Will billionaire election spending end the Democratic majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court?

Democrats need to win three retention elections in November to hold onto the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but billionaire interference could come at a cost.

With Pennsylvania’s municipal primary elections in the rearview mirror, Democrats across the commonwealth are shifting their attention to the upcoming Pennsylvania Supreme Court elections this November. 

Democrats currently hold a five to two majority on the seven-person court, but the election could swing the balance of power if three Democratic justices do not get through their retention elections. 

“ Three democratically elected Supreme Court Justices will be up for retention voting,” Kadida Kenner, CEO of the New Pennsylvania Project, told The Keystone in an interview. “This will be a historic election in Pennsylvania, and I’m sure we’re going to come close to Wisconsin’s $110 million when it comes down to it.”

Justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court serve 10-year terms, and they must win a simple “yes” or “no” retention vote in order to remain on the bench for another term. Democrats flipped the court in a historic election in 2015 by winning three open seats from a court that was rocked by scandal.

The three democratic justices that are up for retention are Kevin Dougherty, David Wecht and Christine Donohue. If they are not successful in their efforts, the court would most likely remain deadlocked at 2 to 2 until a special election is held in 2027.  

Gov. Josh Shapiro is able to appoint temporary replacements, but they are unlikely to be confirmed by Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate. 

“ These Supreme Court justice seats are so important because they’re ensuring our voting rights, our access to abortion and securing democracy in general,” Kenner said.

Democrats are worried about the influence Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of Tesla and X, will have on the upcoming election after he and his affiliated organizations spent $20 million in Wisconsin effort. However, Musk recently stated that he would no longer be supporting Republicans after spending $250 million to help elect President Donald Trump.   

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dougherty claimed that Musk has already spent $1 million on the upcoming race at an endorsement meeting earlier this year, but campaign finance reports for the upcoming election won’t be available until September. But he’s not the only one with deep pockets and a desire to oust Democrats.

Jeffrey Yass — Pennsylvania’s richest billionaire with a net worth of $59 billion thanks to his investments in TikTok — is poised to spend millions of dollars against the three Democratic justices. 

Yass has spent over $75 million on elections in Pennsylvania since 2017, making him the largest spender in Pennsylvania politics during that time, according to All Eyes on Yass, a website dedicated to tracking his spending.

Last year, Yass spent over $11 million through his network of political action committees (PACs) supporting Attorney General Dave Sunday’s campaign against former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. 

Yass aligned PACs spent over $4 million supporting Tracy Carluccio’s failed Supreme Court bid in 2023, and helped elect Justice Kevin Brobson to the bench in 2021 by spending $1.9 million. 

“ It’s absolutely incredibly important to pay attention to races all and up and down the ballot,” Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood, told The Keystone last month.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will be one of the last lines of defense for protecting reproductive rights in the commonwealth since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.   

“We have learned that even more clearly since the Dobbs decision now the decision to protect reproductive healthcare is living in the states,” Johnson added. ”We lost our federal protection so it means ensuring that the state Supreme Court is able to protect the constitutional right in the state of Pennsylvania is incredibly important and we need to be paying attention to these races.”