Pennsylvanians to Decide Whether to Keep 3 Democratic State Supreme Court Justices

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s seven justices face regular retention elections after 10 years on the court.

(L–R) Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices David Wecht, Kevin Dougherty, and Christine Donohue. The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania voters are set to vote on Nov. 4 in an election that could shift the balance of the state’s Supreme Court.

Voters will decide whether three of the high court’s seven justices—Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht—should be retained for additional 10-year terms. Rather than considering an opponent to any of the three incumbents, voters will simply vote “yes” to retain each justice or “no” to vacate that seat on the bench.

At the moment, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has a 5–2 Democratic majority.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has called for retaining all three justices. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s Republican Party has urged voters to oppose keeping any of them.

If the voters choose not to retain any of the three justices, Shapiro will be able to nominate replacements, but his nominees would require approval by two-thirds of the Pennsylvania Senate, where Republicans hold a 27–23 majority.

Pennsylvania has proven to be a key battleground in recent presidential elections, and its Supreme Court has made consequential election rulings.

In the weeks before the 2020 general election, the court sided with a Democratic Party lawsuit seeking to extend the deadline for counting mailed ballots until Nov. 6, three days after Election Day. Additionally, the court ruled that mailed ballots without clear postmarks would be presumed as valid votes, as long as a preponderance of evidence didn’t suggest that a particular ballot was mailed after Election Day.

The makeup of the court could prove consequential for the 2026 midterms, the 2028 presidential race, and congressional redistricting over the next decade.

Since Pennsylvania adopted its judicial retention system in 1968, 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.

This race has attracted growing national attention in recent weeks, as Republicans have rallied support to oust the three justices and Democrats have increased ad spending in response.

According to the latest assessment by the Brennan Center for Justice, Dougherty, Wecht, and two pro-retention advocacy groups have spent approximately $7.7 million on advertising related to the race. Citizens for Term Limits, a group opposed to retaining the three justices, has spent about $1.4 million on advertising.

Weighing in on the contest in a Nov. 2 post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump urged Pennsylvania residents to vote against retaining the justices.

“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,” Trump wrote. “They let sex offenders out of prison, and ruled for Sleepy Joe Biden over and over, and interfered in the 2020 Election.”

The Trump campaign raised multiple legal challenges to the election results and process in Pennsylvania following the 2020 election, but the state and its 20 electoral votes ultimately went to Joe Biden, helping him secure the presidency.

Shapiro pushed back on Trump’s social media post.

“Donald Trump has zero credibility when it comes to the rule of law,” the governor wrote on X. “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.”