Voters in Pennsylvania could shift the balance of the state’s Supreme Court in a set of three retention elections this November, which have attracted national attention and millions in spending.
Three justices who were elected as Democrats in 2015 are up for a “yes” or “no” vote after finishing their first 10-year terms. While only one judge has ever failed a retention election for the state’s high court, this year the races are much more competitive as Republicans try to cut off one of Democrats’ footholds in the state.
“This is one of the most important races in the country that nobody’s talking about,” Malcolm Kenyatta, a vice chair at the Democratic National Committee, told NOTUS. “These things don’t defend themselves. It requires us to defend it, and this is a perfect example of us needing to stand up for people who stand up for the rule of law.”
The DNC is a major player in the races, promising to support on-the-ground and media efforts to retain the justices.
If the justices — Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht — hang on, they could cement three liberal seats for another decade, which would be welcome news for the Democratic party taking pains to keep them there. The justices’ campaigns did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
“I hope you’ll join me in voting yes to retain justices Donohue, Dougherty and Wecht,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said in an ad last week. “They’ve proven we can count on them to protect a woman’s access to abortion and birth control and stand up for all our freedoms.”
The court also blocked a GOP-drawn congressional districting map in the state in 2018 and rejected Republican-led efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The body, currently a 5-2 liberal majority, is expected to continue to deliver key rulings on national issues like voting rights in the coming years.
In a statement to NOTUS, Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Democrat from the state, emphasized that the court plays an important role in federal elections, calling Pennsylvania the center of the “political universe.”
“Our Pennsylvania Supreme Court is the only reason we no longer have a ridiculous Republican gerrymandered congressional map, and the Justices held the line against election deniers who tried to overthrow our 2020 election,” Deluzio said.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which funds Democratic campaigns in state legislatures, committed six figures to the judges’ reelection. It is its largest investment in a retention race to date but part of a broader move to do more of that spending in judicial races, particularly in swing states. The group backed the liberal candidate in a partisan race in Wisconsin earlier this year, where Democrats clinched a win.
“Our mandate is to defend and win state legislative majorities. And so the balance of power on the court could directly impact our ability to have fair maps in the state,” Jeremy Jansen, the political director at the DLCC, told NOTUS. “It’s not so much the national implications, but making sure that the balance of power in Pennsylvania is where we want it to be.”
Democrats, however, are the ones on the defensive. Pennsylvania swung for former President Joe Biden in 2020 and for President Donald Trump in 2024, each by less than three percentage points. Still, it’s a swing that’s making Republicans bullish about their chances, and they’re spending heavily to flip control.
Commonwealth Partners, a Republican-aligned group in Pennsylvania, is an essential player in the campaign to unseat the justices. The group, part of a network funded by conservative billionaire and donor Jeff Yass, distributed social media ads, mailers and text messages urging Pennsylvanians to vote “no” on retention earlier this year. Commonwealth Partners and Yass did not respond to a request for comment.
The Republican State Leadership Committee also spent about $500,000 on similar efforts. The court’s relevance in national elections factored into the RSLC’s investment, Mason Di Palma, the group’s communications director, said.
“These races will also shape the redistricting process for the next cycles to come, determining whether Democrats can continue to gerrymander legislative and congressional maps in their favor,” Di Palma wrote in an email to NOTUS. “The stakes are high and we know this will be an uphill battle.”
Spending in Pennsylvania’s election does not match that of Wisconsin. But Douglas Keith, a deputy director in the judiciary program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the investments have been significant for a retention election.
“[Retention] races stayed pretty quiet, even in states that had competitive traditional elections,” Keith said. “This race is already the most expensive retention election in Pennsylvania’s history, and speaks to the new era of state judicial politics that we’re in today.”