State House speakers from across the U.S. have candid discussion on democracy, voting and America at 250 years
Rep. Joanna E. McClinton September 11, 2026 | 4:17 PM
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 10 – Today, the speakers of the House from Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York and Delaware convened for a candid conversation about the state of democracy at the historic Mother Bethel AME church.
The gathering, A More Perfect Union: from Independence to Inclusion, 250 years of American Democracy, was hosted by Pennsylvania Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Phila./Delaware, and was facilitated by WURD radio host and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Solomon Jones. McClinton organized the event as part of the state House’s celebration of the nation’s anniversary, and it followed a historic meeting of the state House that McClinton presided over in Congress Hall on Sept. 9.
Joining McClinton were Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (Illinois), Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown (Delaware), and Speaker Carl Heastie (New York).
The conversation touched on topics as far ranging as the dismantling of the display at Philadelphia’s President’s House by the Trump administration earlier this year to maternal health to combatting the White House’s attacks on voting rights.
A bipartisan group of city and state officials attended, as well as school groups from Motivation High School and Vision Charter Academy, and members of the Dennis family, the owners of a 153-acre farm that has been continuously owned by the same free African American family since it was founded and settled by Revolutionary War veteran Prince Perkins and his wife, Judith, in 1793 in northeast Pennsylvania.
Event partners included: America 250 PA | the Pennsylvania Black Caucus | United Way of Greater Pittsburgh | Black Democratic Women of Montgomery County | Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Philadelphia | League of Women’s Voters – Philadelphia | Lawrence County Action - Democratic Committee | Liberty Resources Inc. | Federation of Democratic Women | Indiana County | William Way LGBT Community Center | Pennsylvania Commission for Fairness & Justice | National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc. – Pennsylvania Chapter | The Coalition of Culturally Competent Providers | Netter Center for Community Partnerships – University of Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus | PA Youth Vote | The Mayor’s Office of Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs | Committee of Seventy | Philadelphia Commission Human Relations | The Links Inc. – Harrisburg Chapter.
McClinton is the first woman and second African American to serve as Pennsylvania Speaker.