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March 4th, 2025 Len’s Political Note #710 Three Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices to Retain
2025 General Election
Pennsylvania has a seven member supreme court. Five justices are Democrats. Two justices are Republicans. Three of the five Democratic justices are up for a Retention Election in November 2025. A Retention Election means that only the incumbents run. The people of Pennsylvania vote “yes” or “no” on each of the three Justices, whether they stay in their seat for another term or not.
The Republicans have been planning for this for a year or more, They love it. All they have to do is convince a majority of Pennsylvania voters to vote “no.” Don’t give these candidates another ten year term. Create three vacancies so we can have three regular elections – a Republican running against a Democrat,
If Pennsylvanians vote not to retain a justice, the governor appoints a replacement with the approval of two-thirds of the state Senate. In case you were wondering, 28 of the 50 State Senators in Pennsylvania are Republicans. Traditionally in Pennsylvania, when a justice is appointed (if a justice retires or dies mid-term, for instance), the appointed justice does not run for election. In the next odd year, a partisan election is held. That would be 2027 in the case of these justices.
In the past in Pennsylvania and in most states that have Retention Elections, justices are retained. When there is a strong effort to not retain a justice, the odds are closer to even. One Republican consultant was quoted as saying: “This [Retention Election] has been circled on my calendar for a long time,” Another reported that he had already hired 23 staffers to work on opposing retention through awareness and voter registration. A third explained: “This is a political consultant’s dream, because your message is just one thing, and that’s ‘No,’”
The Democrats began raising money in January. These three Retention Elections will shape Pennsylvania as much as or more than the election of a governor. Spotlight PA writes: ”In the past 10 years, members of the state Supreme Court’s Democratic majority have had a powerful effect on the state. The court has intervened in the commonwealth’s congressional and legislative redistricting; allowed a case challenging the state’s education funding system to go to trial; upheld COVID-19 mediation efforts; and backstopped the state’s voting laws against a slew of conservative challenges, most notably from Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign”. Just as Elon Musk has decided to devote millions to the Wisconsin Supreme election coming up on April 1, he and several other billionaires and millionaires will be supporting a “vote no” campaign,
The justices up for retention have a particular difficulty. They are prohibited from discussing specific cases – cases from the past or prospective cases. They need your help.
The three Democratic Justices up for retention are
Christine Donohue. DONATE
Kevin Dougherty DONATE
David Wecht. DONATE
Christine Donahue
Born the day before Christmas in 1952, Christine Donahue is running to be retained as a justice for three years. Pennsylvania’s mandatory retirement from its Supreme Court is 75. She was born in Coaldale, a tiny town north of Philadelphia, about two-thirds of the way to Scranton. The family moved to nearby Lansford, a bigger small town of about 6,000 people then and about 4,000 people now. She grew up in Lansford.
Christine Donahue’s parents were embedded in the union culture of the region. Her mother worked in a dress factory as a seamstress and was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers. Her dad became a Lansford city counselor after his retirement from the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company where he was a member of the United Mine Workers.
Christine Donahue went to Catholic schools – St. Peter and Paul Elementary School, Marian Catholic High School, and, in 1980, got her law degree from Duquesne. Before Duquesne, she earned her BA at a public institution — East Stroudsberg State College which has proudly reported that she was the “first graduate of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education” to serve on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Christine Donahue attributes her values to being raised in the “Panther Valley,” to the community and her parents, particularly to a memory of her father returning a found envelope with thousands of dollars to a nearby funeral home. When she finished law school, she spent 27 years in private practice – commercial litigation and personal injury, eventually becoming a partner in a Pittsburgh based firm.
In 2007, Christine Donahue was elected to serve on the Pennsylvania Superior Court. That is one of Pennsylvania’s two intermediate Appeals Courts. The Superior Court deals with criminal cases and private civil cases. The other intermediate Appeals Court, the Commonwealth Court, deals with administrative cases and civil matters of public law. Like the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, judges in these courts are elected to ten year terms.
In 2008, while beginning her service on the appeals court, Christine Donahue was named to serve as one of the judges of the Court of Judicial Discipline. She later served on the state Board of Law Examiners and chaired the state Judicial Conduct Board. By holding hearings at schools, she and her colleagues took a particular interest in educating high school students in the workings of Pennsylvania’s courts.
