Pennsylvania residents voted on Tuesday to retain three justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, according to The Associated Press.
Democrat Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht each won another term on Pennsylvania’s highest state court. Dougherty and Wecht have obtained 10-year terms, while Donohue will likely only serve until 2027, when she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75 in Pennsylvania. All three justices were first elected in 2015.
“I’m really honored that the people showed this confidence in me,” Wecht told NBC News. “I intend to serve the people with fidelity.”
“This outcome is not much of a surprise. It’s exceedingly rare in our commonwealth for a judge to not be retained,” Vince Benedetto, the founder and president of Bold Gold Media Group, which broadcasts political commentary across Pennsylvania, told The Daily Signal.
“The surprise is that their retention was in real question. This is evidence of the widespread discontent of many Pennsylvanians with the judicial overreach of the judges, particularly around their 2020 mail-in ballot decisions and their unprecedented involvement in congressional redistricting—which are constitutionally the responsibility of the [Pennsylvania] legislature,” Benedetto continued.
Matthew Brouillette, the president and CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, a 501(c)(6) membership group that promotes free-market principles, told The Daily Signal. “Unfortunately, out-of-state special interests, unions, and trial lawyers were the big winners tonight—not the people of Pennsylvania,” Brouillette said.
“While those who support the rule of law came up short in our historic effort to unseat sitting justices, we hope judges across Pennsylvania take note of what can happen to them when they choose to legislate from the bench rather than interpret the law,” he continued.
Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro weighed in on the race in its final days. “Vote ‘NO, NO, NO’ on Liberal Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday night.
The statewide races drew unprecedented levels of spending, reflecting a trend of greater attention to state and local races. About $20 million was spent on both the state Supreme Court races and two state lower court judges also up for retention. State retention races have historically favored the incumbent judges, with just one statewide judge losing his retention vote since 1968 in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in particular, has taken an active role in shaping electoral outcomes, weighing in on ballot-counting in 2020 and the Keystone State’s congressional map in 2018. The state court’s ruling on late ballots in 2020 drew criticism from state Republicans, who failed to get the national Supreme Court to overturn the state Supreme Court’s decision.
Democrat Chief Justice Debra Todd and Republican Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy are the next justices up for retention votes in 2027.
This is a breaking news article and it may be updated.
