Billionaire-backed group trying to flip control of PA Supreme Court

A Republican-linked dark money organization is starting to advertise in the upcoming Pennsylvania Supreme Court race in a bid to flip control of the court, which has a 5-2 Democratic majority. 

A dark money organization with connections to conservative billionaires Leonard Leo and Jeffrey Yass has begun pouring money into the upcoming Pennsylvania Supreme Court election, urging voters to vote “no” on the retention of three Democratic justices. 

The Republican State Leadership Committee’s (RSLC) Judicial Fairness Initiative recently launched a social media advertising campaign promoting their “NoInNovember” campaign. 

“In 2024, we voted by mail and flipped Pennsylvania red,” the narrator of an RSLC ad states. “This year, radical liberal judges are trying to secure another decade of power. We need you to stop them, show up again, vote ‘no’ in November.”

Another ad accuses the Democratic Party of weaponizing the court system against President Donald Trump.

Tax documents available to the public show that the Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, a non-profit organization funded by Yass’ network of political action committees, donated $30,000 to the RSLC earlier this year. In 2024, Win PA, a super PAC funded by Yass, donated $2 million to the organization. 

Yass, who is Pennsylvania’s richest billionaire thanks to his investments in TikTok, spent over $4 million supporting Montgomery County President Judge Carolyn Carluccio’s failed campaign for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2023, and close to $2 million supporting Justice Kevin Brobson’s campaign in 2021. 

Leo, who helped usher in the right-wing takeover of the US Supreme Court, gave over $31 million to target judicial seats in 42 states from 2010 to 2022. According to True North Research, the Concord Fund, a non-profit associated with Leo, gave the RSLC $2.8 million in 2024. 

Democrats currently hold a 5-2 majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Republicans would need voters to successfully vote against the three justices in order to have a chance of flipping the court prior to the start of the 2030 redistricting process, which is controlled by the court. 

Aside from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, there are also judges up for retention on the Commonwealth and Superior Courts in November, as well as on the county common pleas courts. 

Once elected, these judges serve a 10-year term and then face a “yes” or “no” non-partisan retention vote to serve another term.

Commonwealth Court Judge Mike Wojcik, who is up for retention this November, warned Democrats at a recent meeting in Perry County about the possible consequences of a vote “no” campaign. There are 73 judges up for retention this year across the state, Wojcik said, and if Republican voters wind up voting against all of the judges on their ballot, it could wreak havoc on the state’s court system.

“Each of us have at least 10 years experience in the aggregate. That’s 730 years of judicial experience,” Wojcik said. “Now, raise your hand if you think that with the vote no campaign, that the MAGA voters are going to be able to stop at the Supreme Court or Superior Court or Commonwealth Court. That they’ll know when they say ‘vote no’ on the judges, that they’re gonna know which judges to vote on.”

“I don’t think they’re going to know that. And this is what really keeps me up at night.”