 was a momentous year for La’Tasha Mayes. The issue she has organized on for decades, reproductive rights, jumped to the forefront of American politics, and she achieved a long-held goal by winning election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
The 2022 midterm elections were seen in part as a de facto referendum on abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade protections in June, and in Pennsylvania, that translated into a wave of wins for pro-choice Democrats like Mayes.
She was not surprised by the results, she said. “I know the people of Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh. Whether a person calls themselves progressive or not, everybody wants to control their body. Regardless of party, regardless of race, age, gender, where you live, people want that basic human right.”
During a mid-December interview at Tazza D’oro coffee shop in Highland Park, which doubled as her campaign office, she recounted her post-election trip to Harrisburg for new member orientation. She felt the trip was a full-circle moment.
“I’ve walked up the steps into the rotunda many times, but when we went after the election … it was a different feeling,” she said. “I had a sense of, this is exactly where I belong.”
Mayes, a Morningside resident, will be one of an unusually high number of new voices arriving in Harrisburg when lawmakers are formally sworn in on Jan. 3. Redistricting and political shifts resulted in about a quarter of House seats turning over.
A new majority could be coming, too, for the first time since 2011. Democrats won 102 seats to the Republicans’ 101, but three vacancies in Democrat-held districts mean the party can’t have a voting majority until after special elections next year.