“Essentially, it would follow the federal model,” Argall said, referencing the way presidential hopefuls select their vice presidents.
Argall’s proposal won bipartisan support last session and is expected to have similar backing this time. Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia) who co-sponsored the measure, said the change will allow governors and their deputies to have functional relationships.
“We could have five people running for governor and three people running for lieutenant governor or vice versa,” Street told Spotlight PA on Tuesday. “Then they get to the general election and they are forced to run together, even though they may have very different ideologies about how to run the commonwealth, which could cause some awkwardness.”
The measure also has the backing of The Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia-based good-government group.
“As with the president and vice president nomination at the national level, voters deserve a chance to consider an integrated team of governor and lieutenant governor candidates, not an accidental pairing,” said David Thornburgh, president of the organization.
But support for the proposal isn’t unanimous. In the state House, one GOP lawmaker joined more than 60 Democrats to vote “no” in 2019.
“Most lawmakers considered this question with a long lens and their position on it tends to reflect how they view the concept of the office rather than views of any specific people who have been lieutenant governor,” Bill Patton, a spokesperson for House Democrats, said.
Three state senators, including a Republican, similarly voted against it in January 2020.
Sen. Katie Muth (D., Montgomery) was among the nays. She said Tuesday she believes governors and their lieutenants should both be chosen by voters, not by political parties.
“Leave it in the hands of the voters,” she said. “I want the people of Pennsylvania to decide because as a member of the Senate, they [lieutenant governors] play an integral role, including the ability to have a healthy debate, to have the democratic processes followed.”
She is also opposed to the change because she believes it could amplify “political behind-the-scenes maneuvering.”
“I’m very much against appointments because of the pay-to-play system in Pennsylvania with state-level politics,” she said.
But Argall defended his proposal Tuesday, noting its bipartisan support and the fact that voters will ultimately get to decide whether to make the change.
“Please be understanding that very few people — very few people — go to the polls in November and base their vote on who the lieutenant governor candidate is,” he said. “They’re voting for the top of the ticket.”