Tuesday’s election resulted in a return to the status quo for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as voters chose to retain the three justices on the ballot. Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht were all retained overwhelmingly by Pennsylvania voters.
The Supreme Court retention election garnered significant publicity as funding poured in to promote both yes and no votes on retention. The pro retention effort spent about four times the amount as the anti retention effort.
Over the past decade, the state’s highest court has consistently ruled in favor of expanding liability – harming employers, the health care sector, and taxpayers. This election result further diminishes any hope of medical liability venue reform from the high court.
Democrat judicial candidates were victorious in other statewide elections with Stella Tsai claiming victory in the open Commonwealth Court seat and Brandon Neuman winning the open seat on the state Superior Court. Voters also chose to retain incumbent judges Michael Wojcik and Alice Beck Dubow to the Commonwealth Court and Superior Courts respectively.
In other election news, special elections will need to be held in the near future, as four current state representatives sought other local offices. Republican Rep. Torren Ecker won his bid for the Adams County Court of Common Pleas. His Republican colleague Lou Schmitt will go on to serve on the Court of Common Pleas in Blair County. Their Democratic counterpart Dan Miller will vacate his state representative seat to serve on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. Lastly, Democrat state Rep. Josh Siegel was victorious in his bid for the Lehigh County Executive position. Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton will determine the date of the special election to fill these vacancies.