In 2015, Christine Donahue was elected to serve on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The election, which involved the same three Democrats now running for reelection, was expensive – with $15 million spent. We can expect greater spending, perhaps much greater spending, in this Retention Election.
If there is a point of attack against Christine Donahue, it is her age and the relatively brief time she will remain on the Court. Christine Donahue may not always be able to speak for herself. We can speak for her about her value to Pennsylvania for her ethical leadership and her positions on issues that range from gerrymandering to abortion, DONATE. Keep Christine Donahue on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Kevin Dougherty
People compare the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania supreme courts. The two courts compete, each claiming to be the oldest appeals court in the country.
People do not compare the Bulger brothers of Massachusetts with the Dougherty brothers of Pennsylvania. The Bulger brothers grew up in South Boston. The Dougherty brothers grew up in south Philadelphia. In Massachusetts, Billy Bulger was Majority Leader of the State Senate, ruthless and contemptuous of anyone who challenged him. Whitey Bulger was a notorious criminal gang leader and murderer who was finally convicted and murdered in jail. In Pennsylvania, Sixty-two year old Kevin Dougherty has been a state supreme court justice for ten years and is up for a retention election in 2025. Sixty-five year old Johnny Dougherty was a union leader, union business manager, and political fixer who was convicted of fraud and embezzlement of funds from the union. In wire taps, he occasionally sounded threatening, but there was no indication of murder or mayhem. He does not appear to be in danger of being murdered in jail.
From what he described as a “very blue collar, working class” neighborhood (and family, for that matter) Kevin Dougherty was the first in his family to graduate from college. He is proud to have worked three part-time jobs while at Temple University and no less proud to have graduated in 1988 from Antioch Law School in Washington DC.
Not long after completing law school, Kevin Dougherty was appointed an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia. He worked six years in private practice after his five years as an ADA. Appointed a special master for a Family Court Truancy Program, he was next appointed to the Court of Common Pleas. During most of his nearly fifteen years in the trial court he worked either in Family Court or as an Administrative Judge. In 2015, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
From an age when the Pennsylvania courts were less partisan and less divided, Kevin Dougherty was one of two Democrats who voted with the majority in a 4-3 decision that the Commonwealth Court did not have jurisdiction in a case it had ruled in favor of counting ballots without a written date on the outside of the mail in ballots’ envelope. Kevin Dougherty’s initial appointment as a judge was made by Governor Tom Ridge. Some will remember Ridge as the first Secretary of Homeland Security appointed by President George W Bush. Those were the days when a Republican could appoint a Democrat to a judgeship, when you could not predict a decision based on the judge’s political party. Kevin Dougherty is still the most conservative of the three Pennsylvania Supreme Court Democrats up for recall in November, 2025.
Keep Kevin Dougherty on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court. DONATE to his campaign, to his effort to be retained on the Court.
David Wecht
David Wecht is originally from Baltimore. His mom was originally from Europe. Jewish, she spent six years in Norway during the Nazi occupation. His dad was a pathologist. David Wecht’s initial Pennsylvania connection was his grandfather’s grocery store in Pittsburgh and his dad’s service as the Allegheny County medical examiner. His dad, already known internationally, became more famous when he disagreed with the single bullet theory regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
David Wecht went to a prep, boarding school in western Pennsylvania. From there he went to Yale – for his BA and his JD. He returned to Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) with his law degree in hand and became involved in county government. David Wecht was elected register of wills and clerk of the orphans’ court. In 2003, he was elected a trial judge and became an administrative judge for the Family Division in 2009. Among his reforms was unifying the family court so the same judge could be in charge of a single family’s experiences.
In 2015, David Wecht was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He had a campaign platform. He would improve ethical standards through a ban on gifts to judges and on family hiring, ethical training for judges, require judges to explain their reasons for recusals, and to allow cameras in court in most instances.
We might recognize some of David Wecht’s cases. He wrote, in an opinion, that challenging Joe Biden’s 2020 victory was both futile and dangerous. He ruled that a prosecutor could not escape his promises to Bill Cosby and could not use Cosby’s admissions in a subsequent case.
While it may seem as if the three Democratic Justices are running as a slate, they have not all ruled together on matters. David Wecht dissents often enough so that some have described him as Pennsylvania’s own “Great Dissenter.” His dissent in a child welfare case led to sharp words between him and Kevin Dougherty, who wrote for a 5 Justice majority.
