LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — Democrats and their allied groups are investing more money, filming a novel television commercial starring Gov. Josh Shapiro and sending the national party chairman in the final week of the campaign for a pick for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, possible signs of concern about a race that could reshape the highest court in the biggest presidential contest.
Spending in the race is on track to exceed $15 million – far exceeding previous spending in a so-called retention election – as Democrats seek to blunt a late-emerging Republican campaign to unseat three Democratic judges.
The outcome will have implications for next year’s midterm elections, the 2028 presidential election and congressional redistricting over the next decade. The country’s most populous swing state has a politically divided government that has left disputes over election laws and other key issues to the courts in recent years.
Tuesday’s election will determine whether the three judges will each serve another term of up to ten years. They face no opponents and are not listed according to party affiliation. The ballot paper simply asks voters to cast a yes or no vote.
Redistricting elections are supposed to have no party, but Christine Donohue, one of the justices running to remain in office, said she was “shocked by the partisan nature” of the election.
“This is extremely unusual,” Donohue said in an interview Wednesday. “But I think it’s a sign of the times.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has a 5-2 Democratic majority, so a sweeping Democratic defeat in Tuesday’s election could create a 2-2 ideological split for two years. A political stalemate could likely prevent their seats from being filled until the next judicial election in 2027, leaving the court potentially unable to rule on election or electoral cases until next year’s midterm elections.
“It could lead to chaos,” Donohue said.
While the spending is well below the more than $100 million spent on a state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin earlier this year, it highlights how crucial these races have become for both parties as state courts play a role in deciding redistricting disputes, lawsuits over voting and elections, and setting policy on hot-button issues like abortion.
Donohue and the other judges up for appointment, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht, spent their final days on the campaign trail attending Democratic Party rallies and voting. Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin toured Pennsylvania on Wednesday and Thursday to make headlines.
At a Democratic Party meeting in Lancaster County on Wednesday evening, Martin told a few hundred people that Republicans were trying to steal power by buying court seats so they could enforce right-wing policies in the courts.
“This isn’t just about Pennsylvania,” Martin told the crowd. “Because if they win here, you can bet they’re going to bring this to every single state across the country. … This is about our democracy.”
Democrats and their allies were on track to outspend Republicans by a margin of up to 4 to 1 after a flurry of television advertising in recent weeks to counter a wave of Republican leaflets and commercials.
The TV ads supporting the judges portray them as defenders of abortion rights, union rights and voting rights. They are supported by unions, trial lawyers and the political arm of Planned Parenthood.
Although not all spending or funding sources have been publicly disclosed, groups affiliated with a network that typically spends campaign contributions from Pennsylvania’s richest man, securities billionaire Jeffrey Yass, have spent about $2 million so far, according to figures from AdImpact, which tracks advertising.
Democrats and their allies reported spending more than $7 million in October. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood are among the left-leaning groups that have increased spending delayed in the race, as Democrats seek to counter a wave of Republican-targeted television ads and leaflets that began in September, just before voters began voting by mail.
The attack alarmed Democrats. Lancaster County Democratic Party Chairman Tom O’Brien said party members were in “panic mode” as they worried about how the party would respond.
Particularly worrisome for Democrats were Republican messages urging Democratic voters to put term limits on judges by voting “no.” It featured language intended to express typical Democratic sentiments, including “No Kings” and “Defend Democracy.”
Democrats also recognized that an crucial task is educating voters about what a re-election campaign is. O’Brien and others said they felt better as poll workers helped educate voters and Democratic-leaning leaflets and television ads flooded the state.
In a television commercial that aired in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in October, Shapiro told viewers that the justices “have proven that we can count on them to protect a woman’s access to abortion and birth control and to stand up for all of our freedoms.”
Democrats say they are pleased with voter turnout for mail-in voting in the weeks leading up to the final day of the election, but they are continuing their campaign. On Saturday, Philadelphia union leaders and Mayor Cherelle Parker will lead a half-day motorcade through the city to promote the justices’ campaigns.
The strongest Republican voice, President Donald Trump, did not participate in the election, although his name was occasionally mentioned. A Republican-targeted television ad says, “On November 4th, you can help President Trump impose term limits on three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices.”
State Republican Party Chairman Greg Rothman said a “no” campaign was only natural.
“Retention should not be automatic,” he said. “Why else?”
Rothman said he didn’t know whether Republicans’ efforts would succeed, but said voters who are already cynical about the government could be motivated to vote no. A state budget impasse approaching its fifth month and the federal government shutdown could put voters in the mood to vote against any incumbent.
“Based on the Democratic Party’s response and Shapiro’s cutting of ads and all the money that trial lawyers and the national DNC are bringing in, they must think we’re on to something,” Rothman said.
___
Follow Marc Levy on X at https://x.com/timelywriter
