Posted on 07/01/2026 5:27:50 PM PDT by lightman
A state lawmaker was booted from the House floor after declining to remove his American flag-themed jacket. Such sartorial conflicts, believe it or not, have a long history in Harrisburg.
Rep. Eric Davanzo, R-Westmoreland County, was seen roaming the Capitol on Tuesday wearing a red-and-white-striped blazer and a blue tie with white stars — a motif that he said was to commemorate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday and the nation’s 250th anniversary.
But after entering the House chamber, Davanzo said he was told by a security staffer that “the Speaker is going to ask you to leave or take your jacket off” because it qualifies as a “costume.”
Davanzo declined to remove his jacket, and left the floor.
Hard definitions of what is and isn’t appropriate attire aren’t found in the House rules or the generally-accepted rules of parliamentary procedure. The Speaker has broad latitude to enforce decorum on the floor, and certain standards are widely known: men must wear a jacket and tie, for instance, or else they won’t be recognized to speak.
The office of House Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, said she wasn’t playing favorites when it came to Davanzo’s warning.
“The speaker’s decision yesterday was consistent with the precedent set during the Sam Smith era,” said Nicole Reigelman, McClinton’s spokesperson. Smith, a Republican, was Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015.
In a 2013 exchange on the House floor, according to the House journals, Smith and former Rep. Curtis Thomas discussed an incident in which, according to Thomas, the Speaker’s designee had denied Thomas the right to speak because he was wearing traditional African clothing as part of an event with the Legislative Black Caucus.
Smith, according to the transcript, acknowledged “a little bit of gray area” when it came to clothing policy, but that the Speaker ultimately had to use their discretion to draw a line somewhere.
The rule of thumb has been that costumes are not allowed, and a costume is anything that you wouldn’t normally wear in the workplace save for the specific occasion. House members of both parties are typically reminded of this at least once a year, usually before Halloween.
But Davanzo maintained that his flag ensemble was not a costume since “I would wear this back home, and I’m going to wear it again.”
The costume litmus test doesn’t mean that House members can’t wear unusual clothing. Rep. David Maloney, R-Berks County, often wears camouflage blazers on the House floor – but these have been deemed to be non-costumes, since Maloney wears them on a day-to-day basis.
Davanzo was in attendance for votes on Wednesday – wearing a dark blue suit jacket similar to that worn by most male members of the legislature.
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Yeah. She says she wasn’t playing favorites. Sure.
What a bunch of douche bags.
I’m fairly patriotic but that looks like a clown suit.
Eric is a barber. Leave him alone.
I was raised to respect the flag and it was to never to be worn. His choice is horrible. “Clown costume,” indeed.
A walking barber pole.
Do they let men dress up like women ?
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