State Court Report: Everything You Need to Know About Next Month’s High-Stakes Supreme Court Elections in Pennsylvania

State Court Report’s Douglas Keith wrote an overview about next month’s state supreme court retention elections in the Keystone State.

Nearly half of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is up for reelection next month. It’s a court that could decide high-stakes cases about election rules in the leadup to the 2026 and 2028 elections. But the race may still fly under the radar for most voters because of how Pennsylvania elects judges.

Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht — three members of the court’s current 5–2 Democratic majority — are standing in retention elections, meaning they will not have opponents but voters will vote “yes” or “no” as to whether the justices should receive an additional 10-year term on the bench. Should any justice fail to win the support of a majority of voters this November, that justice would be replaced temporarily by Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), subject to confirmation by a two-thirds vote of the state senate. Voters would then elect a justice to a full term in a competitive partisan election in 2027.

Read more at State Court Report.