Pa.’s richest man is pouring money in upcoming supreme court election

Pennsylvania’s biggest billionaire has so far spent $1.25 million on a ‘vote no’ campaign in the upcoming Pa. Supreme Court race. 

Carrying signs and braving the rainy weather, a crowd of protesters from the All Eyes on Yass coalition marched on the billionaire’s Susquehanna International Group on Thursday to condemn his spending in the upcoming Pennsylvania Supreme Court Election. 

Democrats currently hold a 5 to 2 majority on the bench, but this November, three Democratic justices are up for a “yes” or “no” retention vote to determine if they will serve another 10-year term or not. 

“ We have retained every single Supreme Court justice on our courts when we’ve had the opportunity to do so except for one,” Kadida Kenner, CEO of the New Pennsylvania Project, said on Thursday. “You have to have a lot of money to disrupt our democracy in this moment, and that is where [Yass] comes in.”

She added, “ our judges and justices, they don’t wear red robes, they don’t wear blue robes. They wear black robes for the people.”

Yass, who is Pennsylvania’s richest man with a net worth of $65 billion, has spent $1.25 million funding a “vote no” campaign through a series of political action committees that he funds. 

Since 2018, the right-wing billionaire has spent over $75 million trying to influence Pennsylvania politics. Unlike the federal government, billionaires like Yass are able to spend an unlimited amount of money on state and state-wide campaigns. 

Daniel Bauder, President of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, stated the importance of the upcoming supreme court election and explained how the court acts as a backstop protecting working Pennsylvanians. 

“ The Supreme Court is  the court of last resort in Pennsylvania, and any sort of fair decisions from a lower court that need to be upheld or decisions that need to be remanded or overturned,” Bauder said in an interview. 

Most of Yass’ wealth comes from his investments in TikTok, and it may grow even more if he is named a co-owner of the social media platform’s American spinoff alongside Oracle CEO Larry Ellision and Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch. 

State Rep. Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia), who is running in the primary to fill US Rep. Dwight Evans’ seat once he retires at the end of this term, shared his concerns about Yass’ new ownership in the social media giant. 

 ”We need an independent media,” Rabb said in an interview. “In just a matter of decades, we’ve gone from hundreds of corporations owning media outlets to really just a handful, and the less representation we have in the media that we both generate and also consume means less democracy for us and a greater surveillance state to the benefit of folks like Jeff Yass.”

He strongly advocates against the “vote no” campaign and noted that the implication of Yass’ activities go far beyond Pennsylvania politics.

“This is a deeply disturbing development that must be counteracted, which is why we need to vote to make sure that we have the right folks on the Supreme Court on the state level, but also make sure that our votes on the federal level will ultimately impact who becomes our next Supreme Court Justices in Washington DC,” he added.