HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — All three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices seeking reelection Tuesday will get another term. This will ensure that Democratic jurists retain their majority on the presidential contested state’s highest court – a court that is at the center of crucial battles over voting rights, redistricting and elections.
The result shapes the composition of the seven-member court until the next presidential election in 2028. The three justices were elected as Democrats, and voters decided whether to expand the court’s Democratic majority. Rejection of all three could have plunged the court into a partisan stalemate if the state’s politically divided government could not agree on fleeting appointments.
Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht won recent terms with support from the Democratic Party and allies like Planned Parenthood, labor unions, trial lawyers and a constellation of progressive groups.
In a statement, Donohue said the result shows that “Pennsylvanians have confidence in the independence of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and further appreciate the importance of a stable Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro — considered a potential candidate for the White House in 2028 and up for re-election next year — appeared in ads for the justices and advocated for them to remain in office.
Pennsylvania “sent a clear message by voting to retain all three Supreme Court justices who will continue to defend the rule of law, protect our elections and protect our constitutional rights,” Shapiro said in a statement.
In addition to voting rights, Democrats relied heavily on protecting abortion rights in a state where abortion remains legal.
All three were participating in a so-called retention election, in which voters are asked to vote “yes” or “no” on whether to grant current justices another term. They were not named by party on the ballot. The term is 10 years, although age limits may shorten this time on the bench.
Her re-election expands the Democratic majority, which currently stands at 5-2.
The court could once again resolve partisan disputes over election laws ahead of next year’s midterm elections, which will determine the governor’s office and the U.S. House majority. Democrats only need to win three seats in the 2026 election to gain control of the House of Representatives.
Traditionally, a customer loyalty campaign is an under-the-radar choice. But at a time of increasingly polarized judicial elections, spending in the race was on track to exceed $15 million, far exceeding previous spending in a retainer election.
Although not all spending or funding sources were publicly disclosed, Democrats easily outspent Republicans by as much as four to one. President Donald Trump did not campaign against the justices and only commented on social media Sunday evening urging Republicans to vote no.
A victory over all three justices could have left the bench in a 2-2 party stalemate for two years, including until next year’s election.
In recent years, the court has made critical decisions related to votes and elections, necessitated in part by the politically divided and often gridlocked state government.
Justices threw out a GOP-drawn map of Pennsylvania’s congressional districts as unconstitutional in 2018 and drew recent boundaries again four years later after a government stalemate.
The court rejected Republican challenges to Pennsylvania’s sweeping mail-in voting law, which became a focus of Republican efforts to overturn Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Republican justices disagreed.
The justices also made rulings in cases involving abortion rights and public school funding.
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Follow Marc Levy on X at https://x.com/timelywriter.
