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A Higher Plane CityAndStatePA .com
September 2021
How House Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton’s evangelical upbringing shaped the way she sees the future.
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By Harrison Cann
AMANDA BERG
EFORE SHE BECAME a lawyer, Joanna McClinton was singing hymns in church and hosting a gospel radio show during vacation Bible school in Southwest Philly. All that was before a global pandemic and political strife split the country apart. Things are different now. She’s still a believer, but she does a lot of her speaking from the state Capitol in Harrisburg, where she works. People listen to her now, and she has been breaking barriers since her time in the legislature began. The biggest milestone came last year when she was elected as the Democratic leader of the state House, and in the process, becoming the chamber’s first female floor leader and the first Black woman to lead a party in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania currently ranks 31st in the nation in the number of female lawmakers in the state legislature. The 2021-2022 General Assembly is nearly 30 percent female, just below the national average. As she approaches her one-year mark as minority leader, McClinton reflected on how she adjusted to the new role, how she got there in the first place and how she can pave the way for others after her. Admittedly, McClinton never wanted to become a politician. Growing up, she said her career ambitions shifted from lawyer to actress to hairdresser, and then, preacher. Surprisingly, she’s been able to check a couple of those off her list. She served in church as a youth for more than a decade and is now an ordained minister. She went
