Republicans Just Lost a Statewide Election in Pennsylvania. What Does That Mean for the Future?

"Pennsylvania voters have rejected a Republican effort to remove three Democrats from the state Supreme Court. The stakes of Tuesday's election were high: Had Pennsylvanians voted to remove the justices, the state Supreme Court would go from a seven-member court with a Democratic majority to a four-member court with a complete ideological split. The three justices' vacant seats would not be filled until another election at the end of 2027."

"Pennsylvania's Supreme Court holds these kinds of votes for its justices regularly. The justices are first elected in partisan elections, but at the end of their 10-year terms, voters then decide whether to extend them for another 10 in nonpartisan elections. Once in, justices rarely get voted out, but Republicans campaigned hard this year in the hopes of changing the balance of power on the state's court."

"But if the justices are booted, the seats become open again, and the voters once again decide who will be placed on the court at the next elections. The court currently has seven justices, two of whom are Republicans. So if the three justices on Tuesday's ballot were ousted, and if Republicans had then successfully replaced them with their own judges at the next election, then went on to lose those three seats, the GOP would have flipped the court."

Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly voted to retain three Democratic justices on the state Supreme Court, rejecting a Republican effort to remove them. The justices were facing nonpartisan retention votes at the end of their 10-year terms. Had voters removed them, the court would have dropped from seven members with a Democratic majority to four members evenly split along ideological lines, with vacant seats not filled until the next election in 2027. Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro could appoint temporary replacements, but the Republican-controlled state Senate would likely block confirmations, leaving the court deadlocked. Republicans had campaigned to change the court's balance but failed.

Read at Slate Magazine