GREENSBURG, Pennsylvania — Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), who is up for reelection next fall, celebrated the sweeping victories for Pennsylvania Democratic candidates after voters approved to retain three state Supreme Court justices, preserving Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the state’s highest court.
“Tonight, folks across our Commonwealth sent a resounding message by voting to retain all three Supreme Court Justices who will continue to defend the rule of law, safeguard our elections, and protect our constitutional rights,” said Shapiro, who played a visible role in helping retain that majority for his party.
It was a stinging loss for the state’s GOP, which pitched an aggressive “No” campaign to oust a Democratic-controlled state Supreme Court that had been in the spotlight over redistricting, COVID-19, and voting rights.
Eugene DePasquale, a Pittsburgh attorney and the new state Democratic Party chairman, hit the road hard in red counties to deliver a new message of economic populism, tempering the progressive rhetoric that had been happening outside the state. And it worked.
“On the first election night of the new era of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, the voters of our Commonwealth delivered a resounding message by standing up for our freedoms and rejecting Trump’s chaos,” DePasquale said in a statement.
DePasquale, who has vowed to tone the rhetoric down, including using dehumanizing language toward President Donald Trump and his supporters, said the victories were a major step in rebuilding the Pennsylvania Democratic Party so it can win back gettable voters lost to Trump.
Even in red Westmoreland County, where turnout was brisk all day, retention for all three justices edged out the “No” vote substantially. The top-of-the-ticket race was one of several sweeping wins for Democrats across the state in an off-year election cycle, a year after the party suffered losses in the state. Democrats also healthily won the retention vote in red counties such as Lancaster, York, Beaver, and Washington.
Only once in the state’s history has a state Supreme Court justice lost retention. It occurred in 2005 during a populist revolt in response to a late-night pay raise that enraged voters.
Democrats ended the night with broad victories in the critically important counties of Bucks, Luzerne, and Erie. These are counties that decide who will win the state or the majority in Congress in midterm and presidential elections.
The Republican county executive lost in Erie, which is arguably the most important county in the state in terms of predicting the statewide outcome. In Luzerne County, Democrats flipped four County Council seats, regaining an 8-3 majority that had previously been held by Republicans, 7-4. In 2021, Republicans won all seats up for election, giving them a 10-1 majority.
Democrats also won a judicial seat in the deeply red Clearfield County.
There’s a cautionary tale here for both parties. For Republicans, it’s that candidate quality matters, the economy matters, and they cannot depend on Trump to win all of their victories for them.
For Democrats, it’s not to read everything into this. In 2015, when Democrats initially won all three state Supreme Court races, as well as similar county contests in Luzerne, Erie, and Bucks, and were feeling giddy about their chances in the presidential and Senate races, it all collapsed fast.
CHASING VOTERS IN PA NOW PREPARES GOP FOR 2026
In short, nothing is permanent in American politics.
Shapiro, who is expected to announce his bid for reelection in the next couple of months, took a risk in fully embracing the importance of retaining the three state Supreme Court justices, as it is hard to predict which way they will vote. He cut an ad in support of their retention, using his social media account to remind voters of the importance of supporting the three justices who will shape the law in the state for the next decade. Shapiro’s team also coordinated on an effective ad with a working-class union guy in a hard hat, the very voters Democrats have been bleeding for years.