There are no $1 million giveaways to voters, cheesehead hats or even candidate debates. Elon Musk is nowhere to be found.
Yet the stakes in the Pennsylvania election this fall are very much the same as they were in Wisconsin last spring: partisan control of the highest court in a crucial presidential swing state.
In November, Pennsylvania voters will decide whether three state Supreme Court justices — all Democrats — should keep their seats on a court that has been at the center of pivotal fights over voting rights, redistricting and elections.
Spending is nowhere near the $100 million spent in Wisconsin — a record amount for a state supreme court race, much of it fueled by groups aligned with billionaires Musk, who briefly worked in President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, and George Soros, a donor to liberal causes.
Even so, both parties in Pennsylvania are pouring in money for campaign flyers, digital and TV ads and get-out-the-vote efforts.
The state’s Supreme Court has a 5-2 Democratic majority, so an across-the-board loss for Democrats on Nov. 4 could leave the court in a partisan 2-2 stalemate for two years, including through next year’s midterm elections….