Background
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania currently has a 5-2 Democratic majority. [1] The court has been Democratic-controlled since 2015, when Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht won election to their seats. [2]
If voters do not retain a justice, Governor Josh Shapiro can appoint a temporary replacement until 2027 — with approval from two-thirds of the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate — when an election would be held for a permanent replacement. [3] If all three justices are not retained and the Senate does not approve Shapiro's nominees, the court would be split with two Democrats and two Republicans, which the Philadelphia Inquirer claims could leave the court "unlikely to reach majority decisions and could weaken the voice of Pennsylvania’s top court going into the 2028 presidential election, when the swing state could decide the next president yet again." [4]
Since retention elections were established in 1968, only one Pennsylvania justice, Russell Nigro in 2005, has not been retained. [5]
Campaign
The Democratic National Committee announced a "six-figure investment" into the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to help support retaining the 3 judges [6] , with DNC Chair Ken Martin issuing a statement saying that "[t]he Pennsylvania Supreme Court is on the frontlines of decisions related to voting rights, redistricting, abortion protections" and that "[t]he stakes couldn’t be higher." [6]
The state and national chapters of the ACLU say they plan to spend $500,000 on a mail campaign to inform voters about the race “and what it means for their civil rights and civil liberties.” The organization's website does not make an explicit case for or against retaining any of the judges. [7]
Multiple PACs affiliated with Republican businessman Matthew Brouillette and funded almost entirely by billionaire Jeff Yass have spent hundreds of thousands on social media ads, mailers, and text messages opposing retaining all 3 judges, telling voters they should “term limit the woke Democrat Pennsylvania Supreme Court.” [8] One of the PACs, the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, was criticized by the advocacy group Fair Districts PA after releasing a mailer claiming that the “liberal Supreme Court gerrymandered our congressional districts to help Democrats win”. The mailer also featured an outdated image of 2 congressional districts from a map that was drawn up by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2011 and later overturned for partisan gerrymandering that disproportionately benefitted the Republican Party. [8] [9]
After the mailer controversy was publicized, Pennsylvania Democratic Party chair Eugene DePasquale issued a statement condemning “MAGA billionaires” for funnelling money into the election. [10] In late September, the Pennsylvania Working Families Party organized a protest outside Susquehanna International Group, a financial trading company founded by Jeff Yass, criticizing his involvement in the campaign and urging passers-by to "Vote ‘Yes’, not Yass". [10]
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