All three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices on Tuesday’s ballot for retention will remain on the bench, following an unprecedented and closely watched retention election that eclipsed previous spending records as Democrats sought to protect the liberal judges.
Pennsylvania’s highest court will maintain its liberal majority for at least the next two years, retaining JusticesChristine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht through the 2026 midterms and ahead of the 2028 presidential election. During that time, the court will hear cases that impact the daily lives of Pennsylvania residents, such as abortion access, voter access, mail voting law, and more. The Associated Press called the race at 9:53 p.m. Tuesday, less than two hours after polls closed.
The stakes of Tuesday’s judicial retention election were set up a decade ago by a perfect storm of factors.The three justices up for retention — Donohue, Dougherty, Wecht — were each elected as Democrats in 2015 during a rare and transitional period for the court when Democrats took a majority. The 2015 election was the first time three seats were open at one time, in part due to resignations of disgraced former justices. Since then, Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht have played decisive roles on the 5-2 liberal majority of Pennsylvania’s highest court.
This year’s retention race — usually a sleepy, off-year affair — topped $16 million in ad buys and mailers, mostly from Democrats or aligned groups, to try to draw voters out to the polls to protect the liberal majority they view as the last backstop to protect Pennsylvanians’ rights during an overreaching Trump administration. Republicans, meanwhile, saw the high-stakes race as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to oust three liberal state Supreme Court justices in one election….