Pa. Supreme Court retention race called in favor of 3 Democratic justices

Voters overwhelmingly chose to retain three Democratic justices on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, according to results posted just an hour after polls closed.

Both the Democratic National Committee and NBC called the race by 9:15 p.m. in the justices’ favor, and the Associated Press later confirmed the projection.

The concerted Republican effort to oust Christine Donohue, 72, of Pittsburgh, Kevin Dougherty, 63, of Northeast Philadelphia and David Wecht, 63, of Indiana Township appears to have failed.

All three justices up for a 10-year retention vote won in what became a high-stakes and expensive battle for the future of the court.

Mail-in ballots overwhelmingly favored retention, while no votes were ahead for in-person ballots, but not enough to change the outcome.

Around midnight, each of the justices had captured about 60% of the total votes for retention.

“I’m very grateful to the voters of Pennsylvania for their confidence in my work,” Wecht told TribLive Tuesday night. “It is a privilege.”

Wecht was at home with his wife and daughter watching the results come in.

“I take the role seriously, and I pledge to continue to do it with fidelity and dedication,” Wecht said.

In a statement, Donohue said she was grateful for voters’ confidence.

“I look forward to serving with my colleagues on the court to uphold the law and the constitution of this Commonwealth,” Donohue said. “Despite the partisan attacks, tonight’s result confirms that Pennsylvanians have trust in the independence of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and, additionally, appreciate the importance of a stable Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”

Early in the summer, a GOP-engineered vote-no effort urged voters across Pennsylvania to vote against retaining the three justices who were elected as a Democratic slate in 2015.

Their ascension to the bench created a 5-2 Democratic majority.

Over the past decade, all three of the justices have been involved in monumental decisions affecting state residents, including those that found citizens are entitled to clean air and water; that both men and women are entitled to Medicaid-funded reproductive health care; and a highly partisan congressional map that favored Republicans was unconstitutional.

In the retention race, they touted those decisions and their allegiance to the Pennsylvania Constitution. The justices — and the Democrats working to retain them — warned of the potential consequences of being ousted.

Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement the retention victory was a major win for fair elections, reproductive rights, voting rights and democracy.

“Tonight, Pennsylvania delivered a message on behalf of the entire country: No matter how rich you are, and no matter how much power you think you might have, our courts are not for sale,” he said.

“As much as it must (anger) right-wing billionaires like Jeff Yass, Pennsylvania families deserve to know that their Supreme Court is independent, not in someone’s pocket. Tonight has proved that, at every level of government, Democrats are competing, winning and building power on behalf of the American people.”

Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest man, was instrumental in funding the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, which urged voters to cast their ballots against retention.

Tuesday’s retention race, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, was likely the second-most expensive judicial retention race in U.S. history.

As of Oct. 20, the three justices raised more than $14 million and spent nearly $12 million.

About two dozen outside groups spent an additional $5 million, the Inquirer said, — with two-thirds of that supporting the justices. Included in that number was $900,000 spent by the American Civil Liberties Union for an awareness campaign.

When the trio of Democrats was initially elected 10 years ago, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court race cost $16.5 million.

Like in 2015, Democrats in this year’s retention race vastly outspent the GOP, said Christopher Nicholas, a Republican political consultant based in Harrisburg.

“That, obviously, can make a big difference in a large state like Pennsylvania,” he said.

Nicholas also cited President Donald Trump’s current approval numbers, which, for him, are low.

“I think the mood of the electorate always benefits the out-of-power party, which right now is the Dems,” Nicholas said.

In this year’s race, the anti-retention effort urged Pennsylvanians to vote for a fresh start to the court, accusing the three justices of legislating from the bench.

In mailers sent throughout the fall, they argued that a no vote would implement term limits, defend democracy and protect women and children.

In a social media post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday night, Trump urged Pennsylvanians to vote no.

“On November 4th, you can bring back the Rule of Law, and stand up for the Constitution. There are three Radical Democrat Supreme Court Justices on the Ballot for a 10-year retention. Vote ‘NO, NO, NO’ on Liberal Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht,” Trump wrote.

“These activist Judges unlawfully gerrymandered your Congressional maps, which led to my corrupt Impeachment(s), and locked you up during COVID by closing your small businesses, schools, and churches. They let sex offenders out of prison, and ruled for Sleepy Joe Biden over and over, and interfered in the 2020 Election,” Trump added without elaborating.

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who cut an ad in favor of the justices earlier this fall, countered in a Facebook post that Trump has “zero credibility when it comes to the rule of law.”

“Remember, this is the guy who tried to throw out Pennsylvanians’ votes and overturn the 2020 election, who pardoned the people who assaulted law enforcement on January 6th, and who I’ve beat dozens of times in court.”