The Pennsylvania Democrats won three special elections in the state House Tuesday night, giving them a clear majority.

These victories give Democrats an upper hand in a chamber which has seensawed in control of itself since November’s elections. This led to a bipartisan arrangement for “independent” speakers that quickly turned sour. The Democratic Party’s Tuesday wins have made it easier for them to block GOP-led initiatives like an anti-abortion vote.

According to projections from The Associated Press, Democrats won three districts.

32nd District: Democrat Joe McAndrew defeated Republican Clay Walker. After the October death of Anthony DeLuca (a Democrat who was in office for nearly 40 years), the seat was made vacant.

34th District: Democrat Abigail Salisbury defeated Republican Robert Pagane. After winning election to Congress in November, the previous seat holder, Summer Lee, was forced to resign.

35th District: Democrat Matthew Gergely beat Republican Don Nevills. After being elected lieutenant governor, in November, Austin Davis, a Democrat from Texas, resigned.

The three districts include suburbs of Pittsburgh as well as other parts of Allegheny County in the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania. All three districts were won by President Joe Biden in 2020 elections by at least 16 percent.

Three Democrats, who previously held the seats, won re-election in November. DeLuca, who beat his opponent, couldn’t be removed from the ballot because he died within weeks. This gave Democrats a temporary 102-101 majority, the largest in the chamber in more than a decade. DeLuca’s passing and the resignations by Lee and Davis in December meant that the GOP was able to win the current majority with 101 seats to the Democrats’ 99.

This led to arguments about who should lead the chamber. A group of Democrats as well as Republicans came together to support state Rep. Mark Rozzi as leader. Rozzi is a moderate rank and file Democrat who has promised to act as an independent.

However, the arrangement has had a difficult start.

Rozzi has been criticized by some Republicans for having lent their support. They are now calling on him to resign, claiming that he failed to honor his promise to register as an Independent.

The chamber is at a standstill ever since Rozzi was sworn into — there have been no votes or rules passed or assignments made to committees or rules. This has led to speculation that Democrats might nominate another speaker (most likely Joanna McClinton, Democratic floor leader) if they win back the majority.

The party is now back in the House majority, though only narrowly, thanks to Tuesday’s three Democratic victories. Democrats currently hold the governorship, Josh Shapiro was elected to the office in November. Republicans hold the Senate.

Democrats will be able to block Republican legislation with a smaller majority in the House. One of the most important measures is the GOP-backed constitutional amendment, which asserts that there is no constitutional right for a state to have an abortion.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed the proposed amendment last year as part of a broader omnibus bill in a process that bypassed the Democratic governor.

Pennsylvania’s law states that proposed amendments cannot be placed on the electoral ballot if they are passed in consecutive sessions. This puts Democrats in a better position to stop such an outcome during the current session.