Democrats defend Pennsylvania Supreme Court majority in a race with 2028 implications, CNN projects
By David Wright, CNN
(CNN) — Pennsylvania Democrats defended the liberal majority on the state Supreme Court Tuesday, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, blocking GOP efforts to flip the balance of power ahead of the next presidential election.
Justices Kevin Dougherty, Christine Donohue and David Wecht were retained for new 10-year terms. They faced no opponents, only a yes-or-no vote on whether to extend their tenures on the state Supreme Court.
If even two of the justices had been voted out, liberals could have lost their 5-2 majority on the state’s high court, giving Republicans a chance to flip the ideological balance in replacement elections in 2027.
That could have had significant implications for the court’s approach to potential election litigation around the 2028 presidential election after it played a key role in both 2020 and 2024, as well as the next round of congressional redistricting.
Both parties mounted aggressive campaigns around the retention vote, directing millions of dollars to the state while flooding voters’ screens and mailboxes.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential 2028 contender himself, cut an ad in support of the three Democratic justices, while the state’s wealthiest individual, conservative megadonor Jeff Yass, organized an extensive field and advertising campaign through his organizational network.
Democrats put a heavy emphasis on abortion rights in their advertising, warning of bans in other states and casting the court’s liberal majority as “our last line of defense.” Republican opponents, meanwhile, regularly slammed the “partisan justices” that they argued “have not protected our rights.”
Tuesday’s vote also served as an early test for the rebuilding state Democratic Party under new chairman Eugene DePasquale, who has been working to reset his party’s fortunes after a disappointing 2024 election cycle, with a 2026 gubernatorial race and the next White House campaign around the corner.
Prior to the vote, DePasquale had described it as “the most pivotal judicial retention in our state’s history.”
Justices Dougherty, Donohue and Wecht were first elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2015. Along with Chief Justice Debra Todd, first elected in 2007, and Justice Daniel McCaffery, elected in 2023, they form a five-member liberal majority on the seven-member court. Justices Kevin Brobson, elected in 2021, and Justice Sallie Mundy, elected in 2017, form the two-member conservative minority.
Pennsylvania is one of the most important battleground states in the country. It has alternated between the parties at the presidential level over the last four elections and drew more campaign ad money than any other state in the 2024 cycle — over $1 billion, according to data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
The-CNN-Wire
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