Much has been said about the results of the vote to retain Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices Christina Donohue, Kevin DoughertyAND David Wechtwho gained a novel 10-year term on the Commonwealth Supreme Court.
About $15 million was spent on the race, which asked only whether the three justices should be retained for another term, according to AdImpact. GOP interests saw a chance to unseat Democrats’ 5-2 majority in the Legislature, but an influx of funds from the national party and other interests saw all three retained by a nearly 3-2 margin.
Democrats across the country celebrated the victory, which, combined with gubernatorial triumphs in New Jersey and Virginia, allowed talk of a “blue wave” among voters disenchanted with the Trump administration’s policies.
Such calls likely won’t resonate in the Keystone State for a number of reasons. Democrats were not only energized by the uproar over the Supreme Court retention vote, but they also held mayoral contests in some of the Commonwealth’s larger cities, such as Pittsburgh, Allentown, Scranton, and Erie.
Add in the executive contests in Erie, Lehigh and Northampton counties, and Democrats certainly had voter enthusiasm on their side.
That said, no Republican is arguing that November 4 was a good night for the GOP, as local principal-to-school board races also went south in surprising areas of the state like Bucks, Cumberland and Lancaster counties.
So what does this mean for 2026? The nation’s eyes are once again turning to our little part of the country, with four critical congressional races that could flip the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives – PA-01, 07, 08 and 10. Middle committee members never treat the party in power well, so could we see Pennsylvania turn away from Republican support the same way the Commonwealth turned away from Democratic support in 2024? AND Governor Josh Shapiro is running for a second term, closely monitoring events in Washington, hoping to run for president.
Looking back at the unofficial vote count on Nov. 4, there were some surprises in the state’s 67 precincts. These classic Democratic strongholds remained unchanged, with retention margins 15-30% higher in Allegheny, Center, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties compared to what President Joe Biden received in 2022
Traditional swing counties stayed true to their reputation as Bucks (+22), Erie (+24) and Northampton (+24) counties all dropped yes votes in 2024. President Donald Trump to support retention, despite Trump’s calls to the contrary. Berks County was a +12 Trump county in 2024 and voted yes +16 to retain.
The surprises came from central PA and NEPA. Cumberland County, located west of Harrisburg, supported GOP candidates in the last three elections for Trump, Senator Dave McCormickand Judge Caroline Carlucciowho was defeated in the AP Supreme Court race by Dan McCaffery. However, Cumberland voted to retain the refereeing trio by a margin of +16. Luzerne County, home to Wilkes-Barre, hasn’t voted to support a Democrat since Shapiro won by one percentage point in the 2022 gubernatorial election before voting to retain the justices by a 12-point margin.
Here’s a look at each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties that voted in the last five statewide contests.
