Pennsylvania voters approved the retention of three state Supreme Court justices, NBC News projects, preserving Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the battleground state’s high court.
Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht all survived an up-or-down vote to keep their seats on the bench.
Pennsylvania judges and justices must stand for retention every 10 years, when voters can vote “yes” or “no” to keep them on the bench.
Very few Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices have lost their jobs this way, as retention elections are typically low-profile affairs.
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has decided several big cases in recent years, particularly related to elections.
According to NBC News, voters in Pennsylvania approved the retention of three state justices on the Supreme Court, maintaining Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the high court in the battleground state.
Despite an up-or-down vote, Justices David Wecht, Christine Donohue, and Kevin Dougherty all managed to retain their bench positions. Donohue will remain in office until 2027, when she will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 for justices, while Dougherty and Wecht each received another 10-year term.
Every ten years, Pennsylvanian judges and justices are up for retention, and voters have the option to vote “yes” or “no” to keep them on the bench. The majority of Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices have not been removed in this manner because retention elections are usually low-key events. However, this year’s elections attracted a lot of money and attention from both sides because the Democrats own the majority in one of the nation’s most important swing states before the 2026 and 2028 elections.
In contrast to the $2.08 million spent on the Republican side, Democrats and their allies spent heavily in the last stages of the election, spending over $13 million on television advertisements since October 1.
In one television commercial, the three judges stood together to inform viewers that “we protected access to abortion.”. and the ability to vote. even when it was pursued by the powerful. “.”.
The incumbent justices were listed on the ballot without a party affiliation, and prominent Democrats supported them. Pennsylvania Gov. The justices’ representative, Josh Shapiro, who is up for reelection next year and is considered a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, made an appearance in an advertisement. Additionally, former President Barack Obama encouraged Pennsylvanians to vote “yes” on retention in a social media post.
In a last-minute statement, President Donald Trump exhorted Pennsylvanians to “Vote ‘NO, NO, NO’ on Liberal Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht” in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has ruled on a number of significant cases in recent years, many of which have to do with elections. Four years later, the Democratic-controlled court maintained a mail-voting law after overturning a congressional map created by the Republican Party in 2018. A precedent supporting Medicaid’s prohibition on paying for abortions was overturned by Democratic justices last year.
Because it takes the consent of four justices to decide major cases and establish precedents, Pennsylvania’s high court would have been 2-2 through the end of 2027 if all three justices had lost.
In an interview with NBC News prior to the election, Wecht cautioned that such a result would be “dreadful.”.
In an interview, Wecht told NBC News that he exchanged text messages with his fellow justices while quietly celebrating his retention on Tuesday night with his wife and daughter. He also mentioned how happy he was to put this competition behind him.
Wecht stated, “I’m truly honored that the people showed this confidence in me.”. “I plan to faithfully serve the people. “..”.