David Wecht has been on his own in other ways — staking out a public position expressing concern about the rise of anti-Semitism and the reluctance of the public, including Jews, to confront it. His views have been sharpened by the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Squirrel Hill, a Pittsburgh neighborhood he had become familiar with as a child.
Keep David Wecht on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court. DONATE. While these three Justices are distinct and independent of each other, their differences are within a commitment to retaining American democracy and ensuring that every Pennsylvanian is treated fairly by the courts.
Pennsylvania has two other judicial elections worth noting. The lower appellate courts have an election apiece. Superior Court Judge Alice Dubow is up for retention, as is Commonwealth Court Judge Michael Wojcik. Both are Democrats. Check out both candidates. Consider donations to them as well.
Wisconsin – General Election April 1.
State Supreme Court – Here is a Court election that is both imminent and urgent
Support Democratic County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford against former Attorney General Brad Schimel. Currently Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has a 4-3 Democratic majority. Susan Crawford is running to replace a Democratic justice who is retiring. A Republican win would give the court a 4-3 Republican majority. This race is crucial for preserving the right to abortion in Wisconsin, for preserving an un-gerrymandered state legislature and eliminating voter suppression. This will be a very expensive election. Republicans are geared up. DONATE to Susan Crawford. See Len’s Political Note #684
State Superintendent of Public Instruction – also on Wisconsin’s April 1 ballot
Support Democratic incumbent Jill Underly in the primary and in the general election. Jill underly serves as a bulwark against right wing culture war positions. DONATE. Keep a successful Democrat in a leadership role in Wisconsin. See Len’s Political Note #693.
North Carolina Supreme Court
Previously appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court, Allison Riggs won her election in November. Unfortunately, her opponent continues to attempt to disqualify 65,000+ voters. Furthermore, her past and future North Carolina Supreme Court colleagues in what is now a 5-1 Republican Court, have thrown obstacles in her path. DONATE. Help her win her law suit. If she can sustain her effort, it is unlikely the Court would be so bold as to invalidate the election. See Len’s Political Note #594
Florida’s Special Election on April 1 – now less than a month away. In these two heavily Republican districts, with your help, we can see just how much damage Republicans have done to themselves during Donald Trump’s opening unconstitutional salvos. A Democratic win in either of these races would be cataclysmic for Trump and the Republicans.
Florida 01: Gay Valimont is the Democratic nominee. Gay Valimont is the former head of the Florida Chapter of Mom’s Demand Action, a gun safety organization. She has returned to politics after two family tragedies. She understands how Republican her district is. She is both courageous and energetic enough to give it her all in a very tough cause. Her opponent is the former CFO for the state of Florida. He proposed using Florida tax money to defend Donald Trump in his criminal trials. That proposal was too extreme even for the Florida legislature. DONATE to Gay Valimont. See Len’s Political Note #694.
Florida 06: Josh Weil is the Democratic nominee. He is a teacher of middle school boys who have not been able to remain in typical classrooms, a job that may be tougher than seeking election as a Democrat in FL 06. Originally exercised by the 2020 Democratic losses in Florida, he describes his commitment to his own children and his students as energizing his campaign. His opponent is Randy Fine, wealthy from the gaming industry, an opponent of rights for members of the LGBTQ community, an opponent of abortion. Fine is convinced that God saved Donald Trump so he could be president. DONATE TO Josh Weil. See Len’s Political Note #704.
New York Special Election—We don’t have a date yet for this race. We wait for Elise Stefanik to resign and take office as Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations so an election date can he set. While this is also a Republican leaning district, Democrats have a better chance to win here. In the unlikely event that Democrats win in Florida 01 and Florida 06, the voters of NY 21 would be in a position to give Democrats a majority in the House.
New York 21. Blake Gendebien will be the Democratic nominee. There was opposition, but no primary. He persuaded all 15 of the Democratic Party Chairs who state law gives the authority to select the candidate to support him. He is a dairy farmer, not a politician. But he knows enough about politics to be successful. We have no idea who the Republican nominee will be. It appears that the Republican Party chairs don’t know much more than we do about who their nominee will be. Furthermore, none of us knows when this special election will be. We won’t know until the Congresswoman, who has been nominated to be Trump’s Ambassador to the UN, is confirmed by the Senate and resigns from Congress. Help Blake Gendebien maintain his head start. DONATE to his campaign. See Len’s Political Note #706
