Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht faced retention elections after serving 10 years on the state’s Supreme Court.
PITTSBURGH—Pennsylvania voters have decided to retain three of their state Supreme Court justices for another decade, after an unusually contentious judicial election season.
Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht—three of the five Democrats on Pennsylvania’s seven-member Supreme Court—were each due to face a regular judicial retention election on Nov. 4.
Rather than pitting the three justices against specific competitors, Pennsylvania’s retention election system asks voters to simply vote “yes” to keep their existing justices, or “no” to vacate a seat on the court. A vote to retain a justice allows him or her to remain on the court for another 10 years, while a vote against retention creates a vacancy to be filled.
Voters ultimately decided to approve Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht.
The Associated Press called the races at 9:53 p.m. ET for Donohue at 61 percent, Dougherty at 60 percent, and Wecht at 60 percent.
Judicial Race Draws National Attention
Since adopting the judicial retention system in 1968, Pennsylvania voters have voted only once not to retain a jurist. Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro lost his retention vote in 2005 after serving a full 10-year term.
While there had been little to no public opinion polling covering this set of judicial retention elections, the race garnered national attention and attracted unusually high ad spending.
According to the latest assessment by the Brennan Center for Justice, various groups have spent some $9.5 million on political advertising around the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention question. Dougherty, Wecht, and two pro-retention advocacy groups spent approximately $8 million on advertising related to the race, the Brennan Center reported. Citizens for Term Limits, a group opposed to retaining the three justices, spent about $1.4 million on advertising.
President Donald Trump weighed in on the race over the weekend, joining Pennsylvania’s state Republican Party in urging voters to vote “no” on the question of retaining the three justices.
“On November 4th, you can bring back the Rule of Law, and stand up for the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a Nov. 2 post on his Truth Social platform. “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.”
By Ryan Morgan
