Pennsylvania Democrats now have the power to advance election reform, legalizing marijuana and raising the minimum wage.

The 2026 midterm elections have shifted the balance of power in Washington. They also proved crucial in Pennsylvania.

Gov. Josh Shapiro defeated Republican challenger Stacy Garrity, the current state treasurer. Additionally, it appears Democrats will increase their majority in the House of Representatives and flip the state Senate, securing a 26-24 majority.

That gives Shapiro the party’s coveted trifecta: single-party control of the governor’s office and the General Assembly.

Given the pent-up demand from Democrats who haven’t fully controlled Harrisburg for more than 30 years, enthusiasm is palpable among Pennsylvania Democrats.

I teach public policy at Penn State Harrisburg and have a particular interest in Penn State politics. Now that the political fault lines are clear for the next two years in Pennsylvania state government, it’s worth thinking about what Democrats might do with their newfound power.

For insight into potential Democratic priorities, it’s helpful to look at what legislation the current Democratic-controlled House has sent to the Republican-controlled Senate.

Electoral reform

Election reform has been a consistent priority in Pennsylvania since the passage of 2019 Act 77 and the 2020 election.

Act 77 allowed no-excuse absentee voting and eliminated straight-ticket voting where voters could vote all at once for a single party, which was a bipartisan compromise but has become a political flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election. No excuse means voters do not need to provide a specific reason to vote by mail.

Democratic Elections Act priorities include requiring Pennsylvania counties to use drop boxes, maintaining no-excuse absentee voting, establishing clear rules for ballot processing where voters can correct problems with their submitted ballots instead of invalidating them, instituting a pre-clearance to expedite the counting of absentee ballots, and allowing independents to vote in open primary elections.

Democrats could now adopt all of these measures without having to compromise with Republican demands for stricter voter ID requirements.

Marijuana

Shapiro repeatedly included revenue projections from legalizing recreational marijuana for adult use in his budget proposals, and the House passed a legalization bill in 2025. Democrats had said they would legalize recreational marijuana if elected to the Senate in 2026. But important details of legalization remain to be worked out, even under Democratic control.

Democrats have sponsored divergent bills on whether sales should be in private dispensaries or state stores, the same way alcohol is sold in Pennsylvania.

Social equity measures intended to undo some of the harms of the war on drugs on communities disproportionately affected by marijuana criminalization will also be key to eventual adoption. These include expungements of prior convictions, licensing of minority dispensary owners, and community reinvestment of cannabis tax revenue.

Even with Democratic control, the devil is in the details. But a Democratic trio in Pennsylvania makes it even more likely that the Commonwealth will be among the next states where adult recreational marijuana use is legal.

Data Centers and AI

The House passed several measures to regulate artificial intelligence and data center construction in the Commonwealth. This includes a measure that would require warnings on ads made using AI and several that target energy costs, water consumption, local government authority and its implementation and the governor’s responsible infrastructure development plan.

These and other measures will likely remain on Democrats’ agenda. Additionally, criticism of AI-generated ads run by the Garrity campaign, which are regulated in other states, could add this issue to the state’s AI policy agenda.

Affordability

Given that this election was likely heavily influenced by voters’ concerns about affordability, Democrats will need to show progress in reducing prices where they can. Democrats’ blueprint for affordability includes measures such as property tax and rent reductions, other housing protections for underserved communities, doubling the earned income tax credit, and increasing funding for food and energy security.

Another affordability priority for House Democrats since they took control of the chamber in 2023 has been to increase the state’s minimum hourly wage by $7.25 over time. The bill passed by the House in March 2026 would have increased it to $11 in 2027, $13 in 2028 and $15 in 2029, with subsequent annual cost-of-living adjustments, had it also passed the Senate. This is important in Philadelphia, given that state law prohibits the city from setting its own minimum wage. The legislation will have to be introduced and re-adopted by the new General Assembly.

Same-sex marriage and the fight against discrimination

Same-sex marriage equality may seem like a settled issue with the Obergefell v. Hodges 2015 by the United States Supreme Court, but the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade by today’s more conservative court raised concerns about further changes to precedent.

The legal definition of marriage in Pennsylvania is still between “one man and one woman,” which a bipartisan majority in the House attempted to change in 2026 to “two individuals.” Democrats are very likely to take up this idea and could even attempt a more lasting, but also more procedurally difficult, constitutional amendment that enshrines the right to same-sex marriage.

Pennsylvania also does not include LGBTQ people in its anti-discrimination protections. Democrats in the House passed a bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s human relations law in 2026, but it also died in the Senate. Democrats are expected to resume this trend in 2027.

Ultimately, Democrats won’t be able to do everything. They will have to decide what their priorities are and what to leave behind.

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