Candy Woodall
USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania Capitol Bureau
Jake Corman and John Fetterman had a cordial discussion before the start of a bitter legislative session Tuesday.
Fetterman, a Democrat who presides over the state Senate as lieutenant governor, and Corman, a Republican who was on the verge of formally becoming the Senate president pro tempore, maintained a civil conversation despite starkly different beliefs about the fate of the 45th Senate district seat.
But the good tidings didn't last, leading to a remarkable floor fight that ended in Fetterman's removal as the Senate's presiding officer. The move made national headlines and signaled the beginning of what may be a bitterly divided legislative session amid a politically divisive national landscape.